FLETCHER Searched For An Antidote, And Found A Heart-Stopping Album Along The Way

FLETCHER released her second album, In Search Of The Antidote, on Friday of last week (March 22), a compilation of tracks that have aided her healing and processing – her antidote. Known for her messy musings and gut-wrenching lyrics, FLETCHER has once again not shied away from the public eye as she untangles her thoughts on love and life through the 11 tracks of the album.

Doing Better and Lead Me On were the first releases of the album, with Doing Better acting as a follow-up to the fame experienced by FLETCHER following her 2022 debut album, Girl Of My Dreams.

FLETCHER said, “When I put out Becky’s So Hot it got quite a reaction, but in a lot of ways that attention didn’t feel good. I wrote Doing Better as a way to explore my ego and call myself out, but also to tell the truth about what I was feeling at the time.”

Becky’s So Hot came about after FLETCHER’s ex-girlfriend and YouTuber Shannon Beveridge went public with her girlfriend (named Becky), and how FLETCHER was faced with jealousy and lust for the new girlfriend. FLETCHER says that while she feels she has moved on from that time in her life, she has always processed heartbreak in an incredibly raw and visceral way.

Her reflections on Lead Me On are similarly vulnerable, FLETCHER commented: “For some people Lead Me On might sound like a breakup song, where I’m telling someone that I’ll take whatever crumbs I can get from them. Or it might sound like a song where I’m speaking to a better, healthier version of me that exists in the future. It’s a version that’s a higher self in some way, and I’m connecting with her through these little moments of clarity or intuition and asking her to keep guiding me down that path. All the songs on this album were written on multiple levels, and they exist in many dimensions at one time.”

At the time of FLETCHER’s album release, the artist had come to the end of the South American leg of her international tour. With Europe next on the ticket, the audience will have the pleasure of hearing the album live. FLETCHER says performing live is essential to how she creates as a singer-songwriter, harnessing the energy of the audience and the moments that resonate.

“Honestly, the live show has become so informing of the way I created the album and I know the moments that are so fun that they love to scream back with me. And so I kind of created the album more from that perspective which makes me that much more excited to go play it live now”, says FLETCHER.

The promotional video for the album features FLETCHER in grainy, black-and-white clips, reflecting on the ways that she has sought healing and validation in the past and how she has arrived in a place where she has her antidote. The artist also asks her audience, “What search do you need to go on in your own life in your own way? where do you need to feel your own love? what is your own personal antidote?”

FLETCHER comments on what that journey has been: “I went through a pretty intense health journey last year and I think for me, realising the biggest part of my healing had to come from really looking at myself in the mirror and facing a lot of things – emotionally, mentally and physically – and integrating all of it. I think that has really been the antidote for me, not a linear and traditional approach to healing, but just kind of going at it from all angles. It’s a more holistic approach to mind, body and spirit healing. When you work on your soul, then your body starts to feel better. You can’t separate the two, you can’t separate any of it.”

The album is intended to be listened to in chronological order, with the first track Maybe I Am starting off slow as it eases you into FLETCHER’s new era of music, and ponders whether she is in fact all the things that she has been called in the past.

“That's how I tend to listen to records, you know, it serves the purpose of a narrative and a storyline and an arc. And starting out where I left off with the Girl Of My Dreams and Becky Is So Hot era of me, and sort of commenting on all of that with Maybe I Am, and maybe I am all of those things. And by the end, finding this sort of cinematic piece at the end of the record. So yes, listening to the record in chronological order is an international journey.”

FLETCHER collaborated closely with Grammy-winning producer and songwriter Jennifer Decilveo to produce the album alongside a lineup of hitmakers including Aldae, Jon Bellion, Julia Michaels, Monsters & Strangerz, and Michael Pollack – who are known for their Diamond-certified hits with the likes of Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus (who FLETCHER performed alongside in a performance in 2023).

FLETCHER says she would also love to do songs in the future with Young Miko, Miley Cyrus, Kasey Musgraves, and one of her favourite artists, Lorde.

If it seems like FLETCHER has been on the fast track to reaching her current fame from those early Undrunk days of 2018, she actually feels that the growth has been steady and considered. She says, “When I zoom out and look at Undrunk, I can definitely see all of the growth and the whole kind of arc and journey of it all. It’s been perfect how it’s unfolded, it’s happened exactly as it was meant to and I have a lot more patience these days and an appreciation for the hard work that goes into things, and the intentions behind it all. I feel really proud of the journey.”

Confronting controversy through new music isn’t new, but FLETCHER truly embraces every side of herself in her music, as if she is assessing and commenting on her behaviour from a removed and unbiased standpoint. Not only does this create great music and art, but it stimulates conversation and encourages fans to also reflect on past events.

FLETCHER says that she has always been like this for as long as she can remember: “It’s always been a catharsis for me. Whether I choose to release that art is another thing. For the most part, especially a situation and a song that was so public, I wanted to reflect on it publicly. It felt like the story needed an update on where I am.”

The art of drip-feeding stories and hinting at past loves is fast becoming a given in pop, with top pop sensations like Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo winning fans who are committed to deciphering what each song means, and how it’s a development on previous tracks. This ability seems to come naturally to FLETCHER, who almost cannot help but let the fans into her deepest reflections.

“If I look back and look in my little kid journals from like middle school,” she says, “I was writing the most fucking emo, crazy, unhinged shit ever. I’m like, I had never even kissed anyone but I was like ‘My heart is so broken and I don’t know what to do’, so I think that’s just always been there. I have always been the most sensitive, sensitive feeler. I feel things so deeply, and you know, it’s ended up being the superpower of my art.”

The tour highlight so far has been Brazil, with their energy and passion unmatched. FLETCHER will be headed for Australian shores in July, with the artist having already been initiated to the country through our official stage ceremony, the Shoey.

“Well last time I was there I did a few shoeys while I was on stage, so I feel like I have been initiated to Australia. I just don’t know if I could do another Shoey, maybe something else. But I literally drank beer out of my sweaty shoe. I am ready for whatever Australia throws at me next, and expect big feelings, big vocals and big performances, scream dancing and singing. I’m just so excited.

“I think I’ve really just got to grow with the fans and evolve with the fans, we have gotten to like, change and experience life together, and so as I experience this new chapter, this new era, their experience and joy is always at the core of it. I think with this album – I get to be in that joy too. I get to listen to my body and pay attention to myself on this tour, and also play and have fun and be in it with them. I am taking myself a lot less seriously. I just can’t fucking wait to see them.”

In Search Of The Antidote is out now via Capitol. Tickets to FLETCHER’s Australian shows are also still on sale – find them here.