Up next in 10
Ashe on new LP 'Rae', working with Diane Keaton and some hints about album three
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Feb 9, 2025
We're 10 days away from the release of Ashe's second album, 'Rae'. Charlie Gunn caught up with the star to talk about its creation, her sexy and confident new era, working with her idol, Diane Keaton and finding new love. Visit www.thefortyfive.com for more music interviews and review Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_forty_five/
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foreign
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hey it's Charlie for the 45 and today we are here with Ash hey Ash how's it going
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hello I'm good how are you doing I'm good um so we're like What 10 days away from
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the release of your second album sophomore album as I would say in America
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um Ray how are you feeling what's going on um I I don't know it definitely feels
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different than my first album it feels this whole thing's been a lot more fun I
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think for me oh that's good um yeah I think I in a positive way of taking it
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less seriously in a in a in like a healthy way like I think we
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end up like putting all of our like selves and our self-worth into something
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and I think I've been a lot more I felt a lot more free with this album and liberated and so I I'm excited and I'm
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excited to see you know what the world thinks but I also just love it so that's
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kind of how I'm feeling I feel like that's a bit of a theme of this album is like caring less about what other people
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think I'm doing all right at it I think I think like any human being I like go
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through in and out phases of that but today in particular I'm feeling very
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like hell yeah I love what I made and that's all that I really care about
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right now so it's cool because like a lot of artists obviously talk about difficult second album but doesn't seem
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like you suffered from from that too much no I mean I think that creating it there
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were moments that I was like you know what are you gonna say to say something
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you know every artist is like what what do I need to say and I think I I didn't
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have to force it too much I knew I was coming out of I think a very serious ERA
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with you know moral of a story and and I I just wanted to have some fun and I
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think that comes through in the music and I wanted to make something that didn't sound kind of
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like what I was hearing from my peers um and so yeah I think
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it was like a easy Challenge in a weird way because I just had to sort of do
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whatever I wanted and have fun and yeah that's cool
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um your numbers are obviously insane I don't think when anyone goes into like making music you kind of think about
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numbers in the like 400 million capacity to collect can you
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even begin to process that stuff or is it just just an abstract number to you
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yeah I I try to kind of
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not focus on it too much only because I think like hey it's it's incredible and I'm so
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grateful that there I think we just hit like a billion total streams on like
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everything and and I think that there's like I will forever be grateful for that
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but I think there's also like a danger to when you if you put all your sort of
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like happiness and so forth into high numbers then when numbers are low which
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inevitably they will because no career skyrockets forever uh you will be
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uh completely depressed and saddened and hard to pick off the ground so I've
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tried to have a reasonable balance uh with that relationship with the numbers
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just because yeah I'm grateful for the big ones but they don't like Define where I'm at does
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that make sense yeah it totally makes sense I think it's it's a sort of weird
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um I talk to like a lot of artists who have this kind of different relationship with Tick Tock particularly and some
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people are like oh I can't be bothered with it some people kind of embrace it but then also like when you have a like
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a track that's like blown up like that it's kind of other people respond to you in a sort of strange way or like respond
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to things in a straight way I feel like it kind of creates this um odd sort of pressure or conversation
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around your music which like I don't know how you navigate that really as an
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artist do you know what I mean no I'm not making sense no we're verbally processing together
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um no I mean I don't think we have to have sort of a right answer about it anyways but I do I completely hear what
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you're saying I think a lot of artists have a very complicated relationship with Tick Tock right now
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um and I I see a lot of the good and I see a lot of the like source of the
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anxiety um but I do I think a lot of the like
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the anxiety is like what you allow it to be in your life like something like
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technology like you can decide to have fun with it and play with it or you can
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make it be this really sort of like the enemy of your career and
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that sounds miserable I picked the first option like I rather have fun with it and play with it and then when I'm not
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into it I don't do it I think I think that's the other secret I feel
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like I'm being so real right now okay good
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um but yeah I don't know I think that yeah I really can't be bothered with it
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on days that I can't be bothered with it and then other days you know you have fun and you play around and I think your
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audience and your fans they don't care if you're tick tock has
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a million views or 10 million views they just want to hear about your life and
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see what you care about and that has to matter more you know where do you find the balance between
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like showing enough but not like giving too much of yourself away
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foreign I think I'm working on finding the balance still
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I think that there's been songs or even rolling out this album I think that there were times where I was like I said
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way too much I was like I gave no nothing left to guess or that I took
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away the mystery and then there were other songs that I was like well I didn't I feel like I didn't give quite
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enough where I was being too mysterious and then there wasn't enough interest so I don't know I think
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again I don't think that there's a right way to do it I think we're all kind of just like
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especially with something like Tick Tock you're throwing [ __ ] against the wall and seeing what sticks and I think you
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just have to like go with your instinct and see what shows up you know
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so I want to talk about the record um obviously but let's start
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love is letting go so beautiful Diane Keaton what the hell I mean it's
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also cool but um I know you're a big fan and she's obviously a complete Legend where does your connection with her
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start um well I she's been sort of like my
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North Star by basically my whole life
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um since I was you know a teenager watching her movies and there's just
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something so unapologetically uh
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quirky and authentic and and wonderful about her that she's always kind of been
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her even in her movies you know I mean she can play any role but then I always
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have the most fun watching movies where she's like sort of so herself
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um and I I got to have dinner with her like the the night the song came out and
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it was literally just me and her sitting at a table together and and no one else I was like who left
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me alone with Diane Keaton like this is a mistake
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um and I just remember being like she is so
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her and yeah I just think I couldn't have picked a better role model you know
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I just yeah so I've always adored her and then have sort of
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slowly over time weirdly manifested this like friendship into now making a song
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together and yeah it's the most ridiculous it matters so much more than
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the billions of streams you know as just blinking back to sort of what we were
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talking about it that those Palin comparison to sort of sitting at dinner with her you know
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and you know like a song about uh such a kind of difficult period on a shared
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experience between you like have you like found sort of strength in each other like through through this as well
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has she been like a help to you in that sense oh man I mean her just being sort of
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present and present with the song like when she was actually recording the vocals I was in
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the room listening to her and you could sort of just hear her like you know when it gets stuck in your throat when you're
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just right on the edge and just sort of like seeing her be very uh
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available and present to that the meaning of that song I think alone meant
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the world to me um gosh I don't know whatever I have to
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offer her I I don't think I don't know I have nothing to offer she's she's the
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queen but I think she did have a lot of fun um getting to do something you know that
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she's never done before so that was a real like pleasure and honor for me
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um you've said that this record is like marking a new kind of sexy confident era
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in your life the opener raise theme is like it's so great and it's like
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definitely like sets that tone off like it's so loungy like I love it
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um okay but like what do you think's prompted this kind of like growth in you
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uh-huh you know I think it's interesting I I always say that like albums or
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snapshots of where you're at or where an artist is at currently in their life and in a weird way this album was like
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manifesting this new era that I'm in because when I was working on the album
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uh I was in a relationship that was sort of
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fine but I didn't feel amazing and I didn't feel very good in my body I had
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an interesting relationship with sexuality and femininity and so when I
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was working on this album I was like screw it let's play Let's play with all
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these things that I've never really allowed myself to touch and so we
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started to do that and I it sort of started to unlock this whole piece of me
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that I didn't really know existed and I know I never thought I was sexy
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I've always had a weird relationship I've always been a tomboy um whatever that means
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um and have never felt like the hot girl in the
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room or something like that really yeah never until this album
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and then I was like hell yeah I was like I'm hot like I just
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I was will I don't know something clicked where I was willing to accept that I could express
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that side of me and I'm still the girl who loves turtlenecks and you know
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I rather be like in the garden with my hands in the dirt than like shopping but
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I get to play I get to play with all the things you know so it was a really fun experiment and I think writing this
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album propelled me into this new era you know that's cool
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um yeah I mean no it's just cool that you could like obviously manifestation
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is a thing that a lot of people talk about but like yeah I think I should try it more
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well yeah I still like we were right we're always talking about like manifest your dreams and I was like at this point
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I'm like I'm a witch like if if I just fall in love with Diane Keaton when I'm
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a teenager and then one day of a song with her you can't convince me that I'm don't I'm not a witch
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I'm a witch there's no other way to say it I think that that's the logical
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conclusion definitely um I find a way to say it I'm on Angry
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women which is a wicked song I love um that I love the video I love that you reference this Yoko Ono thing
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um project she's so cool I love the message behind it um what prompted you to write a song
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like that uh well I was really angry
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I got really angry um yeah you know there was like a a
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scenario with an elder white male that I was really pissed off by and it was like
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the it was the spark that Lit the song and then the song took on its whole
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other existence um but yeah I think that
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I grew I grew up in a household where anger was a dangerous emotion it wasn't
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something that was healthy to be felt um like anger equals pain anger equals holes in
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the wall um so I had a really unhealthy relationship with anger and that you
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know that quote nobody likes an angry woman is so demeaning and so uh like
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when people call women crazy you know and I I don't think I had experienced it
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on a personal level until you know a little later in life and I
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was like there's a there's a righteous anger that is healthy and and should be felt and
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shouldn't be bottled up and that we need to need to let out of our system and
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maybe if we did you know we wouldn't
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implode and make some really scary decisions you know I think that there's times to let it out and it's funny
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during the live show you see the whole crowd just light on fire during that
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song and it's like wow I guess we got a lot of anger in the
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room we need to let out guys you know just let let's do it so yeah that was really long-winded but yeah that's the
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song no it's true it's it's like yeah feeling things that you are feeling
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because of the way Society is and all the annoying [ __ ] that you have to do
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within a daily way and then they tell you you're not even allowed to be annoyed about it so frustrating
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um it's not to say like hey like I'm angry
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all the time but I think it is healthy to let yourself experience those
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emotions and not be scared of them because I was scared of them for a really long time
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um and to express them in healthy constructive ways versus uh
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ways that are and end up like destroying you from the inside out you
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know yeah um there's a line in the song that says you said my sound wasn't pop enough for
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you which just felt like a really familiar story I don't you know I can imagine what that's about but I like it
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feels like a familiar story of women in the industry being told that they have to be a kind of certain way and if they
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don't tick all these boxes then somehow they're like not marketable or something like um and I think what's interesting when
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you have artists who are like in their late 20s early 30s who have like lived
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alive and are like a little bit more confident that maybe now we're getting this kind of like new wave of pop stars
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who were able to sort of like push back on that in a way that that you maybe couldn't when you were like 16 or
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something but I was just interested to to know how your kind of experience over the
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years of the industry has changed and whether like coming to this kind of level of success at this
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age you think is beneficial whoa
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[Laughter] pause for a great question then
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um I think at some point
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you get to a place in your life where you're unwilling to compromise
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because life is short I think that's sort of a
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the beauty of getting older that you know
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I I think that I wish I wish you could just kind of plant like
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a 60 year old mind into like a 16 year old just for a day and if you could like absorb some of it because uh
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life is just so incredibly short and I think that's another thing getting to
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meet Diane and working with her you know she's like I'm not thinking about what
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the goals for my future are or what's my Five-Year Plan I'm 76 years old
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you know like what's the point so I'm gonna be here right now and enjoy this
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sort of present moment and so I think that philosophy uh that I'm not sure anyone really gets
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until you get you just age a little I don't know um by the way oh thanks no I mean I don't
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think I'm that old you're really not but I I mean I am you know I'm not 16 so
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and I think there's just a different perspective but my point I guess that I'm taking forever to get to is that I'm
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now at a place in my career where I don't want to write songs I don't like
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for people I don't care about to sing them 20 years from now and hate
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my job you know I I rather make music that I really love
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um I think it sounds like pop music I think that pop music in the seven it sounds more like pop music from the 70s
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you know but you know I'm not making weird avocado jazz music out here I
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think it's it falls into sort of that category and uh
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I don't know you just have to kind of come to terms with like you might as well just make what you like and then
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you know God forbid I always say this like God forbid you have a hit song that
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you hate because you stuck with that song forever
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and like imagine if Carol King hated uh
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it's too late or beautiful or something like any show she ever plays people are
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going to expect her to play those songs so it's kind of like
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you might as well love what you do and and then if you know it goes off and you have a hit then awesome and if not then
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you made something you're proud of wow I'm so long-winded with these answers
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the questions equally long it's fine um
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I read that when you're making the album you like went to Big Bear you were
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listening to like LED Zepp and Pink Floyd sounds like a really good time to me was it like was it tell me about the
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process of of making the record out there that was so that was one of the best
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weeks of My Life um we I think five five records on the
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album were made during that trip and the album's only I think like 13 songs I
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should know it's cool oh thanks appreciate it including that
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intro yeah okay same as yeah we're both right
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um I yeah five five out of 14 is a lot of songs so we really got a lot done in Big
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Bear but the whole point of the trip was we just go out to the mountains turn off
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and just make songs that we like and have a really good time doing it I sent like
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this email ahead of time to all the writers and was like the point of this trip is not to finish an album the point
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of this trip is not to write hit songs the point is purely the process
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and it's to do what we do best let's get over our egos we all know
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we're good at this like this is why we're where we're at let's do what we do best together
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because we love each other and just have a [ __ ] great time um okay I'm sorry can I say that yeah
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okay and we did and
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those songs are some of my favorite love you need uh which is like the piano
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Ballad of the record that was written that was the very last song written
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um at Big Bear on my way which is like the single of the album when we put it out uh
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love is Letting Go with Diane Keaton we wrote that at Big Bear there's just some
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of my favorite songs on the record were done there and it was purely from a place of
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let's just create get back to basics
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I mean imagine an anr calling us and being like so we think you you're lacking the upbeat record and we need
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like a song that's a little bit sadder to fill out the album I would have a fit
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if someone came in and was like here's the objective of this week you
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know the objective is just do what we do and have a good time and I
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made dinner every night for everyone and we drank wine and what's your specialty
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um what did we make up there I made I think like a class I mean it's a lot it wasn't tons of people but it was enough
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people that like a good spaghetti meatball spaghetti situation I think I
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made salmon one night that was over ambitious yeah it was just fun we'd like have a
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whole day of writing pause I'd make dinner guys would start
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producing the song kind of get a bed we'd all eat dinner and then I'd go back
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and record the vocals and we'd all get drunk and then we'd start over the next day and it would just be this like
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I don't know it felt like something out of a storybook you know or
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like how writing used to be done or something you know yeah it sounds like how old music should be made but how are
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you get how are you not having that a and I'll call you up and be like we need this like how have you managed to
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uh kind of sidestep that well I think I mean honestly I think
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it's because they've tried and they've failed
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I I also I just really surrounded myself with the team I think that
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want trust me and wants me to do what I want to do I'm not incredibly aimless
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and I think there might there are artists who need
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more Direction and there's zero wrong with that
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I'm just one of those artists where like if you tell me to do something I'm gonna do the opposite just because I'm angry
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I'm like a little rebellious child um and so I don't know either people have
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learned that about me or they just I think more on a positive note I think
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my team around me just really uh respects me and lets me do sort of what
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I want to do that's so good um you talked about this like album
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being part of a trilogy um have you started thinking about what the next one might sound like
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yeah I mean how can I not
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um I don't know what sonically I'm not sure exactly where it goes I
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have started to write a little bit here and there just sprinkling because like I missed after you finish an album you
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stop writing for a while at least in my case I stopped writing I went on tour and then I got back from tour and really
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started missing it so sorry is that plane so loud
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um so I started sprinkling in you know a little little sessions here and there and uh
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I am in love recently oh congratulations
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[Music] thank you
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God being in love is so fun at least you know in that beginning phase two
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um so I think I've got I've never I hardly have ever touched love songs
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um and so I'm excited to like delve into some of the storytelling of that but
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we'll see where sonically it takes me out of them that's very exciting and okay what what
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track on the album are you most psyched for people to hear
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I think it's but can I take I feel like it's between on my way and
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love you need they're very they couldn't be more different from each other
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um I think on my way is just like one of the funnest songs I've ever made
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and we had the most fun making that song like I said that was one of the big bear records and uh all of us are on that
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song everyone who wrote on that song is singing you if you listen closely we're
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all sort of have these gang vocals singing in the background and there's videos of us like shouting into the
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microphone from around the room uh so I think that that is probably the
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one and then love you need I think is really special um
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but yeah a little bit sweeter and slower yeah we'll see
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um well thank you so much I really appreciate your time I know you're probably like stacked right now but um
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yeah congratulations on the record it's so beautiful and um I'm excited for it
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to be out for you me too it was such a pleasure to chat with you and sorry I'm so long-winded
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sometimes oh that's my laundry perfect time oh my gosh that's amazing
29:18
wow perfect um so nice to meet you you too see you
29:24
later yeah [Applause]
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