Jersey native FLETCHER is this month's 'One To Watch' artist

New Jersey native, singer and actress FLETCHER is this month’s ‘One To Watch’ artist!

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At the age of five, Fletcher began taking singing lessons and soon after, learned how to play a handful of instruments including the flute, piano and clarinet. By 14-years old, she began writing music, by herself and with friends and made her dreams come true by attending New York University. There, she molded herself into becoming an artist, performer and songwriter and then headed to Nashville, where she collaborated with Jamie Kenney and soon after, released her first EP.

Here is FLETCHER chatting with our friend Zach Sang about the very beginning of her career.

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Now, you might ask yourself, “Why does her name sound so familiar?” That’s because back then, FLETCHER went by her full name, Cari Fletcher and in 2011, she auditioned for The X Factor U.S. Cari along with Dani Knights, Paige Elizabeth Ogle and Hayley Orrantia formed the group ‘Lakoda Rayne’ on the singing competition and unfortunately, the entire group was voted off the show.

Although things did not work out for Fletcher on The X Factor, she eventually made her dreams come true. Four years after the competition, Fletcher released her debut single called ‘War Paint.’ ‘War Paint’ is off of the Finding Fletcher EP, the record topped the Spotify Viral Chart upon its release and to this day, has been listened to over 19 million times.

As Billboard explains, “FLETCHER architected a pop career that colours outside of the lines of gender and sexuality — both as an individual who self-identifies beyond any specific label and infuses her music and visuals with stories that neutralize the stigma of otherness prominent in many LGBTQ creations.”

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Upon the release of the music video, FLETCHER told Billboard, “I wish when I was a 16-year-old girl that I had a video like that to watch to see that it’s super normal, and two girls that are into each other and falling in love and having an incredible time is not some huge dramatic overly sexualized weird thing. It’s just life and it’s cool and it’s normal. That’s what it should be because that’s what love is — it’s between two human beings. I think it’s important for people to be able to see that. I wish that had been around more for me.”

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Once FLETCHER came to terms with her sexuality, it played a massive role in ‘Wasted Youth.’ The video was received more than 1.3 million views on YouTube. Cari says that she identifies within the LGBTQ community, “I think the biggest thing I struggled with growing up was being confused and not knowing answers. As far as putting a label on like gay, straight, bisexual, lesbian, queer… it’s all in the family and spectrum, and sexuality and gender is not black and white. It’s a spectrum that we all fall somewhere in the world on. That’s how I feel comfortable expressing myself — loving who I feel like loving and who I’m attracted to.”

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Since her start, FLETCHER has released a bunch of amazing singles, ‘Wasted Youth,’ ‘Live Young, Die Free,’ ‘Princess’ and her latest, ‘Undrunk,’ to name a few. On March 15, FLETCHER will release yet another single (unnamed) and will drop a second EP later this year.

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