On the opening track of her second album, FLETCHER reveals that she's been called a sick, permanently numb, narcissistic crazy b—. And FLETCHER has one thing to say about that perception: "maybe I am."

It's a stark contrast to the narrative that opened the pop singer's debut LP, 2022's Girl of My Dreams ("Cause lately I've been feeling kinda lonely/ Kinda like nobody knows me anymore," she sings on "20 Something"). But it also highlights the growth evident on FLETCHER's new project, In Search of the Antidote.

While the freshly 30-year-old artist has never been afraid to pour her heart out and speak her mind (see her 2019 breakthrough "Undrunk" or her viral Girl of My Dreams hit, "Becky's So Hot"), In Search of the Antidote is FLETCHER at her most assured. Across 11 guitar-driven tracks, she embraces everything from the harsh realities of fame ("Doing Better"), to the pain of letting someone go ("Two Things Can Be True") and the rush of new love ("Joyride"). 

"It's the most f—ing unhinged and chaotic s— I've ever said, and also, the most healed," the singer, whose birth name is Cari Fletcher, tells GRAMMY.com of the album. "With growth and change comes evolution, both as a human being and as an artist. I've always, always, always sung from my heart, but every time it gets to be a deeper dive, because I get to know more of me. And the music just evolves with that." 

Below, FLETCHER details the personal deep dive that helped her create In Search of the Antidote, and why this album is "the bridge of where Cari meets FLETCHER."

"[In Search Of is] a beautiful integration of me as a human being and me as an artist."

The difference between Girl of My Dreams and In Search of the Antidote was the headspace that I was in. I had taken quite a bit of time off last year to navigate some things with my health, and it forced me to get still and get quiet — outside of, you know, the shows, and social media, and just this constant inundation of validation from an external world.

While I was on this healing journey with my health and with my body [FLETCHER was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2023], I was creating this music at the same time. And because I didn't have the energy to be able to put on any sort of facade or any sort of character, I ended up getting the truest music from my heart.

Having that space allowed me to sonically go elsewhere, vocally go elsewhere, conceptually, thematically. Obviously with the through line of it always just being me, but this music came from a different place in my heart.

I think people can only meet you as deeply as you've met yourself. So the version of me that's existed on previous records was just the level of depth within myself that I was able to access at the time. But as we grow, and we evolve, and we have life experiences, we reach these new levels of our awareness, and our consciousness, and the depths of who we are and our own emotions. 

This album is, like, the bridge of where Cari meets FLETCHER. In the past, Cari's always been there, but there's just been more of a beautiful integration of me as a human being and me as an artist in this project.

"F—ing question absolutely everything."

I have a song on my album called "Doing Better." It's a deeper reflection into this idea of the notion of fame, and when you start to achieve some of the things that you've wanted for so long — and then looking at all the ways that it doesn't necessarily feel like you thought it was going to. And then, navigating things with your health and your mental health [on top of that].

When all of that is sort of just compiling into one moment, you are absolutely forced to really do a deep dive and look at yourself in the mirror, and f—ing question absolutely everything. This album is an answer to a lot of those beckoning, deeper questions that I was sort of in search of the answer to.

There's a song that opens my album and it's called "Maybe I Am," and that song was written as a response of, What if we believed what everybody else had to say about us? And then all the ways that that forces you deeper into yourself, like, Who am I? What is my intention? Where is my heart? Why do I do the things that I do? What place am I acting from? 

All of that pushed me deeper into myself and into exploring and knowing myself. All of it — the platform, everything that came from the last era — deeply informed the rest of how my journey has gone over the last year. And this record is a response to it.

"Chaos is feeling all your feelings."

I think people have this perception that once you embark on some sort of healing, transformational journey of working on yourself, that everything's all good, and it's all love and light. But actually, the magic in all of it is the integration of the messy feelings, the chaotic feelings — giving voice to all of the parts of you.

There were moments on this album where my ego really needed the microphone — even while knowing that some of these things that I'm saying are not coming from my healthiest, happiest, healed version of me. We have to let all of these other things arise [in order] to be to be felt and to be seen. 

The FLETCHER brand has become synonymous with the word chaos. And I would like a redefinition, folks. Please. [Laughs.] 

I don't know that I necessarily think [the "chaos" label] was a negative thing. It's a perception it's a lens that people have viewed me through. But I'm all of it, you know? That was the thing, even with "Maybe I Am" — like, "Yeah, maybe I am f—ing crazy b—, what would you say then?" 

To me, chaos is just, like, feeling all your feelings. It's both the beauty and the absolute heartbreak that it is to be living a human experience. We get to feel it all. 

I get to be the fullest expression of myself through my music. To have that, and then to be able to share that, and give someone else permission to just be in all of it, that's why I do it. 

"I just have more acceptance for the process."

On Girl of My Dreams, there's a lot of narratives about other people. And while there are on this record, too, it's me learning about myself through other experiences. With "Doing Better," I'm poking fun at myself in those verses, and even through that, I was able to find myself in a different way. That is the exploration of love in all of its infinite manifestations, which just shows up as every feeling. And when I say love, I don't just mean romantic love or self-love. It's a universal love, and the world just being in such a need of that. 

This is an album for little Cari to feel all the ways that she felt, like, not paid attention to, or her feelings were too big or too scary. FLETCHER gets to wear them on her sleeve now — through a reclamation of all of the parts of me that society wants to tell us are too much. Just being it all and not shying away from it. 

It f—ed me up for a minute, and then I was like, "Wait, wait, wait — who are we?" And that's the thing — you start to learn your own internal navigation system, and the truth of who you really are. And I just am like, "This is what I want to say, and this is how I want to show up." It's always a refinement. I get to show up in this way with this album, and who knows how I'll show up next.

I just have more acceptance for the process and knowing there's no end goal to reach. I think there was always this version of me in the past that was like, When I achieve this accolade, and this amount of money, I'll be good, I'll be happy, and everything that I've been stressed about will just go away. And that's just not true. 

When you really get to fall in love with the richness of you and who you are, then everything else just feels like an addition, and feels fun. I think that's where I'm at now. I feel excited to go play shows, and see my fans, and scream these songs together without an attachment on what it has to do or who I have to be. Just more of me loving me, and getting to be with this music in a way that feels really present.

Listen: GRAMMY.com's Women's History Month 2024 Playlist: Female Empowerment Anthems From Beyoncé, Ariana Grande, Jennie & More

In a time where pop balances between intimate vulnerability and brazen confidence, queer pop stars like Chappell Roan, Billie Eilish, Reneé Rapp, FLETCHER, and girl in red are spearheading a movement of their own: the lesbian pop renaissance.

The unofficially coined cultural craze has seen a number of queer women sing openly and explicitly about their same-sex relationships. And they're not holding back: "She was a Playboy, Brigitte Bardot/ She showed me things I didn't know," swoons Roan in "Red Wine Supernova," while Eilish gushes "she dances on my tongue" in "Lunch," and FLETCHER confesses in "girls, girls, girls" that she "kissed a girl and…really, really liked it."

This era of openly sapphic joy follows a history of hardships, with decades of queer artists defying prejudice and homophobia to sing openly about their desires and emotions. It's not been an easy journey — and struggles are still painfully evident. When grilled about her sexuality last year, Eilish declared on Instagram, "I like boys and girls leave me alone about it"; it echoed Dusty Springfield's 1970s interview when she revealed, "I'm perfectly capable of being swayed by a girl as by a boy... and I don't see why I shouldn't."

Some have defined sapphic pop as a subgenre of indie or bedroom pop, and others have celebrated the more anthemic, upbeat "sapphic bops." But in reality, no one style of music encapsulates lesbian/sapphic songs; these artists are united by loving and desiring other women — some openly, while others were restrained due to societal pressures.

The current wave of unapologetic queer stars marks a pivotal moment in music history, where sapphic pop is no longer cornered in lesbian circles and gay clubs, but dominating mainstream airwaves, and influencing global pop trends while being rightfully celebrated by the masses. So as the current queer female stars continue to thrive, it's important to pay homage to all of the artists that paved the way.

Read on for a history of defiantly queer women and nonbinary people in music — a celebration of who they are, how they have loved and their remarkable musical imprint.

Costa Rican artist Chavela Vargas began singing in Mexican cantinas as a teenager in the 1950s, becoming a key figure of Mexico City's bohemian artistic boom. With slick, short hair and a powerful presence, Vargas sang regional Mexican music with hoarse fragility in her songs, including "Las simples cosas" and the haunting "La Llorona" (which means "The Weeping Woman"); her sobbing voice echoing the song's grieving protagonist.

With love songs addressed to women and an androgynous sense of style, Vargas never hid her sexuality, but first openly spoke about her lesbianism when she was 81. Before her death in 2012 at the age of 93, she lived a fascinating and exuberant life, was a friend and lover of Frida Kahlo and is rumored to have had flings with the likes of Ava Gardner. With her heart-wrenching vocal command, she is considered one of the most important artists in Latin American folk, and remains a towering figure in Latin American queer history.

Decades before female musicians began openly embracing their sexuality, Dusty Springfield cooly shrugged at rumors about her own — her aforementioned 1970 "coming out" interview solidifies her status as one of the first openly queer female pop stars.

Rising to fame in the 1960s with her blonde beehive and dark eye makeup, Springfield frequented London gay clubs at the height of the Swinging Sixties (which, ironically, didn’t have anything to do with queerness). With hits including "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" and "Son of a Preacher Man," her powerful voice channeled emotion with unnerving vulnerability. Though her music was never quite as frank as she was in the public eye, a few of Springfield's later releases touched on queer themes (1979's "Closet Man" and her 1989 collab with Pet Shop Boys, "In Private").

The second-wave feminist movement in the U.S. pushed gender issues to the core of the country's socio-politico agenda, including fights for abortion rights (Roe v. Wade in 1973) and the ferocious push to pass the Equal Rights Amendment. Women artists were showing they were more than pop glam, picking up guitars and refusing to dress up for the cameras, favoring casual attire; sapphic pop was entering an era of authenticity and emotional honesty. Along the way, a group of feminist lesbians set up Olivia Records.

In 1975, Olivia's co-founder Cris Williamson released her politically charged folk album, The Changer and The Changed, one of the highest-selling independent records of the time; two years later, Linda Tillery's funk-soul track "Womanly Way" explored the sensual side of sapphic love: "I think I'd like to get to know you in a special kind of womanly way" she croons. Pioneering trans sound engineer Sandy Stone was an integral part of the Olivia team until she was forced to leave after receiving harrowing threats from separatist groups, sadly marking the steady decline of the groundbreaking label. 

In the UK, Joan Armatradingattracted buzz after performing gigs around her native Birmingham, earning fans for her slick guitar, melodic piano and powerful vocals. Though her lyrics were gender-neutral, Armatrading's music was largely embraced by the lesbian community — including the 1978 song "Taking My Baby Up Town," which celebrates queer love despite the prejudice and homophobia of the time ("You kissed me/ And then all the people started to stare/ We started a commotion/ Someone making comments, morals/ The state of affairs and I said, "What we got is the best"). In 2008, she performed on Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Tour, which raised funds for LGBTQIA+ charities; she has spoken openly about her sexuality in the past decade, and has been in a civil partnership with Maggie Butler since 2011.

The '80s brought a spirit of punk into the mainstream, and queer circles were attracted to the music's rebellion and rage. British-Canadian singer Carole Pope was part of the rock band Rough Trade, characteristically clad in leather and singing raunchy songs dedicated to the joys of BDSM and girl-on-girl eroticism. Rough Trade's lustful 1980 song "High School Confidential" shocked listeners at the time: "It makes me cream my jeans when she comes my way," swoons Pope. In 1981, she had a brief (but intense) relationship with Dusty Springfield.

A new folk movement was quietly brewing in the hushed tones and poignant strums of Tracy Chapman. Though she has never spoken publicly about her sexuality, her GRAMMY-winning hit "Fast Car" has been embraced as a lesbian anthem for its ideals of escapism and unhinged freedom. (Chapman's sexuality was later confirmed by her former lover, author Alice Walker, who spoke about their mid-90s relationship in 2006, though there's no disclosed relation to "Fast Car.")

Folk-rock duo Indigo Girls, who are both openly lesbian, formed in 1985 and immediately cultivated a cult queer following that led to a major label deal in 1988. Their 1989 self-titled album — which spawned the celebrated queer anthem "Closer to Fine" — went double platinum in the U.S. and won a GRAMMY for Best Contemporary Folk Recording in 1990. Just this year, the duo released a documentary, It's Only Life After All, which charts their journey, revealing the homophobic snubs they've stoically endured throughout their career.

Meanwhile, South AfricanBrenda Fassie began making music with her band the Big Dudes in the early 1980s, combining pop with hip-hop and kwaito. While Fassie did not explicitly sing about being queer, she often referred to herself as a lesbian and never hid her relationships with women. A staunch anti-apartheid campaigner, Fassie made pop with powerful social commentary; she was even hailed as the "Madonna of the Townships" for her brazen lyrics. Thought to be Africa's first openly queer pop star, Fassie remains a beacon of acceptance and tolerance in a region where homophobia is still rife — even two decades after her passing.

Building on the folk origins of Chapman and Indigo Girls, k.d. lang initially broke through with several country hits in the late '80s, but ruffled feathers with country radio when she came out as a lesbian in 1992. Nonetheless, she never backed down from who she was, and it launched her to sapphic pop stardom. Lang's alluring stage presence and a sensual masc charm helped her score a global hit with 1992's "Constant Craving," which has been cited as an ode to lesbian love. The song won a GRAMMY for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1993 — the same year she posed for a steamy Vanity Fair photoshoot with Cindy Crawford, which goes down in the lesbian history books.

In the late '90s, teenage twins Tegan and Sara picked up guitars and began performing confessional acoustic songs with big pop hooks and grunge elements (1999 track "Proud" features empowering lines such as "Freedom and blood/ I make my mark and fight for tomorrow… I'm proud to be me"). Their unapologetically queer music videos were intentional in their push for inclusion, complete with same-sex make-out scenes featuring LGBTQIA+ actors. The sisters, both openly lesbian, had a cameo in the cult lesbian series "The L Word," and their nonprofit Tegan and Sara Foundation promotes for LGBTQIA+ equality by raising funds for health care programs, summer camp and more.

The 2000s marked a shift away from the acoustic confessionals of the decades prior, with a move into club beats and big pop hooks. Queer band the Gossip, starring charismatic, rebellious frontwoman Beth Ditto, broke all expectations of what pop could be and look like, with punk chords, disco beats and a belting voice. Their 2005 smash hit album, Standing in the Way of Control, confronted the marginalization and fear experienced by the queer community. The album's titular song was written in resistance to George Bush's attempt to outlaw same-sex marriage; "Standing in the way of control/ You live your life/ Survive the only way that you know," screamed Ditto.

Before developing a synth-pop sound on later albums, Chile's Javiera Mena carved emotional, melodic songs on her keyboard with her 2006 debut, Esquemas Juveniles; the album featured heartfelt love songs like "Camera Lenta," which eschewed pronouns to sing about "the different paths to your eyes" in Spanish. Though she became more explicit with her sexuality in the 2010s — particularly on the lesbo-erotic hit "Espada" — Mena has been recognized as one of the pioneers in Latin America's LGBTQIA+ movement, alongside Ricky Martin, Kany Garcia and Pabllo Vittar.

London teenager Elly Jackson, better known as La Roux, immediately broke onto the pop scene with her smash "Bulletproof," and attracted a queer following for her androgynous looks — a refreshing anecdote to the chart dominance of hyper femme pop-stars of the time. While Jackson initially eschewed any labels, not wanting to be confined to queer audiences and baffled by the public speculation on her sexuality, she later embraced her place as an LGBTQIA+ icon (her 2014 track "Cruel Sexuality" appears to address her own journey: "Cruel sexuality / Am I a fool to let you trouble me?").

The 2010s marked a significant push for marriage equality, with same-sex marriage rights being awarded in countries like the U.S., UK, Argentina, Germany, and Australia, among others. This movement for equality was paralleled by a growing visibility of LGBTQ+ representation in pop culture — and sapphic pop was beginning to resonate more than ever before.

L.A.-bred trio MUNA released their indie pop debut, About You, in 2017, loaded with heartfelt songs that helped the trio quickly cultivate a die-hard following of queer fans. Listeners identified with the band's rebellion about heteronormative tropes and coming-of-age queer songs like "It's Gonna Be Okay, Baby" ("Your gonna move to New York, and experiment with communism/ Go down on a girl/ After reading her some Frantz Fanon").

Another bisexual indie darling (and MUNA's eventual "Silk Chiffon" collaborator), Phoebe Bridgers, also released her debut in 2017. Titled Stranger in the Alps, the album navigated toxic relationships, as well as Bridgers' experiences with women, with queer fans gravitating toward her unprecedented bisexual representation.

A year later, Bridgers teamed up with fellow LGBTQIA+ stars Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus to form the supergroup boygenius. The trio has flipped the "boy band" trope on its head, showing that masculine heartthrobs can emerge from feminine fluidity. With lyrics that delve into queer love and heartbreak — and live shows featuring plenty of onstage making out — the band has had a seismic impact on the sapphic pop landscape (and won three GRAMMYs in the process).

In the mid-aughts, U.S. pop star Hayley Kiyoko was experimenting with her artistry following the split of being in girl group The Stunners. Reintroducing herself as a solo star in 2013, Kiyoko had the freedom to explore lyrical themes that were more true to her own experience — like her 2015 breakthrough hit, "Girls Like Girls." The song, and accompanying music video, cemented her place in the queer pop canon; which Kiyoko has followed up with several songs about queer love and relationships, including "What I Need" featuring Kehlani (who came out as lesbian in 2021 and has since explored her own sapphic narratives, like 2020's "Tangerine.")

After hinting at their sexuality with the breakup song "Talia" in 2017, King Princess, who is genderqueer, went all-in on their queerness with the laid-back indie love song "Pussy is God" in 2018. Since then, they've built a cult following with songs marked by blatant honesty in a shifting age of gender identity and sexual expression — like 2022's "Sex Shop," which contemplates the use of strap-ons and binders.

Meanwhile, pansexual and nonbinary artist Janelle Monaédonned vagina-shaped pants for their symbolic video "Pynk," their 2018 sapphic sex anthem from Dirty Computer — a queer afro-futurist album that rebelled against the conservative policies of the then-incumbent Trump administration ("If you try to grab my pussy cat/ This pussy cat grab you back" they spit on "I Got The Juice"). The album's accompanying science-fiction film featured Monaé playing an android on the run with a lover, played by Tessa Thompson. Monaé's went even more explicitly queer in follow-up album The Age of Pleasure, a hedonistic kaleidoscope of funk, pop and reggae ("I like lipstick on my neck, leave a ticky hickey in a place I won't forget," they flirt on "Lipstick Lover").

Though we're only four years into the 2020s, the decade has been marked by an explosion of sapphic pop. New Jersey pop star FLETCHER helped kick off the movement in 2020 with her EP The S(ex) Tapes, which navigated the end of a lesbian relationship through dark pop hooks loaded with sensual energy. Two years later, she doubled down on the lesbian narrative with her debut album, Girl Of My Dreams, which spawned one of the most viral queer songs of the decade this far, "Becky's So Hot." (In between, she delivered another lesbian bop alongside Kiyoko with 2021's "Cherry.")

Norwegian indie star girl in red, who is openly queer, cultivated a huge online following after the release of standalone early singles (in the track "i wanna be your girlfriend," she sings, "Oh Hannah… I don't wanna be your friend/ I wanna kiss your lips"), before releasing her highly anticipated debut if i could make it go quiet in 2021, featuring songs like "Did You Come?" ("Did you do the things you know I like? Roll your tongue, make her cum 20 times?"). Her connection to lesbians and bisexual women was so strong that the term "do you listen to girl in red?" evolved into a code to identify fellow queers on Sapphic TikTok.

In the Latin urban scene, openly gay Puerto Rican star Young Mikko is shaking up reggaeton with her assured flow and cheeky, suggestive singles including "Peach" — an ode to her lover's rounded butt. Brazilian star Ludmilla makes listeners blush with her sensual track "Sintomas de Prazer," talking about getting turned on while giving her lover pleasure.

After Billie Eilish established herself as one of the biggest pop stars of her generation, she faced intense pressure to come out as queer in November 2023. Six months later, her sexuality became a central theme in her third album, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT — particularly the album's first single, "LUNCH," a fearless ride on pleasuring women. She seems to be enjoying her newfound freedom, too: in her recent remix of Charli XCX's "Guess," she deviously sings, "I wanna … kiss it bite it, can I fit it?/ Charli likes boys, but she knows I'd hit it."

Eilish was one of many Coachella 2024 performers who brought sapphic pop to the desert. Reneé Rapp's set was introduced by the cast of "The L Word," Ludmilla's shared a tender onstage kiss with her wife during love song "Maldivas", and of course, Chappell Roan — decked in her Eat Me tee — had thousands to sing along with her unabashedly kinky hits.

Roan herself is redefining pop, with outfits inspired by drag aesthetic and lyrics that are unapologetically sapphic ("Knee deep in the passenger's seat and you're eating me out/ Are we casual now?" she sings in country pop ballad "Casual"). In August, Roan broke records for attracting Lollapalooza's largest-ever crowd, and her rapidly rising fame helped her 2023 album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, reach No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard 200 (and a UK No. 1) nearly a year after its release.

Lesbian and queer artists have been making music for decades — and with artists more openly celebrating their sexuality than ever before, it's an undeniably exciting and historic time for the LGBTQIA+ music community. A new era of sapphic pop is upon us, and it's hot, explicit and gleefully unrestrained. You could even call it a femininomenon.

It seems there's never a dull moment in pop music. But in 2021, the genre's rising stars and longtime greats all came out swinging, always giving fans something to be excited about.

Taylor Swift and her unofficial protege, Olivia Rodrigo, made for two of the biggest stories of the year: Swift began releasing her rerecorded albums, and Rodrigo had the world listening after she dropped her global phenomenon "driver's license."

Pop expanded its palette this year, too, with K-pop experiencing its biggest year yet and Nigeria proving that its Afropop stars have some serious promise.

On top of all of that, fans finally received some of pop's most-anticipated albums in 2021, making for a year that was truly monumental and memorable. Take a look at eight of the genre's most prominent trends below.

Teenage Angst Took Over

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From the moment 2021 began, there was no denying it was going to be the year of Olivia Rodrigo. With the runaway chart and streaming successes of her two biggest hits so far — the teenage heartbreak ballad "driver's license" and the angsty, Paramore-sampling "good 4 u," which both debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100 — the 18-year-old was at the helm of young stars who weren't afraid to get raw and real in 2021.

A sense of vulnerability was the through-line of pop's new wave this year, and it clearly resonated. In addition to Rodrigo's triumphs, Australian breakout The Kid LAROI landed a Top 10 hit with the gut-wrenching acoustic track "Without You" as well as a Hot 100 and pop radio No. 1 with the Justin Bieber-assisted bop "Stay." And if the honest lyrics of his hit singles aren't enough indication, just look at the title of its parent album: F--- Love.

Tate McRae, another 18-year-old, also hit a sweet spot with her peers with her anti-sympathetic breakup song, "you broke me first." The song has amassed more than one billion streams worldwide, also reaching No. 1 on pop radio.

Of course, Gen Z first got in their feelings thanks to Billie Eilish, and she continued to carry her torch in 2021 with the release of her second album, Happier Than Ever. Though the album's jazz-influenced, downtempo nature was a departure from the trap-led sound of her debut, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, it lyrically stayed right in line with the trenchant honesty that made her a star — and, seemingly, opened the floodgates for her teen successors.

"Taylor's Versions" Caused a Frenzy

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Nearly two years after Taylor Swift announced that she'd be re-recording her first six albums in order to regain artistic and financial control, the first two albums arrived in 2021. And boy, did Swifties have a field day.

The country starlet turned pop superstar knew exactly what her loyal legion of followers would want, releasing remakes of fan favorites Fearless and Red this year. Upon the April release of Fearless (Taylor's Version), the album had the biggest opening day for an album on Spotify in 2021, garnering 50 million global streams on its first day and subsequently debuting atop the Billboard 200.

Yet, it was Red (Taylor's Version) that became a phenomenon, becoming the most-streamed album in a day from a female artist on Spotify with nearly 91 million global first-day streams (breaking the record she previously set with 2020's Folklore). The album's immediate draw owed partial thanks to a 10-minute version of her beloved power ballad "All Too Well," which took on a life of its own. Along with becoming a short film that Swift debuted in New York City and earning the singer her eighth No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, it also blew up the Twittersphere with scathing (yet amusing) tweets about the song's supposed subject, actor Jake Gyllenhaal.

Among Red (Taylor's Version)'s many other feats, the 10-minute, 13-second version of "All Too Well" also became the longest song to top the Hot 100. With four re-records still left to release, who knows what kind of records Swift will break next?

Black Women Took The Genre By Storm

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While 2021 wasn't necessarily a breakout year for Doja Cat or Normani, it was the year that both stars came into their own — and, ultimately, reinvented the pop star ideal.

After teasing her pop sensibility with her 2020 smash "Say So," Doja Cat struck pop gold again with the SZA-featuring "Kiss Me More." The disco-tinged hit was just one of the many A-list collaborations on Doja's hailed album Planet Her, which has accumulated more than 3 billion streams since its June release and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

On the opposite end, Normani — who got her start in pop girl group Fifth Harmony and saw her first two solo hits (2018's "Love Lies" and 2019's "Dancing With a Stranger") take over pop radio — reminded listeners of her versatility in 2021. Following an empowered team-up with Megan Thee Stallion for the Birds of Prey soundtrack, Normani recruited Cardi B to help bring out her R&B side on the sexy slow jam "Wild Side," which earned the 25-year-old singer her first hit on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart (in the top 5, no less).

Two artists who did have breakout years were Beyoncé protegee Chloë and German singer/songwriter Zoe Wees. Chloë, one half of R&B duo Chloe x Halle, released her debut solo single "Have Mercy" to critical acclaim, putting on showstopping performances of the song at the MTV Video Music Awards and the American Music Awards. Wees closed out the AMAs with a powerful rendition of her poignant song, "Girls Like Us," the follow-up to her viral hit "Control."

Artists Loudly Proclaimed Their Sexuality

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As acceptance becomes more prominent within mainstream music, stars are latching on to the new era of being open about however they identify.

Though Lil Nas X came out as gay in 2019, his sonic proclamation came in controversial form with "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)." The video for the flamenco-dripped track — whose title references the 2017 gay romance film Call Me By Your Name — depicted biblical and Satanic scenes in racy fashion. Despite resulting in backlash from religious groups, the song and video's bold statement served as an impactful one for the LGBTQ+ community — as Lil Nas put it himself, pushing for "more acceptance, more open-mindedness amongst humanity as a whole."

Demi Lovato (who announced they are non-binary in May) featured a song about their sexual fluidity on their seventh album, Dancing With the Devil, released in April. The wavy "The Kind of Lover I Am" declares "Doesn't matter, you're a woman or a man/ That's the kind of lover I am" on its rolling chorus.

Bringing back one of pop's first sexual fluidity anthems, Fletcher interpolated Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl" for her own single "Girls Girls Girls," which marked "the freedom and the celebration I've been craving my whole life," she said in a press release. One month later, she teamed up with Hayley Kiyoko (who has been dubbed "Lesbian Jesus" by her fans) for "Cherry," a flirty sapphic jam.

K-Pop's English Infusion Blew Up

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Thanks to the likes of BTS and BLACKPINK — and now countless other groups — K-pop has made its way into the U.S. pop market in a major way in recent years. As it has continued to boom, more and more artists are releasing songs that are completely in English — and the genre is arguably bigger than ever.

Less than a year after BTS first dabbled in English-language singles with 2020's smash "Dynamite," they delivered the biggest hit of their career with the smooth sensation "Butter." The song debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for 10 non-consecutive weeks — a streak initially broken up by their third English-language hit, "Permission to Dance."

BLACKPINK saw two of its members go solo in 2021, Lisa and Rosé, who each issued English-language singles of their own. Lisa's "Money" and Rosé's "On The Ground" both landed on the Hot 100, respectively garnering more than 375 million and 255 million YouTube views alone.

Several other acts released notable English-language tracks, with SEVENTEEN and TWICE each putting out their first: "2 MINUS 1" features SEVENTEEN members Joshua and Vernon, and "The Feels" became TWICE's first top 20 hit on the Billboard Global 200, where it reached No. 12.

Read More: 5 K-Pop Songwriters & Producers Who Defined 2021: SUMIN, Teddy Park, ADORA, RM & SUGA

Pop Became More Global Than Ever Before

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South Korea isn't the only far-flung country having a moment. In fact, Nigeria is arguably one of the most fruitful geographical founts of music — particularly thanks to the recent Afropop explosion.

Wizkid — who first saw global success with his Drake collaboration, "One Dance," in 2016 — earned his first Billboard Hot 100 hit as a lead artist with the R&B-tinged single "Essence." The song features fellow Nigerian singer Tems, making history as the first Nigerian song to break the Hot 100 top 10. The sultry track caught the attention of Justin Bieber, who hopped on a remix and declared it the "song of the summer."

Bieber also enlisted Nigerian star Burna Boy for his widely praised LP, Justice, one of the singer/rapper's many pop-driven appearances in 2021, including Sia, Jon Bellion and John Legend. 

Two other rising Nigerian acts, Joeboy and Fireboy DML, saw their Afropop takes resonate this year, too. Joeboy's "Alcohol" inspired a viral TikTok craze, and the success of Fireboy's "Peru" landed a remix with Ed Sheeran in December.

Elsewhere, Latin still proves to have a profound impact in the pop world. Puerto Rican newcomer Rauw Alejandro's irresistibly catchy "Todo De Ti" made its way to mainstream radio, as did Maluma's global hit "Hawái," the latter thanks to a remix with The Weeknd. And Pop queens Christina Aguilera and Selena Gomez also honored their Latin roots: Aguilera dropped two singles, "Pas Mis Muchachas" and "Somos Nada"; Gomez released her first Spanish-language project, Revelación.

In the streaming world, Bad Bunny — Spotify's most-streamed artist for the second year in a row — and BTS (No. 3 on Spotify's year-end tally) proved that Latin and K-pop are equal contenders to pop powerhouses like Taylor Swift and Bieber, who were No. 2 and 5, respectively.

Superstars Joined Forces

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Sure, every year sees star-studded collaborations. But with artists having unprecedented downtime in 2020 and into 2021, some iconic pairings were born.

Ariana Grande and The Weeknd — no strangers to working together — scored their first Hot 100 No. 1 with a remix of The Weeknd's "Save Your Tears." Another Grande collaborator, Lizzo, teamed up with Cardi B for her latest single, "Rumors."

One of the most unexpected (and brilliant) partnerships came from Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, who joined forces for the '70s funk-inspired duo Silk Sonic. The pair dropped their silky debut single, "Leave the Door Open," just one week after announcing their joint project in February, and unveiled An Evening With Silk Sonic in November.

Veterans recruited some of pop's newer voices, too. Australian icon Kylie Minogue dueted with British electropop star Years & Years on "A Second to Midnight," a track from her reissue album, Disco: Guest List Edition. She also featured Dua Lipa on the album on a song titled "Real Groove."

Lipa co-starred with another legend, Elton John, on the chart-topping (and "Rocket Man"-sampling) hit "Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)." The single was part of John's jam-packed collaborative album, The Lockdown Sessions, which also featured Charlie Puth, Stevie Nicks and Stevie Wonder, among many others.

Long-Awaited Albums Arrived

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Silk Sonic appeased those eagerly waiting for Bruno Mars to follow up his 2016 Album Of The Year-winning LP, 24K Magic, as the duo’s material featured plenty of signature Bruno power hooks and slinky melodies. But those still longing for a solo Bruno Mars record may have at least been satisfied by the other 2021 arrivals.

Six years in the making, Adele’s 30 finally landed in November — and, unsurprisingly, became the top-selling album of the year in just its first three days. The LP has now sold more than 1 million copies, and spawned the singer’s fifth Hot 100 No. 1 with the poignant lead single, “Easy on Me.” Beyond accolades, 30 sees Adele at her most vulnerable — as she's said herself, it centers around her divorce from entrepreneur Simon Konecki — which resulted in her most raw and powerful work yet.

Considering Ed Sheeran’s extensive touring schedule that had the singer/songwriter on the road until the end of August 2019, it was almost hard to believe it had been four years since his last album. Surely some Sheerios felt the agony, but it was worth the wait: =, Sheeran's fourth studio album, offered 14 new tracks that expand on the star's signature talents, from heartfelt falsetto to boot-stomping melodies.

In what felt like the day that may never come, Kanye West delivered his tenth album, Donda, in August. The project had seen multiple postponements since its originally scheduled release of July 2020, but perhaps that's because the final product has a whopping 27 songs. While the album leans more into West's hip-hop roots, its impressive roster of guest stars — from The Weeknd to Watch the Throne cohort JAY-Z — offered any kind of Kanye fan something to enjoy.

After such a whirlwind year, one big question stands out as we enter 2022: what's next?

2021 In Review: 8 Trends That Defined Latin Music

Despite the abundant darkness of 2020, Ingrid Andress had the biggest year of her life. Along with honors like inclusion on Forbes 30 Under 30 and big-time TV performances, including "Colbert" and "Today," the 29-year-old singer/songwriter celebrated a country radio No. 1 with the heartfelt breakup ballad "More Hearts Than Mine" and the release of her debut album, Lady Like. Both the single and the album earned Andress her first-ever GRAMMY nominations, for Best Country Song and Best Country Album, respectively, as well as a coveted Best New Artist nod, at the 2021 GRAMMY Awards show. (Ahead of GRAMMY night, Andress will participate in the Recording Academy's inaugural "Women In The Mix" virtual celebration on International Women's Day, Monday, March 8.)

Andress has already achieved so much, she's joked about retiring before she even turns 30. "Honestly, I do think I've peaked," Andress says with a laugh. "I've accomplished all the things that I've wanted to do, so it's kind of like, 'Should I get into the restaurant business? What is next for me?'"

Though she has been working on her cooking skills while in quarantine, Andress' success thus far proves that she's too good at songwriting to give it up just yet. Even before she had hits of her own, the singer/songwriter co-penned cuts for pop stars like Charli XCX, Fletcher and Bebe Rexha and landed in the studio with Alicia Keys and Sam Hunt. And as the only country act in the Best New Artist category this year, Andress has made a name for herself as an artist, too.

Ingrid Andress gave GRAMMY.com a call to talk about her beginnings, her transition from behind the scenes to center stage, and her hope for a female-driven future. (Don't worry, Ingrid fans: Her retirement isn't part of it).

How does it feel to be the only country artist in the Best New Artist category?

I still feel like that was an accident. [Laughs.] It's sort of a mindf--k because I'm still so new—like, new new—nobody knows who I am because I haven't been able to tour or anything. I feel honored that I am doing something that represents Nashville. 

I'm glad that I get to represent a part of country music that maybe people don't necessarily think of when they think of country—you know, a lot of people think of it as like, beer and trucks. I'm glad that people realize that I don't have to sing about beer and trucks for people to like it.

Although "More Hearts Than Mine" was released in 2019, last year felt like you established that you weren't going to be a one-hit-wonder with the release of your album Lady Like. What was it like to have your breakout year happen in a time when you could hardly even be face-to-face with people?

I'm probably one of the only people I know who can be like, "2020 was my year." But I feel like it might have been for the better. There's just so much hype that goes with all that celebration, and to me, it's about the music and how people are connecting to it. Last year was more about that authentic connection to the music. It was cool to hear people's stories of how they hear their own lives in whatever I was saying.

Your mom was a piano teacher, so I assume that's how you got started with it. But what ultimately made it feel like your instrument?

It was a love-hate relationship at the beginning. But when you live with your piano teacher, you don't have a choice. We made a deal where if I got to a certain level of piano, then I'd get to pick whatever instrument I wanted. 

Naturally, I picked drums because I was going through a punk and metal phase. I was like, "I just want to bang on some s--t." I got more into [playing] piano in high school. I was homeschooled for the majority of my education, so high school was confusing. Piano felt like therapy. It was just a great outlet emotionally.

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After getting your start writing for other artists, what made you decide to pursue being an artist yourself?

There was a song that I wrote that was very personal to me. I didn't want anybody to have it, but I still had to give it away. When I started writing about my personal feelings, it became harder to picture somebody else singing them. 

So I thought, "You know what, if I don't want to give these away, I probably need to sing them and put them out myself." I knew I wanted to be an artist, but I also didn't think I was [fit for it] because many of the artists I worked with didn't know what they wanted to say. It came out of the natural progression of me finding what I wanted to write about.

Read: Get Lost In The Best Country Song Nominees | 2021 GRAMMYs

So how did you find your sound after that?

I think it was going back and forth between Nashville and LA to write. I've been doing that for five years now. The writing process is so different for each city—writing country music in Nashville, you're all sitting in a room with guitars and talking about lyrics and how to set up the song. Whereas in LA, you go in, there's a track playing, it's on a loop, and you just have to sing melodies over it. 

Nobody's talking about lyrics. My sound came from learning how to combine those two things. I would write songs that would straddle the line, and people would say, "We can't pitch it to a country artist, but it also has smart storyteller lyrics. And it's not poppy enough for pop."

So the songs just sort of created their lane that nobody could cut except for me.

You're part of a groundbreaking GRAMMY year for women in country, as the Best Country Album category—which includes Lady Like—is all projects from solo women or female-fronted groups for the first time. Has it felt like there's been a shift in the way women are supported and recognized in the genre?

It's still kind of slow, but the female turnout in the GRAMMY [categories] this year was such a breath of fresh air. Then you look at country radio, and it's white dudes. It brought me a lot of joy to see the contrast and how opposite it is to what country radio is doing right now. But to see all these women validated for their great work is a huge statement. Even if it's not on the radio, it's still acknowledged as a beautiful piece of art.

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I feel like there's sort of a female movement and confident, feminine energy happening in every genre right now. Do you think that, too?

For sure. I hope more women start saying how they feel about things because chances are, we're all going to relate to it. Even if it's something that people feel is controversial, I'm like, please bring it on. The more controversy, the better. We've evolved so much, and I feel like it's our jobs as creatives to pull the mirror up to what's happening in society. It's going to happen eventually, so we might as well start coming out and being honest about how we feel. 

You hold true to that on Lady Like, and now you're being rewarded for it.

I'm just here to write about my feelings and hope people feel the same way. Especially in this past year, when everything was so divided and chaotic, I feel like the response to my music was a nice reminder that we all could come together by listening to music that is relatable to all of us.

Meet The First-Time GRAMMY Nominee: Lauren Patten On The Timelessness Of "Jagged Little Pill" And Owning Her Identity On The Broadway Stage

"Time is so valuable. One of the most amazing things that somebody can give you is their time." 

The wise words of 25-year-old pop artist Fletcher resonated throughout the Clive Davis Theater on Saturday morning where the GRAMMY Museum's 5th Annual Bulova Brunch began. The exclusive event, which honors the official partnership between The Recording Academy and Bulova, began with a lively introduction from Bulova Managing Director Michael Benavente, who disclosed some exciting new changes in this year’s programming. "We wanted to mix it up [with a young artist] this year because of the [new] Bulova ‘Tune of Time’ program," Benavente announced enthusiastically. He went on to explain how the ‘Tune Of Time’ program, which runs in conjunction with Universal Music Group, is about breaking young artists and reaching out to new audiences of the next generation. 

And mix it up they did, with fiery surprise guest artist Fletcher, taking the stage to wow the audience with her dynamic presence and compelling voice. Fletcher, who first gained attention in 2015 when her debut single “War Paint” topped Spotify charts, spent six weeks on Billboard’s ‘Hot 100’ in 2019 with her latest single "Undrunk."

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Scott Goldman, decade-long host of the GRAMMY Museum’s Public Programs Series, sat down with the Jersey-born star for a one-on-one conversation about how she got her start in the industry, the contrasting inspiration behind her two EPs, and her unique relationship to the company. "I have a very personal connection to Bulova," Fletcher shares. The inviting young artist, who warmly introduces herself as ‘Cari’ to attendees, went on to explain how she inherited a Bulova watch from her deceased Uncle Gary, whom she was named after. ”I have his watch, and it literally just comes with me everywhere I go.” 

Long before she got her start, Fletcher has been involved in music in one way or another. She began classical vocal training at age five, and by high school she was a Disney Princess and celebrity impersonator for kids’ birthday parties. “I had to go to pancake houses and be in a literal mermaid tail while people were eating bacon,” she disclosed with a smirk. Fletcher, who also had to impersonate Taylor Swift at these parties, shared her recent experience meeting Swift.  “[All I could think was] God, my wig didn’t look as good as your hair does right now.” 

Fletcher’s demeanor matched her music: raw, real, and expressive, with touches of unexpected dry humor scattered throughout her otherwise profound statements. When asked what makes her a good collaborator, Fletcher replied, “I think what makes anybody a good collaborator is being a good listener."  Fletcher shared how her first EP was created in collaboration with Nashville producer Jamie Kenney. “It is really where I found my legs as a songwriter."

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Fletcher draws inspiration from the audacity of artists like Madonna, David Bowie and Joan Jett, whom she describes as being "so boldly and unapologetically themselves." She explains that, as a queer woman in pop, she wants to color outside the lines of what it means to be a pop star and be the role model that so many girls need. “For the people who are lucky enough to have a platform…if you’re not using it to better the world in some capacity, what’s the point of even having it?”

Fletcher enchanted the audience with an acoustic performance of several singles, including "If You’re Gonna Lie" and "Undrunk." At the end of her set, English singer-songwriter and new Bulova ambassador Calum Scott joined Fletcher on stage to sing a duet cover of the 2020 GRAMMY-nominated hit “Someone You Loved” by current GRAMMY nominee Lewis Capaldi, with whom Fletcher is going on tour in the spring. 

After the performance, a sunny midday meal of mushroom tortellini and braised short rib was served on the GRAMMY Museum’s fifth-floor terrace where event-goers were invited to indulge in a decadent brunch amidst equally decadent views of Downtown L.A. On display in the terrace, the entryway was the GRAMMY-inspired watch collection by Bulova, which attendees took turns admiring well into the afternoon. Guests in attendance at this year’s Bulova brunch bash included Madame Gandhi, as well as representatives from multiple Bulova partnerships including Universal Music Group, Frank Sinatra Enterprises, Ultra Music, and Windows of Hip Hop.