REVIEW: Ashe releases second album 'Rae'
America’s Ashlyn Willson, better known by her stage name Ashe, wants you to know that she is feeling freer and more confident than ever. In a music world where the focus is increasingly on introversion and diving openly into our deepest and darkest emotions, Willson wants to project a different image on her second album, Rae, out today. “It’s liberation and confidence and sex and fun. It’s danceable and cryable; it’s cryable while you’re dancing,” she says. “If albums are snapshots of artists’ lives at a certain time, this is a snapshot of mine - young and alive and free, uninhibited and incredibly sure of who I am. There are moments of unmitigated passion and tears, but the overarching theme of Rae is summer sweat, windows down, and tits out freedom. May all who listen be inspired to be unapologetically themselves.”
Willson grew up in California and started learning piano at age six. In 2015, she graduated with a major in Contemporary Writing and Production from Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music. Her music career started with a string of featured vocal appearance on dance tracks by various producers, and she also spent time writing for other artists including Demi Lovato and Delaney Jane. She launched her solo career in 2017 with the release of the single ‘Used To It’, an electro-indie-pop track. Her following singles followed a similar sonic route, before eventually merging into a delicious hybrid of country, rock and warm, cosy pop which she continues with on Rae. Her career went into overdrive when her 2019 single ‘Moral of the Story’ was featured in the Netflix film To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You, with the song racking up almost 450 million streams on Spotify alone, with a second version of the song featuring Niall Horan in 2020 adding another 165 million streams to its total. Her debut album Ashlyn arrived in 2021 to critical acclaim and edged into the lower reaches of the Billboard Hot 200 albums chart.
Across the 14 tracks on Rae, Willson explores growing up, relationships and feminism across a soundscape that embraces jangly country through to 1970s style piano ballads. The album opens with an instrumental intro, which is a sensual mix of jazz, salsa and a guitar line straight out of a 1950s Western movie. It gives way to the first single from the album, ‘Another Man’s Jeans’, a glorious track which has strong elements of country and pop but expertly manages to not fall completely in either camp. “It sounds like what carefree feels like,” Willson said on the single’s release and the lyrics play with the concept of coming on to your ex and having fun for ‘one night only’. It leads into songs which are almost the polar opposite, gentle, vulnerable ballads which sees Willson struggle to cope with the breakup of relationships. On ‘Hope You’re Not Happy’ she bluntly tells her former lover against a piano and drums foundation: “The truth is / I hope you’re not happy without me / I hope it’s hard to get out of bed…I hope you’re not happy ever again.” ‘Shower With My Clothes On’ deals with the anxiety and turmoil in the immediate aftermath of an relationship ending. "It’s about remembering those last few moments in a relationship when you’re hopelessly hanging on but know you have to let go,” Willson said about the track in August. It has a moody, dark feel with dramatic guitars and a musical surge, alongside some beautiful if melancholic melodies.
Things start to look brighter in ‘omw’ with its swinging beat, and 1970s rock feel, and sees Willson come out of the pain and starting to see a brighter future ahead. “My time might not be today / But I’m on way” she sings. On album highlight ‘Angry Woman’, a powerful rocky track Willson takes aim at sexism and the treatment of women by men. The hardest sounding song on the album, there is a undisguised anger in Willson’s voice and it has the most delicious chorus as she sings beautiful melodies against a driving, insistent beat that grows along with her rage. “You told me nobody likes an angry woman / I only say the things I shouldn’t / Oh what a shame my tongue’s not tied / You can do whatever you want, I’ll do whatever I like.” There is also a sense of karma in the lyrics as she throws her success in the face of industry doubters: “You said my sound wasn’t pop enough for you / Well I’m about to set your world on fire”. It’s a wonderful song that deserves to be played very loud as you scream along to the lyrics.
The second half of the album takes a quieter turn, switching the focus in the main to heartfelt ballads. ‘Love You Need’ is a lush piano and strings ballad that sees Willson tentatively begin a relationship again “If you choose me / I’ll give you all the love you need.” ‘Loose Ends’ is an atmospheric guitar track with a tinge of folk, while ‘San Jose’ is a more upbeat, jazzy track.
Latest single ‘Love Is Letting Go’ features Hollywood legend Diane Keaton. It is a tender ballad that also brings in a tinge of jazz, and is inspired by the loss of Willson’s brother to addiction. After learning Keaton also lost her brother, Willson reached out to her to sing on the track. “I’ve spent the better part of my life idolising and revering Diane Keaton, watching the choices she made, her career, how she treated people, how she acted in interviews - there’s no one like her,” Willson recently said. “Frankly, and I couldn’t care less if this sounds dramatic, there isn’t an Ashe without a Diane Keaton. When people say “don’t meet your heroes”.. that’s true - unless it’s Diane Keaton.” It is a beautiful, heartbreaking song and another high point on the album.
Rae closes on ‘Fun While It Lasted’ which starts off as a piano ballad, but soon soars into a dramatic, cinematic track with a choir singing along with Willson as she reflects on a relationship that could never be. “Love is so out of style / What the hell did we think?” she sings. In many ways it sums up many of the feelings encompassed in the album - we loved, we tried, there was pain, but I am moving on with a new found growth and confidence.
Ashe is an artist who creates music that is all embracing. It is a wonderful and creative merging of multiple genres that has a broad appeal while still feeling unique, special and niche. Although she has attracted over 1.8 billion streams throughout her career, she is an artist you can’t help but feel deserves far more mainstream attention. With Rae she has proven she has makings of a music superstar, and it is undoubtedly one of the best albums of 2022.
Rae is out now via Mom + Pop Music. You can buy and stream here.
To keep up with all things Ashe you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Twitter.
ASHE: IS IT ME OR IS IT HOT TOUR 2022
November 4 - Powerstation, Auckland
November 6 - The Triffid, Brisbane
November 7 - Metro Theatre, Sydney
November 9 - Max Watts, Melbourne
