To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t expecting to like this album — but it’s now one of my guilty pleasures.
Before entering the music sphere, Fletcher dated YouTuber Shannon Beveridge for two years in a very public relationship. The two seemed to remain friends for the next few years. However, the release of Fletcher’s debut album “Girl Of My Dreams” seems to tell a different story.
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The album opens with a bit of a petty track, setting the stage for her feelings about her relationship with Beveridge. “Sting” is a drama-filled opening track with its incredible production and crazy new bits of information, if they just so happen to be true; Fletcher alleges she and Beveridge made sex tapes within the first verse.
She is in no way holding back.
“Guess We Lied...” is the handbook for how to deal with situationships. For our older audience, situationships are that horrific talking stage where too much damage is done for anyone to come out of it unscathed. This song shows off her amazing lyricism with the phrase “if you’re gonna lie, do it in my bed.”
“Birthday Girl” is the best song on the album. Once again entirely about Beveridge, it’s heartbreaking, but it shows a vulnerable side of Fletcher. Most of what she portrays about their relationship is how she came out stronger. This song reflects the true pain she feels every birthday since she broke up with her birthday girl.
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Right up next is the messiest song on the album: “Becky’s So Hot” was the first single off the project. It created quite the stir on the internet since it’s all about Beveridge’s new girlfriend, Becky. It is a little weird how much she talks about wanting to have sex with her ex’s new girlfriend, but Becky is really hot.
The next few tracks are just okay. “Better Version” comes off as manipulative and crazy, saying how Becky is getting the version of Beveridge that Fletcher created. I honestly can’t remember what “Conversations” was about, and that sentiment carries into “Serial Heartbreaker.” Both songs were sonically good, just not lyrically individual.
Breaking the streak of mediocre songs, “Her Body Is Bible” is incredible. I love the insinuation that God is a lesbian. It’s one of the best songs on the album by far, and that’s not just because there’s a Taylor Swift reference embedded in the verse.
The last five songs regurgitate the same sentiment over and over: Fletcher is working on loving herself before loving someone else. While that is a great thing to do, I was hoping for some variety in the closing tracks. “Girl Of My Dreams” is the best of these, just for the cute lyric “I’m the only girl of my dreams.”
The first half of this album is unskippable. Even without knowing the context of the messy relationship between Beveridge and Fletcher, it’s a great pop album with enough variety to show off Fletcher’s writing skills. “Birthday Girl” and “Her Body Is Bible” are by far the standout tracks, making the album more than worth the listen.
