You should be rooting for Fletcher, N.J.'s explosive and endearing new pop star (original) (raw)

Cari Fletcher began to cry Thursday night as she held up an old Stone Pony t-shirt for the audience to see.

The New Jersey singer had signed and dated it, she explained, after her last gig at the legendary Jersey Shore club, in July 2015 — playing to “literally 30 people,” she said.

But this was a new Fletcher, a revitalized pop artist performing before nearly 1,000 shrieking fans, many of whom knew every word to her latest buzzy jams.

“This is the best show I’ve ever had ... little Cari is freaking the f*** out right now,” she admitted through tears, her voice cracking.

What a difference four years — and one life-changing hit single — can make.

Fletcher, 25 and originally from Wall Township, is quickly approaching her dream of pop superstardom as the singer’s infectiously regretful new tune, “Undrunk,” caught fire after its January release, soaring past 60 million listens on Spotify and marking the songwriter’s first single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 (No. 61). “Undrunk,” which details remorseful feelings after a late-night rendezvous with an ex-lover, also cracked the Top 10 of the Billboard Dance chart, unleashing the first breakout pop single of 2019 and establishing a new, wider fanbase for the artist who’s been running pop’s rat race since she was 17.

In 2011, Fletcher, then a junior at Wall High School, auditioned for Fox’s “The X Factor” reality show and advanced to the Top 10 as a member of the country-pop girl group Lakoda Rayne (the group was formed by the show’s judges after then-very-green Fletcher and others didn’t survive the solo rounds).

Fletcher performs Sept. 5, 2019, at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey.Matt Smith | For NJ Advance Media

The group disbanded after being eliminated from the show and Fletcher soldiered on, finishing high school, gigging around Asbury Park’s bar scene and attending the prestigious Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University.

But then she took a year off to try her luck at songwriting in Nashville, and so came the unexpected success of her debut single, a booming pop number called “War Paint,” which topped Spotify’s Viral Chart in 2015 and got industry folks talking — could this new voice from reality TV actually make it in the real world?

But it simply wasn’t Fletcher’s time; “War Paint” didn’t draw crowds — hence the 30-person showing at the Stone Pony — and her self-released debut EP, 2016’s “Finding Fletcher,” didn’t make waves in the vast sea of pop singers all searching for their big break.

Fletcher kept at it, writing new music and raising her voice as an active member of pop’s burgeoning LGBT community (she’s currently dating queer YouTube star Shannon Beveridge). She signed a contract with Capitol Records last summer and worked with more high-profile collaborators, including songwriter Amy Allen (Selena Gomez, Halsey) and producer Malay (Frank Ocean, Lorde), who helped the Jersey girl pump up “Undrunk,” reigniting her career — and this time, it feels like it’s going to keep on burning.

Thursday at the Pony, Fletcher was buoyant and comfortable throughout her “hometown show,” her creamy vocal tone ringing clear and controlled — thankfully, without a backing track — as the singer paced back and forth across stage, her wavy blonde locks trailing behind. Last month, Fletcher released her label-debut EP, “You Ruined New York City For Me” — “do you have an ex you absolutely hate? So do I, and I wrote all these songs about it,” she noted to the crowd — and ran through each tune this night, opening with the sultry “If You’re Gonna Lie” as the mostly female crowd belted the hook: “if you’re gonna lie, do it in my bed.”

Fletcher performs Sept. 5, 2019, at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey.Matt Smith | For NJ Advance Media

Fletcher bounced and sang for an hour, backed by a guitarist and drummer as she mixed in a couple of covers; the obligatory Springsteen tribute came mid-way as she and her small band knocked out a vanilla rendition of “I’m On Fire.” The better cover was her take on Scottish folk-pop singer Lewis Capaldi’s chart-topping hit, “Someone You Loved,” which featured a handful of sweet, little runs and a dynamic vocal performance. Fletcher also cut the chorus of Khalid’s hit “Talk” into her older tune “You Should Talk” for a fun mash-up.

While the performance could’ve used a bass guitar for some extra thump, and Fletcher will surely need to vary her style a bit more — beyond her crop of mid-tempo electro-tinged songs — if she plans to truly crash through the pop ceiling, this was certainly an endearing return for the local singer, who seemed genuinely moved by the support from her fellow New Jerseyans.

Fletcher performs Sept. 5, 2019, at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey.Matt Smith | For NJ Advance Media

As expected, the smash “Undrunk” — which includes The Stone Pony in its music video — was saved for the end of the night, and as Fletcher allowed the small army of fans to sing the titanic chorus, she danced with her hand on her forehead, grinning incredulously.

Believe it, Cari. It might have taken longer than expected, but you’re now the most popular new artist repping Asbury Park — Jersey’s greatest music town — as your home base. Whatever happens from here, we’ll be rooting for you.

Bobby Olivier may be reached at bolivier@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@BobbyOlivier and Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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