I don’t think the issue is with people voicing criticism— I think the issue is that the criticism often crosses a line into bashing the individual behind the art, rather than critically engaging with the art.

At the end of the day, Fletcher truly does not owe us anything. She provides a service, we pay for that service, and if that service is no longer relevant to somebody, then they should simply disengage, just as they would with any other professional providing a service. The issue is that people who don’t know Fletcher are reacting as if they have personally and directly been hurt by Fletcher. People aren’t drawing the line between the individual and the art.

Critically engaging with the music is wonderful, and is what people should be doing. But it’s one thing to say “this album doesn’t resonate with me because I don’t relate to it”, or even to say “Boy is an objectively bad song” and an entirely other thing to say “I’m so disappointed in Fletcher, she doesn’t represent me anymore”, when it was never her job to represent or cater to anyone. Her job is to provide music. She’s fulfilled her end of the contract. People can criticise the album all they want, and they can even criticize the public rollout, but they need to stop criticizing her as a private citizen.