INTERVIEW: Fletcher releases debut album 'Girl Of My Dreams': "If I've ever wanted to do anything, it's to simply mirror back to someone that you can do whatever the fuck you want."
Interview: Jett Tattersall
Image: Carlos de la Reina
American synth-electro-pop artist Fletcher (real name Cari Fletcher) has become one of the hottest names in music over the last few years. First coming to attention in 2015 when her debut single ‘War Paint’ became a sudden viral hit, she was soon signed to major record label Capitol Records and her 2018 single ‘Undrunk’ became her first mainstream crossover hit, racking up 155 million streams to date and creeping into the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart as well as charting in New Zealand, Canada and Ireland.
After releasing three EPs, the latest of which The S(EX) Tapes arrived in 2020, today Fletcher releases her debut studio album, Girl of My Dreams. When it came to creating the album, it was important to her that she approached the creation of the album in a different way to what she did with her EPs. While her romantic relationships has played a major part in her writing up until now, this time she wanted to focus on herself. “So much of my past work has been focused on other people and on my relationships: all the people who have broken my heart, all the hearts that I’ve broken,” she says. “For my debut album it felt right to do a deeper dive into self-exploration, and all the different facets that make up who I am.”
Fittingly, Girl of My Dreams not only addresses heartbreak and pain, but also self-discovery and triumph. Musically the album continues her love affair with synth-pop but this time it is infused with guitar-rock energy, while the stripped-back ballads hit you in the heart but also sweep you up in a rush of joy.
First single ‘Her Body is Bible’ kicks off with guitar, amps it up with a pulsing bass then runs away with an impassioned vocal to explore the almost religious ecstasy of being with your crush for the very first time: “I found God the moment that I put my lips on yours / I thought, ‘This is what they’re talkin’ about’ / I forgot everything that’s broken in my heart.” Second single ‘Becky’s So Hot’ is almost its polar opposite, as Fletcher drowns in the pain and frustration of past relationships. Inspired by accidentally liking an Instagram post of her ex-girlfriend’s new partner, Fletcher delivers a pop-rock feel again but adds a dash of melancholy along with a harder, at times more chaotic edge that reflects her inner turmoil. “Are you in love like we were?” she asks. It caused a minor storm on TikTok as fans of both exes tried to unravel the relationship drama.
Girl of My Dreams may be Fletcher’s debut album, but after seven years in the industry it sees her arrive as a fully formed, confident artist with music that reflects that – polished, insightful, vulnerable, immersive and, yes, danceable. Its songs are as informative and cathartic for the listener as they have been for Fletcher to make and it is clear to see why Fletcher is on a path to be music’s next big superstar. We recently caught with her to chat more about the creation of the album.
Hi Fletcher, congratulations on your beautiful, beautiful debut album. It's synth and it's pop and it's romance. For me listening to it, it’s like you're treating your soul like a cat you're stroking - in the nicest possible way! Can you talk me through what this album means to you?
The inspiration behind where Girl of My Dreams came from was my mum used to have this recurring dream when she was a little girl of this young girl riding a horse, but she could only ever see her from the back and this girl had long black curly hair. She thought ’maybe this is my daughter one day’. I was born, and I didn't have long black curly hair and that kind of became a metaphor for my life in the sense of like. I pretty quickly realised that I wasn't the girl of her dreams.
When I went to college in New York City I was able to properly explore and discover myself. I fell in love with a woman for the first time and I thought maybe she was the girl of my dreams, and that's where the You Ruined New York City For Me EP came from, and then I was in another relationship and I wrote The S(EX) Tapes about that woman and [again] I thought she was the girl of my dreams. There was all failed relationships and I was just like, ‘Why? Why do these situations keep not working out?’ I quickly realised that I was outsourcing so much of my love. I realised that the missing piece was I'm the girl of my dreams.
You have this track which is almost an outlier on the album, the beautiful surprise that is 'For Cari'. This is like your closing credit song, with all the twinkly lights. There's this beautiful country element to it, can you talk me through that track your inclusion of it in what is very much a high production dance energy album
It was an album where I was I really hitting a breaking point creatively, emotionally and spiritually, and I wanted to quit, I didn't want to do music anymore. I had this session, and I was about to cancel it and I was like, ‘you know what, what would happen if I just went to the studio, and I did not write a song for my label, for my management, for my fans, for anyone, like, no plans on it, it doesn't need to be anything. What if I went in there and I just wrote a song that was for Cari, for no one else just for Cari.’. And that was the song that came out of it. The album is an ode to my growth process and an ode to the emotional roller coaster that is life and honouring every facet of, of those emotions. We tend to shy so far away from those emotions.
Absolutely. Your lyrics, your songs, they're so beautifully confronting, like, there's no room for small talk, which I love. Is the music the catharsis for you? Or have you always also avoided small talk in your day to day life?
There's a human conditioning of small talk where we have this idea that we all just need to put on this face and be really, really comfortable and act like everything's okay, and everything's fine. When somebody asks me how I am lately, if I'm not doing well, I’ve started being just straight up and be like ‘You know what I'm having kind of like a shit day.’ There's something so freeing about immediately dropping the facade because it ends up taking up so much more of your energy to put on something that doesn't feel real. The songwriting process for me has been a way for me my whole life to be that honest, in human conversation and interactions. I can say the craziest shit and just put a melody or lyrics to it, and then it's delivered in a softer way. It all stems from a real place even if it's just a fleeting emotion.
You obviously have this ability to write and perform songs that just champion all the goo - and it's hot goo, and it's grotty goo! It's joyful, it's heartbreaking but there's always just this sense of fun in your lyrics. I imagine it must be one hell of a ride to hear back from the fans what you do for them?
Yeah, it's single handedly, hands down the most rewarding part of what this is, aside from it being cathartic for me and a place to just pour into writing songs. Hearing people have the responses that they do and to see someone else living an experience that feels similar to yours, or to just know that it's possible. If I've ever wanted to do anything, it's just to simply mirror back to someone that you can do whatever the fuck you want. You can be whoever you want, and you can come into your skin and into yourself and love yourself so radically. That's the most revolutionary thing that we could possibly do in a world that doesn't want that. To get the feedback that I've gotten from my fans makes me emotional to think about that. [My music] has resonated with people in a way that is beyond my wildest dreams and I never even could have imagined.
Girl of My Dreams is out now via Universal Music Australia. You can buy and stream here.
To keep up with all things Fletcher you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Twitter.
