Today (May 7), cult singer-songwriter Fiona Apple has released her first single in five years. Titled “Pretrial (Let Her Go Home)”, the song calls attention to the mothers – and Black mothers in particular – jailed in pretrial detention because they can’t afford bail.

Since 2021, Apple has volunteered as a courtwatcher for Maryland-based charity Courtwatch PG. The organisation aims to hold people within the American court system accountable by observing and recording what happens during trials.

A rousing protest anthem led by Apple’s own hand percussion, the video for “Pretrial” opens with the text: “For over two years, I observed thousands of court hearings as a courtwatcher. I saw so many people caged away simply because they could not afford bail. Before they even got trial. While they were still presumed innocent. Jail didn’t just hurt them. It hurt their families. It hurt all of our communities.”

The track speaks to the hardship that Apple witnessed firsthand during her volunteering with Courtwatch PG: “She took on extra shifts, still couldn’t pay the bail. No danger, no flight risk, still she stays in jail… they wouldn’t let her go home.” Elsewhere, Apple draws attention to ongoing police brutality against Black Americans, singing: “They already took the only daddy that [her children] ever had, shot him then put a gun near him that he never had.”

The release of “Pretrial” is accompanied by the creation of LetHerGoHome.org, a new platform dedicated to supporting unfairly detained women. The page opens with a call to action: “On any given day, 190,600 women and girls are incarcerated in the United States. Over 60,000 women are detained pretrial, presumed innocent, caged in US jails simply because they cannot afford to pay bail”, and is followed by links to find a local bail fund and to donate to the cause.

Apple has long dedicated proceeds from her career towards tackling injustice in the American court system. In 2019, she announced that all royalties from 1999 alternative pop hit “Criminal” would be donated to the While They Wait Fund, which provides refugees in the United States with basic necessities, immigration fees and legal counsel.

Listen to the song and watch the full video above.