Lusting over your ex is dramatic enough, but writing a horny song about your ex’s current partner, well … it’s giving messy. That’s what X-Factor alum and TikToker Fletcher did on her new track “Becky’s So Hot,†from her upcoming debut album Girl of My Dreams. A full snippet of the song debuted on TikTok on July 12 and immediately set lesbian internet communities on fire. Fletcher — born Cari Fletcher in Asbury Park, New Jersey — known for her heartbreak-pop and TikTok-ready songs, holds court over a queer corner of the app with her lifestyle vlogs soundtracked by her music beamed to 740,000 followers. “Becky’s So Hot†isn’t about just anybody. Becky Missal is the real-life partner of 30-year-old YouTube veteran Shannon Beveridge, who won the award for Best LGBTQ+ YouTube Channel at the 2017 Shorty Awards for nowthisisliving, and who used to date Fletcher. Beveridge even inspired Fletcher’s 2020 visual album THE S(EX) TAPES and served as the project’s cinematographer and director. So, it’s no surprise that the song immediately inspired passionate discourse about the ethics of writing sexually provocative songs about your ex’s current lover and the “unhinged†lesbian post-breakup.
The trouble began when Fletcher diehards noticed the singer mouthing the word “Becky†in the song’s censored TikTok preview on July 11 — a decision that made it clear exactly whom the song was referring to. Anyone who’s committed to Shannon and Fletcher’s past knows that the two kept their four-year relationship out of the public eye, though their courtship was long speculated. Their breakup was announced in 2020 upon the release of Fletcher’s S(EX) TAPES, after the two created an entire visual album while quarantining together in New Jersey. By all accounts, that album indicated an amicable breakup where the former partners could reasonably stand to create art together. The image of amiability was shattered when “Becky’s So Hot†appeared on people’s TikTok For You Page. With lyrics like “If I were you, I’d probably want to keep her / ’Cause Becky’s so hot in your vintage T-shirt / Ooh, she’s the one I should hate / But I wanna know how she tastes.â€
Hundreds of TikTok videos soon emerged using the snippet’s sound, with some criticizing Fletcher while others thought the song accurately described their own post-breakup messiness. “Thank you fletcher for normalizing being messy and calling your ex-girlfriend’s current girlfriend hot BY NAME in a song,†one user subtitled a video, with the caption reading, “ICON BEHAVIOR LMFAO.†Another person gave Fletcher a backhanded thank-you for making her past breakup behavior look less crazy: “I just want to give a huge personal shout out and thank you to Fletcher … You have made every unhinged action I’ve done in a breakup look completely sane,†they wrote. While an observer called the song “stereotypically lesbian,†a more woke person thought the song was “fucking toxic … this kind of toxicity is deeply rooted in misogyny even when it’s two women or two femme presenting people.†That commenter continued, “You’re simultaneously saying you want to fuck your ex’s girlfriend and you want to hit her? … Queer people can suck too. No, [this is] not bad bitch behavior, just bad behavior.†At the time of writing, there are over 1,300 videos streaming on the app using the “Becky’s So Hot†sound.
“An empath would never,†Beveridge tweeted in her first apparent response to the song on July 12. The empath she’s referring to could be Fletcher, who was named V magazine’s “Empath†in 2016. Shady, but true! That same day, Becky flat-out responded “no†to an Instagram comment asking if she “gave a thumbs up for fletcher to write her new song.†And there was the PR move of it all, which Beveridge alludes to in a July 18 TikTok. “This is not PR that I am a part of,†she says in the video. “This is not a collaboration. Number two, no one asked permission. I just wanted you to hear that from me.†But Fletcher says the song came from the heart. “I was in the studio and I was stalking my ex-girlfriend’s new girlfriend on Instagram,†she says in a July 20 interview with Zane Lowe. “I saw a picture of her wearing an old vintage T-shirt of my ex’s and its one that I’ve worn as well. And I’m looking at the photo, and I’m like, ‘Damn, she’s so hot.’ And I accidentally liked the picture … I kept [the like] because you have to lean in. I’m going to own the fact that I was creeping.†A day after the song’s official release, Fletcher asked her “fam,†a.k.a. her fans, to not throw negativity or comment on anyone’s Instagram posts. But, uh, if you’ve dated Fletcher, maybe go on private.