Beginning with the song “Maybe I Am,” an embrace of being called “crazy,” FLETCHER’s newest album “In Search of the Antidote” is a whirlwind of the sapphic (woman loving women) pop singer’s imperfections, messy relationships and healing.  

Despite the recurring chaos characteristic of FLETCHER, her recent album lacks the danceability and smiting lyrics of the “Girl of My Dreams” album and other earlier releases. “In Search of the Antidote” is softer and more developed, yet I crave the solo, heartbroken dance party I used to associate with FLETCHER. Lyrics that stab and wrench tears out appear to be rationed. Nevertheless, I go to FLETCHER in my weakest moments and consume her voice like a drug. I’ll take any dose I can get. 

“In Search of the Antidote” follows suit with FLETCHER’s past discography including the drama-causing “THE S(EX) TAPES” and “Girl of My Dreams” albums. This album is (per usual) the perfect companion to a breakup with lyrics like “your heart is constantly running, just never to me.”  

My favorite song on the album is the gut-wrenchingly nostalgic “Eras of Us.” I can’t get enough of her build-up of her young, ruthless love and the hollowing emptiness left in its wake. It’s an extension of “Wasted Youth,” describing the warm, hazy days of a first love but grieving how the moments are firmly in the past. The exhilaration “[stole] the air right from our lungs” and time stole young love right from her grasp. 

FLETCHER’s songs are never just about simple heartbreak; they’re about wanting your partner to be happy but also to never leave you, about attachment issues ruining a relationship before it starts, about hating your ex’s new partner but also finding them hot. Her recent album does not disappoint with “Two Things Can Be True” and more allusions to online drama with her ex and her ex’s then-girlfriend. 

Even though FLETCHER’s 2022 “Girl of My Dreams” album shows hope and healing in the last third of the album, in “In Search of the Antidote,” FLETCHER’s personal development truly shines through. Her depiction of being crazy in love (or heartbreak) is held with more confidence. She acknowledges that she goes back and forth on her feelings and continually loses herself only to eventually find herself again. “Why does better feel worse?” she asks on “Doing Better.” 

“In Search of the Antidote” is more than a heartbreak album; FLETCHER returns to hope and new love by the end, all while granting herself grace. The album truly is a search for the antidote; it’s FLETCHER’s love letter to her love of adrenaline from the simultaneous pain and elation of love. 

FLETCHER wrote a chaotic, imperfect album for the sapphics. She reminds us of the complexity of feelings with regards to life, heartache, lust and love in that specifically sapphic way.