Fletcher almost lost it all
Rolling Stone UK|April/May 2024
Illness brought her rock-star lifestyle to a halt. Now, she's healing in more ways than one
WAISS ARAMESH
Fletcher almost lost it all

CARI FLETCHER KNEW something was wrong. After finishing a series of shows in the spring of 2023, she felt deeply run down - and it wasn't just the usual aches and pains of life on the road. The singer, who performs as Fletcher, went to the doctor and learned she had Lyme disease, a bacterial infection that can cause debilitating fatigue and neurological complications. It can also result in inflammation and damage to the nerves in the voice box - meaning Fletcher was faced with the terrifying prospect of being left permanently unable to sing. "There were many, many, many moments over the last year where I was not sure if I was going to return to music," Fletcher, who has just turned 30, says.

By the time she was diagnosed, Fletcher had established herself as one of pop's most versatile stars. She can pen a heartbreak ballad or craft a raucous dance hit. She doesn't shy away from the controversial or the confessional - this is an artist who made music videos for an EP titled The S(ex) Tapes, with the ex-girlfriend the EP was about. She can talk spicy ("I just had sex with my ex / In a New York apartment/Ooh, I thought it'd be harmless)" and be the topic of conversation up and down your For You Page. Suddenly, she worried it might all be over.

Fletcher shared her diagnosis on social media and postponed some overseas dates. Marquee letters came down. Comments sections went quiet. Fletcher became a recluse. "I noticed all the other things that got really loud in the time that I got really quiet, and it was the darkness that was in my own mind," she says. "I had to sit with 'Who am I without the applause? Who am I without the analytics and the numbers?' It brought a lot to the surface about self-worth and my beliefs and my gifts and my talents."

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April/May 2024 من Rolling Stone UK.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April/May 2024 من Rolling Stone UK.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

المزيد من القصص من ROLLING STONE UK مشاهدة الكل
The Scream Queen Next Door - In just a few short years, Hunter Schafer has gone from small-town North Carolina to global runways, Euphoria stardom, and her first lead role, in the horror flick Cuckoo
Rolling Stone UK

The Scream Queen Next Door - In just a few short years, Hunter Schafer has gone from small-town North Carolina to global runways, Euphoria stardom, and her first lead role, in the horror flick Cuckoo

Hunter Schafer greets me with a confession. Beckoning me through a small gated fence into the winding maze of Chateau Marmont's lush, greenery-covered courtyard, she gives me a hug, then yawns. There's a lot happening right now, she says. I've barely gotten a handle on it. There's a grey vape in her hand, worn split-toe Tabis on her feet, and a wry smile on her face. To be fully honest with you, I'd forgotten this was happening.

time-read
10 mins  |
October/November 2024
Together in Electronic Dreams - Raphaella Lima of video game publisher Electronic Arts brings music to her childhood love of gaming to spotlight many of the most exciting emerging acts of the past two decades in the hit football game EA SPORTS FC
Rolling Stone UK

Together in Electronic Dreams - Raphaella Lima of video game publisher Electronic Arts brings music to her childhood love of gaming to spotlight many of the most exciting emerging acts of the past two decades in the hit football game EA SPORTS FC

Raphaella Lima of video game publisher Electronic Arts brings music to her childhood love of gaming to spotlight many of the most exciting emerging acts of the past two decades in the hit football game EA SPORTS FC. ME AND A$AP just clicked, says Raphaella Lima, global music marketing director at video game publisher Electronic Arts (EA). I met him when I was just coming off maternity leave, so I wasn't drinking, and he'd been in the dentist's chair all day, so he wasn't drinking either. But we sat in the hotel, and he thought, 'You know what? I f**k with this girl! Let's go to the studio.' So, my partner and I went, we heard his music, and we thought, 'This guy is incredible.

time-read
8 mins  |
October/November 2024
The Mix - String Theory - On new album Odyssey, Nubya Garcia conducts sweeping strings over her innovative saxophone playing to mark herself out as a unique star of the UK jazz world
Rolling Stone UK

The Mix - String Theory - On new album Odyssey, Nubya Garcia conducts sweeping strings over her innovative saxophone playing to mark herself out as a unique star of the UK jazz world

There are clichéd 'difficult second albums', and then there are those where you start almost from scratch. The difficulty with jazz prodigy Nubya Garcia's second LP, Odyssey, came when she decided that this new batch of songs she had written needed the sweeping majesty of a string section, before deciding to learn how to write and conduct it all herself.

time-read
5 mins  |
October/November 2024
Daydream Believer - Welsh techno-pop artist Kelly Lee Owens is the first signing to Dirty Hit's new dance label, dh2. She talks
Rolling Stone UK

Daydream Believer - Welsh techno-pop artist Kelly Lee Owens is the first signing to Dirty Hit's new dance label, dh2. She talks

Welsh techno-pop artist Kelly Lee Owens is the first signing to Dirty Hit's new dance label, dh2. She talks "transcending my bullshit" on the euphoric, thumping club tunes of fourth album, Dreamstate. While writing the new album, Owens was determined to make the art that my soul wants to make, ignoring outside influences and following a path and an energy that felt like it was coming to her from a higher place. "I always hoped that I'd find a home in a label that would carry that vision through," she says. When she met Daniel in Los Angeles, she asked him, "Do you care about the long term? How much time are you willing to invest in this project? What do you see?"

time-read
5 mins  |
October/November 2024
Sounding the Alert - The UK music industry is calling for the new Labour government to make essential changes to rescue British music - from halting the closure of venues to providing essential opportunities for new talent
Rolling Stone UK

Sounding the Alert - The UK music industry is calling for the new Labour government to make essential changes to rescue British music - from halting the closure of venues to providing essential opportunities for new talent

To quote one Bob Dylan: "the times they are a-changin." After 14 years of Tory rule, 4 July saw a changing of the guard in British politics as Sir Keir Starmer stood on the steps of Downing Street to mark the start of a new Labour government and - according to the man himself - a decade of national renewal.Not that the result was ever in doubt, however. A cursory look at polls over the preceding year showed that a Labour landslide was very much on the cards, and it seemed like those aforementioned Dylan lyrics were about to ring true.

time-read
9 mins  |
October/November 2024
Staying Power- As they gave their first performance in the UK for five years, Rolling Stone UK caught up with Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, HAN, Felix, Seungmin and I.N, who together make up the record-breaking K-pop phenomenon Stray Kids
Rolling Stone UK

Staying Power- As they gave their first performance in the UK for five years, Rolling Stone UK caught up with Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, HAN, Felix, Seungmin and I.N, who together make up the record-breaking K-pop phenomenon Stray Kids

As they gave their first performance in the UK for five years, Rolling Stone UK caught up with Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, HAN, Felix, Seungmin and I.N, who together make up the record-breaking K-pop phenomenon Stray Kids. Here, they open up about the bonds they share between themselves and their devoted fans, as well as their common goal of super stardom

time-read
10+ mins  |
October/November 2024
BACK TO THE GRIND
Rolling Stone UK

BACK TO THE GRIND

The Clipse broke up when a spiritual path called to one of the brothers from Virginia. Now, one of the greatest duos in rap returns

time-read
10+ mins  |
October/November 2024
JAMIE XX WAVE AFTER WAVE
Rolling Stone UK

JAMIE XX WAVE AFTER WAVE

Nine years after his decade-defining debut album In Colour, Jamie xx returns with In Waves, a darker and broodier follow-up that saw him fall back in love with making music

time-read
10 mins  |
October/November 2024
"You can feel trapped when people perceive you as one thing"
Rolling Stone UK

"You can feel trapped when people perceive you as one thing"

On their career-best fourth album, Fontaines D.C. have shed their skin of old to deliver something more fantastical. Grian Chatten tells us the story behind their evolution

time-read
5 mins  |
October/November 2024
IN COMPLETE CONFIDENCE
Rolling Stone UK

IN COMPLETE CONFIDENCE

Confidence Man's Janet Planet and Sugar Bones go bigger and wilder than ever before on 3AM (LA LA LA), an album made about partying, while partying, and perfect for partying to

time-read
8 mins  |
October/November 2024