Everyone loves a good breakup song- and American singer and songwriter Cari Elise Fletcher, known mononymously as Fletcher, gives us plenty of these in her debut album, Girl of My Dreams. The third track on the album, Becky’s So Hot, now the singer’s second most popular song on Spotify, was first released as a single back in July and, upon blowing up on TikTok, sparked drama with Fletcher’s ex, YouTuber and photographer Shannon Beveridge. Anyone want to guess Beveridge’s new girlfriend’s name? (Yes, it’s Becky).
Although the Internet was divided as to whether “Becky’s So Hot” was petty or truly iconic, the single set high standards for the rest of the album. And Girl of My Dreams delivers- but not just in the way fans may expect. Although Fletcher dishes out several other breakup bangers (“Sting,” “Guess We Lied…”, and the heart-wrenchingly honest “Better Version”), the true nature of the album begins to shine through in its second half.
Girl of My Dreams is far more than a breakup album–it is an ode to self-love. In “I Think I’m Growing,” one of the album’s softer tracks, Fletcher describes learning how to hang out with herself and deal with trauma. The song features a powerful chorus that speaks to the beautiful, and painful, process of change, the artist sings, “And it fuckin’ hurts / In the moment / But I think I’m growin’.”
In an interview with UK-based music magazine DIY, Fletcher reveals that during this period of self-exploration, she signed up for a self-help podcast program. One of the exercises involved mirror work, a practice you’re probably familiar with if you’re a lover of positive affirmations. Fletcher sums it up pretty well in Girl of My Dream’s penultimate track, “I Love You, Bitch,” a powerful and personal profession of self-love. The artist sings in the chorus, “So I’ve been lookin’ in the mirror and I practice sayin’ this / ‘I love you, bitch’ / ‘I love you, bitch.’”
A similar sentiment appears in the album’s titular track. In the same DIY interview, Fletcher describes where her head was while writing the song, explaining “This is me landing on, ‘Ah bitch, you’ve always been the one that’s the girl of your dreams. You’ve been looking for it in all these places and it’s been you’.” The artist has been open about her struggles with codependency since releasing THE S(EX) TAPES in 2020, but in “Girl of My Dreams,” she sings, “’Cause I’m the only bitch I need / I’m all hers and she’s all mine / I love her ’til the day I die.”
Fletcher drives home this theme in the album’s closing track, a song dedicated to none other than the singer herself. “For Cari” starts more simply than the other tracks on the album, with gentle acoustic guitar highlighting the artist’s stunning vocals. By the end of the song, Fletcher is belting, “And I’ll raise a glass while I toast to myself / I’m a bad bitch and nothin’ can scare me / This one’s for Cari.” At its core, Girl of My Dreams is this toast- poignant, vulnerable, honest, and truly “for Cari.”
In a voice memo posted on her website, Fletcher dives into the inspiration behind the album- the expectations she has failed to meet throughout her life and her spiritual journey to radical self-love and acceptance. In a speaking voice that’s every bit as lovely as her singing voice, the artist explains, “I felt strangled by all the ways I wanted to love.” Although her past relationships have certainly served as the catalyst for some of Fletcher’s best work, it seems that the singer is ready to fall in love with someone else, the real “girl of her dreams” — herself.