Ignored           Obscured            Restored

Today’s SotW was written by a special guest contributor – my daughter Abby.  Abby has a very wide-ranging, eclectic interest in music.  She also has a steel-trap memory for lyrics.  She originally gave me an idea for a SotW topic, but I persuaded her to write it herself.  Here it is!

In April 2020 Fiona Apple released her fifth studio album, Fetch the Bolt Cutters. 

The album garnered a lot of buzz, as the moody, experimental album dropped during peak shelter-in-place and mirrored the confusion and frustration many of us were feeling at the time. The album secured a spot on many ‘Best of the Year’ lists, including the track “Ladies” as one of Rolling Stones’ top 10 songs of 2020.  But the track that really caught my attention was “Shameika,” one of today’s SotW. 

In the song, Apple remembers a moment from her elementary school days where she was bullied.  In an interview with Vulture, Apple recalled, “I was probably 11 or so… I just remember being in the cafeteria, a bunch of girls at one end of the table.  I came over to sit with them, and they started laughing at me.  So I sat one seat away but still tried to be close to them.  Shameika came up, and she was like, “Why are you trying to sit with those girls?  You have potential.”  This quote from Shameika is the chorus of the song: 

Shameika said I had potential (x4) 

In the Vulture article Apple confesses, “when I first wrote the song, I was not entirely convinced she existed.  Because I have this one memory and it’s a very big memory for me.  But maybe I created this person.” 

Back then I didn’t know what potential meant 

And Shameika wasn’t gentle and she wasn’t my friend but 

She got through to me and I’ll never see her again 

She got through to me and I’ll never see her again 

As it turns out, they would see each other again.  Over the years, Apple had kept in touch with a teacher from her elementary school.  This teacher remembered and kept in touch with Shameika Stepney as well, and reached out to both of them after the song was released, hoping to link the two. 

Stepney and Apple reconnected, and in an interview with Pitchfork, Stepney admits “I’ve always been a protector of anyone else who’s smaller, who can’t defend themselves.”  Stepney is also a musician, and in November released her own song “Shameika Said,” which features vocals from Fiona Apple. This is today’s second SotW. 

Pitchfork interviewed Shameika on her life and her music career – read the full story here.

These songs and the story behind them are a true testament to the fact that our actions, big or small, can impact others in a life-changing way.  We should all try to remember this when we interact with others!

Enjoy… until next week.