Fetch the Bolt Cutters

Submission 2,079

About

Fetch the Bolt Cutters is the fifth studio album released by American musician Fiona Apple, the title referencing a line from the British crime show The Fall. After the release of the album in April 2020, Twitter users began using the album name as a fan catchphrase and made literal references to bolt cutters in memes reacting to the album.

Origin

On March 23rd, 2020, The New Yorker^[5] published an interview with Fiona Apple in which she reveals that she would be releasing a new album. On April 1st, Twitter user @erspamer_matt^[6] tweeted an Ina Garten Giant Cocktail edit referencing the album name (shown below). On April 17th, the album was released to critical acclaim, earning plaudits such as a perfect 10 from Pitchfork, making it the publication's first ever perfect score in the 2020s^[4], and a perfect 100 Metacritic score from 20 reviews, the highest rated album on the site.

Spread

On April 16th, 2020, Twitter user @RhagenOlinde^[7] posted an edited image of Friends character Chandler hugging the album with the caption, "Me tonight and every day for a month and forever " (shown below, left). The tweet gained over 360 likes and 90 retweets in four days. The next day, Twitter user @anthelonious^[8] posted a photoshopped still from The Devil Wears Prada with the character holding bolt cutters (shown below, right). The tweet, captioned "Are you fetching…" "…the bolt cutters? Yeah, I am.", gained over 19,200 likes and 2,400 retweets in three days.

That same day, Twitter user @borrierr^[9] posted screenshots from The Sopranos with a Tony Soprano line regarding bolt cutters (shown below). The tweet received over 7,600 likes and 1,200 retweets in three days.

That day, actress Gillian Anderson posted a GIF of her line in The Fall which inspired the album name (shown below). The tweet accumulated over 29,600 likes and 4,500 retweets in three days. StayHipp,^[1] Paper Mag^[2] and Junkee^[3] published articles on the Fetch the Bolt Cutters memes.