FLETCHER: Join the Rebellion

The first song Cari Fletcher ever wrote was in sixth grade. She still remembers the words. Hell, even the melody. “I’m such a Pisces , because these lyrics are so fucking dramatic about having my heart broken,” she says, laughing. “I had never kissed a single person, never been in a relationship, nothing. But I just had this longing for love.” Then, she sings it to me. Why should it be so hard to carry on? I need the strength to move along and mend my broken heart.

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These sorts of intimate, heart-on-her-sleeve lyrics define FLETCHER (her stage name) as an artist—someone who challenges the notion that pop music isn’t deep. (And yes, there are plenty of naysayers out there.) With the release of her sophomore album In Search of the Antidote in March and dates locked in for a tour that’ll take her across the U.S., FLETCHER has emerged as a rare gem of the music industry: one who can seamlessly fuse glossy pop sensibilities with the kind of raw lyrical honesty that will rip your goddamn heart out.

The New Jersey native’s talent was obvious from an early age. “I was singing before I was speaking,” she says. “I was belting made-up songs, show tunes, and Celine Dion from when I was a baby.” She was so impassioned and unbridled that her mom entered her into classical training so her daughter wouldn’t fry her vocal cords.

At 17, FLETCHER debuted on the first season of The X Factor (U.S.) under the mentorship of Paula Abdul, grouped in the all-girl, country-pop ensemble Lakoda Rayne. Finishing in ninth place, she was told she wasn’t confident enough to sing lead.

“I don’t regret anything that I’ve done in my life, [but] knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t have done that experience,” she reflects. “It was part of this belief that there’s always competition, that I’m not good enough to be at the forefront.”

Anyone lucky enough to see FLETCHER live would know that is categorically not the case, but she admits it’s taken time to unlearn the idea that she needs to prove herself or fight for her place. “There is this underlying energy and belief fed to women that there’s not enough room at the table for you,” she says. “That idea of, ‘I have to be so different and so unique that if there’s anybody else doing what I’m doing, I’m not going to be successful … It’s a lie.”

Amid her studies at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, FLETCHER experienced her first taste of virality with her single, “War Paint,” in 2015. Her debut EP, Finding Fletcher, was released independently in September 2016. In 2018, she signed with Capitol Records—a division of Universal Music Group.

“Undrunk” from her second EP, You Ruined New York City for Me , put much of 2019 in a chokehold and FLETCHER on the map, with lyrics like, “So I squeeze out the lime on the ice of my drink / And the juice hits the cuts on my fingers / It still doesn’t burn / As much as the thought of you.” The song has amassed more than 170 million streams on Spotify.

“It’s such a visceral, specific image,” she says of those lyrics. “It’s something I’ve always loved to do, to draw people into a specific image and a really specific feeling.”

That same year, FLETCHER scored an invite to Taylor Swift’s birthday party. How, exactly? She’s light on the details, but she did illuminate one of their conversations. “I asked her what she was drinking, and she said it was an old fashioned,” she explains. Bourbon, bitters, and a tiny bit of sugar, served on the rocks with an orange rind.

“She said, ‘It’s a man’s drink,’” to which FLETCHER replied, “Well, you’re the fucking man.” This interaction inspired her lyrics “sipped her like an old fashioned” in “girls girls girls”—a standalone single ahead of her debut album, Girl of My Dreams , in 2022.

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A year later, in the spring of her 2023 tour, FLETCHER’s health took an unexpected turn. She was diagnosed with Lyme disease—a bacterial infection that can cause extreme fatigue and neurological complications. Things got so bad that she wasn’t sure she’d return to music. She returned to her childhood home in New Jersey for treatment and as she began to heal, music began to flow again.

In Search of the Antidote , released on March 22, 2024, is FLETCHER’s bold attempt at emotional and physical catharsis. “It’s a screenshot of where I was in a particular season of my life, navigating a lot of things with my health, in search of a literal antidote,” she says. “And also a reflection of a lot of life events, relationships, career moments up until that point. It was a deep dive during a period of a lot of discovery in how to heal my heart and body.”

It also coincided, give or take a couple of days, with her 30th birthday. “I feel like the day I turned 30, I was like, ‘I’m a new woman,’” she says. “I was so scared because there’s so much pressure—even in the music industry—on if you don’t make it to this milestone by this age, it’s a matter of time before [your] clock runs out … With turning 30, I was able to exhale.” She adds, “Every version of me that I have been, I have so much gratitude for [because I’m] here right now.”

Swift gets another shoutout, this time on Antidote ’s sixth track, “Eras of Us,” which captures FLETCHER running into an ex during the Eras tour . “I was hit with a wave of emotion and reminded of all the eras of us. So, the song sort of wrote itself in the studio the following day,” she says.

Despite her setbacks, FLETCHER’s devoted fanbase has been with her every step of the way—though sometimes they have an interesting way of showing affection. “One time somebody threw a dildo on stage, I will never forget that,” she laughs. Another fan asked if they could be a human mic stand during “Becky’s So Hot.” There have also been countless proposals in the moshpit.

The luck that FLETCHER gets to experience a life very few do certainly isn’t lost on her. “When I was a little kid in my bedroom, singing into a hairbrush, practicing and pretending to be on stage in front of thousands of people, it was me manifesting this as a little kid,” she says. “For that to be real life is so wild.”

Her tour to support In Search of the Antidote comes at a time when the United States feels like it’s standing on the edge of a precipice. “We live in a time where there is just so much division, so much hatred in the world, and so many people are being denied their existence and their right to live and to be safe in the world. Just to exist,” FLETCHER says. “It hurts my heart on so many levels.”

On how she wrestles with performing in conservative states, she says, “Showing up is the most radical act of rebellion … That’s where the responsibility lies for me.” Rest assured, wherever you see FLETCHER perform, her shows remain a haven for anyone wanting to live unapologetically and love themselves with reckless abandon.

“It feels really beautiful and special to be able to curate that space for people,” she says. “That was something I really needed as a kid growing up, I wanted to have that space where I could just go be me … That’s the culture of a FLETCHER show—come and be a freak, come and be you, come and be the truest expression of who you are.”

Creative Direction: Sasha Purdy
Photographer: Michael Buckner
Production Assistant: Roya Backlund
Stylist: Marc Eram with A-Frame Agency
Makeup: Lilly Keys with A-Frame Agency
Hair: Nathaniel Dezan with Opus Beauty
Styling Assistant: Lauren Grey