User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 196 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Negative: 12 out of 196

Review this album

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
  1. Jun 24, 2012
    THE IDLER... is one the most overrated albums that i counl hear in my entire life, its a completely waste of time try to understand every song that conposed this album, i love Fiona's interpretation but the album like a whole thing don't convince me, maybe is the meaningless lyrics or the awful and akward rithm, i cannot say more of this album, never will be a masterpiece like Adele's 21, recently named one of the best album ever play by a female singer, this is that i call a good album, I'm sorry Fiona, good luck to the next try. Expand
  2. Jun 22, 2012
    Clearly, I'm in minority on this one. I adore Fiona, and could not wait for her to give me a whole bunch of new songs to fall in love with, but this album is a massive misfire for me. I've had it for 3 days now and have listened from start to finish about 20 times....and no matter how hard I try to love it, I just find it utterly frustrating. Maybe it's a grower, but as of right now, I doubt it. Yes, I applaud her artistic risks, and admire the direction she has taken herself with this album, but the bottom line for me is that I can't find a single track on here that I would add to my "Best of the Bitter" playlist. Unlike her previous work, I can't sing along to any of it. I'm truly heart broken over this. I know she could relate. Expand
  3. Sep 4, 2012
    This album has lead me to the conclusion that what I actually like (or liked) about Fiona is the influence of Jon Brion. Without him, she produces unfocussed, poorly structured and unsatisfying music. I appreciate the experimental harmonic language, but it just sits there and doesn't go anywhere interesting. I did like the track 'Jonathon', which did feel like it had some guts, depth and structure, but the rest was just a mess. I'm not sure what happened with Brion, but I sure wish they would patch things up and make music as good as they did on Pawn and Extraordinary Machine (The Brion version). Severely disappointed. Expand

Universal acclaim - based on 35 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 35
  2. Negative: 0 out of 35
  1. Dec 20, 2012
    It's an album that demands something of the listener, but rewards it in spades.
  2. An album that's damn catchy after all.
  3. Jul 19, 2012
    Still the same Fiona Apple: bigger than "all the fishes in the sea."