Fletcher discusses THE S(EX) TAPES in cover shoot and interview
Photography: Kenneth Cappello
Music-wise, 2020 was meant to be a very different year for FLETCHER, originally the musician was supposed to join Niall Horan for his worldwide stadium tour and get to work planning her debut studio album. However, with 2020 sending a disastrous shockwave through the music industry, her plans had to be put on hold for the foreseeable future. However, these were the least of FLETCHER’s worries, as she had her own troubles and joys to work out and put pen to paper and created on of the most brutally honest yet still enjoyable pop EPs of this year.
Entitled THE S(EX) TAPES, the highly awaited (and now acclaimed) EP chronicles FLETCHER’s struggles with finding love while simultaneously attempting to find herself. Throughout the record, FLETCHER provides a glimpse into the sides of love often left out of wedding albums and firey breakup songs. Today she returns with a new track Bitter Ft Trevor Daniel and we caught up with Fletcher to discuss her EP, her process and of course, her FAULTs.
In your own words, why is Trevor Daniel the perfect addition to Bitter?
Fletcher: I’ve been a fan of Trevor for a while, and we slid into each other’s dm’s back in may both being like “you’re dope! let’s make something together.” I just really wanted a fresh perspective on the song and thought it would be cool to have a male’s take on such a vulnerable feeling. Everyone’s bitter about past relationships or people regardless of gender or orientation. And I think it’s an emotion a lot of people have experienced whether they’d like to admit it or not.
Does Bitter have new meaning to you now from when you originally released it?
FLETCHER: The cool thing about music is that it’ always taking on new meaning depending on where you’re at in your life or what you’re going through. So yeah this one means something different to me now. All my songs do. I wrote this one over a year ago. To me, it’s the fear of your person moving onto someone new, and though you know it’s not right to be with them right now, you’d still be bitter if they found somebody else. I’m very aware that’s selfish and maybe fucked up, but I don’t know, it feels pretty human to me. So wanted to share the crazy feeling in my head when it comes to love and letting go and trying to process everything that comes with it.
Moving to the rest of the EP, can you tell us about the inspiration for Feel?
FLETCHER: Feel is inspired by an on-again-off-again relationship that I’ve been in the past couple of years. It explores the different moments, throughout the breakup and all the feelings and emotions that come with that. I think relationships are difficult and complicated and not just black and white. We’re usually shown two examples of relationships, the together forever kind and the “f*ck you” kind. There’s a middle ground where I love to a painful amount, but still, need to grow independently.
You’ve written about your hardest moments in the relationship but over a jovial pop beat throughout the album, did you always plan to juxtapose the two themes?
FLETCHER: My life is full of contradiction, and the content is intensely personal, but I still want to feel hot singing it. You can always cry in the club, and when I think about the live experience, being emotional when I’m performing makes me feel good.
When you do get a chance to perform the songs live, do you fear it might be emotionally taxing to keep revisiting those feelings?
FLETCHER: There wasn’t ever a plan, I started the year with plans to go on tour with Niall Horan, and then I was going to release a debut album, but none of that happened. There was no plan; it was all about pivoting and trying to get through these difficult times. I wondered how I was going to make art which going through such turmoil, but we both decided to quarantine together and talk about our future. We wanted to show that people aren’t perfect and real relationships can look this way. I think both of us making the EP together was a way for us to process what was going on.
When you invite fans and the public into your turmoil, you also open yourself up to unwanted criticism. Was that ever a fear?
FLETCHER: I’ve never been as personal as this. There’s usually been an element of distance or something that happened in the past, but this situation is just so painfully fresh and happening right now.
I’m still trying to process my own emotions, and I see that people have their own opinions, commentary or they’re guessing what’s going on, but I’m not at a place where I can like really read them right now. It’s a fresh wound, but that being said, you can’t let the fear of people’s opinions stop you from putting your art out there.
As it is an ongoing situation, have you continued writing about it post-release?
FLETCHER: The last couple of months, I have been putting all of my energy into bringing the EP to life. The reason it’s called THE S(EX) TAPES because it’s something someone captured raw. My ex directs all the visuals, and we worked on it together without large crews or teams. I’ve been writing because I can’t not be writing, but I’m not really in a position to understand what I’m feeling.
Does the EP feel like a shared experience between you two?
FLETCHER: I wrote the song about her and about what happened, what I felt in the times that I wasn’t with her so yes it’s very shared. We shared in the pain, the beauty of the unknown, the excitement like riding an emotional roller coaster together. She’s my best friend, so there’s something so beautiful about being able to be so honest and transparent with somebody.
What’s something new you’ve learned about yourself this year?
FLETCHER: I leant a lot, from little stuff to the brutal stuff. I learnt I don’t like cooking, but I also had a minor identity crisis in quarantine because I found that I base so much of my self-worth off of my productivity levels. I also felt like my eyes were opened to the fight for racial justice in this country and how I can be a good useful ally for people and the Black Lives Matter movement.
What do you want your art to have said about you?
FLETCHER: That I’m an open book and I wore my heart on my sleeve, that I said something that people were maybe thinking but couldn’t say.
What is your FAULT?
FLETCHER: I’m oversensitive, and I can overthink every single thing. I’m an empath, so I feel things intensely for people – I feel their emotions, their pain, and I take things very personally. People think that because I am sensitive to the point that they keep information from me because they think I can’t handle it. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realised that my sensitivity is my superpower because it’s given me the power to write music as intimately as I do.