Fletcher: “Before I go on stage, I tell myself: ‘You are that bitch’”

Fletcher has spoken about her belief in the power of affirmations, self-love and her spectacularly vivid dreams in an interview for NME‘s In Conversation series.

The singer explained that starting to practice affirmations was the inspiration for her single ‘I Love You Bitch’, which has become a fan favourite at her live shows.

“I was listening to a podcast that was about [learning] how to love yourself in 21 days, and it [used] mirrorwork,” she said. “You had to look at yourself in a mirror and one of the exercises one day was like, ‘Say I love you and then fill in your name’. It was so awkward for me to do and I felt so uncomfortable and then I remember looking in the mirror and being like ‘I love you, bitch,’ and I was like, ‘That feels more like it’s on point’.”

She continued: “I’ve always struggled with pretty intense performance anxiety and before I go on stage I will make eye contact with myself and I will say, ‘You are that bitch. You are that bitch. You are that bitch. You can do anything, you can be anything, and I just say, ‘I love you’.

“When I first started doing that and practicing any sort of affirmations, it feels sort of wrong, it feels really uncomfortable, it feels really self-absorbed. But I think the more that you can grab onto your body, which has been something that I’ve been doing every day, I feel like we so often abandon our physical vessels and talk so mean about them and abuse them.

“The more that you can have gratitude for your body and be like, ‘Whoa, these legs, I was able to walk around today, they got me through the day. No matter what you say about yourself, you’re always coming up with a reason why it could be better and society reinforces that too. We live in a world that’s just constantly telling us that something needs to be different, something needs to look different. That’s just not true.”

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Asked when she made more of a conscious effort to practice self-love, Fletcher said: “It was over the pandemic for me, where I went through a period of my life where I didn’t think I wanted to do music anymore and I was second-guessing myself. I just remember having the shift, where I was like, ‘If I can just show up in a way that feels more truthful and honest and bearable for me, then this is something I wanna do and commit to. That’s how it started to come about.

“But I think it’s like a forever journey and a process. You don’t arrive at something overnight and suddenly you’re like, ‘I am everything.’ Just start saying that you are, because you are. Everything you’ve ever needed has already been right here.”

Fletcher recently opened for Panic! At The Disco on their farewell arena tour. When asked about her experience playing arenas, she said: “I’m way more used to playing in intimate spaces where I can feel people up close and I can grab their hands and reach them, and to not be able to touch people has been really difficult and interesting for me. But, you know, to have the opportunity to play on such a grand scale just has me manifesting, ‘Cool. I can’t wait to be back here and do this again with my own production. I’m always dreaming of the next thing.”

When it came to her own live experience, Fletcher described it as “just chaos”, adding: “That’s what you can expect at a Fletcher show. We are crying, we are dancing, we are living our best lives.”