Ashlyn Rae Willson (born April 24, 1993),
better known as Ashe, is an American singer and songwriter. She is best known for her 2019 single "
Moral of the Story", which was featured in the
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
film ''
To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You'' (2020) and was produced by Noah Conrad with additional production from
Finneas O'Connell
Finneas Baird O'Connell (born July 30, 1997), known mononymously as Finneas ( stylized in all caps), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has written and produced music for various artists, most notably his sister, ...
.
Ashe also co-wrote
Demi Lovato's 2017 single "
You Don't Do It for Me Anymore" and has toured with
Louis the Child
Louis the Child (893 – 20/24 September 911), sometimes called Louis III or Louis IV, was the king of East Francia from 899 until his death and was also recognized as king of Lotharingia after 900. He was the last East Frankish ruler of the Car ...
,
Lauv
Ari Staprans Leff (born August 8, 1994), known professionally as Lauv (), is an American singer and musician, best known for his breakout hit "I Like Me Better"; included on his compilation album ''I Met You When I Was 18 (The Playlist)'', whi ...
and
Whethan
Ethan Snoreck, better known by his stage name Whethan (formerly Wheathin), is an American DJ and music producer from Chicago. He gained recognition after his remix of the track "XE3" by Mssingno, which as of December 2018 has garnered over 13 m ...
. She was nominated for a
Juno Award for her gold-certified single "Let You Get Away" with
Shaun Frank. Her debut studio album ''
Ashlyn'' was released on May 7, 2021. Her second album, ''
Rae'', was released on October 14, 2022.
Early life
Ashlyn Rae Willson was born on April 24, 1993, in
San Jose, California
San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...
.
She began attending piano and vocal lessons at the age of 8.
Ashe says that she grew up listening only to Christian radio and that she thanks her grandfather for introducing her to music from names like
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
,
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...
and
Jefferson Airplane. She attended
Berklee College of Music and graduated with a major in contemporary writing and production in 2015.
Career
2015–2017: Early career
Ashe started out by singing demos in
Nashville before catching the attention of Swedish
deep house producer Ben Phipps, who asked her to sing on his track "Sleep Alone" in 2015.
Over the next two years, Ashe specialized in appearing on a number of dance and
house tracks from names like
Louis the Child
Louis the Child (893 – 20/24 September 911), sometimes called Louis III or Louis IV, was the king of East Francia from 899 until his death and was also recognized as king of Lotharingia after 900. He was the last East Frankish ruler of the Car ...
and
Whethan
Ethan Snoreck, better known by his stage name Whethan (formerly Wheathin), is an American DJ and music producer from Chicago. He gained recognition after his remix of the track "XE3" by Mssingno, which as of December 2018 has garnered over 13 m ...
. Her 2016 single "Can't Hide" with
Whethan
Ethan Snoreck, better known by his stage name Whethan (formerly Wheathin), is an American DJ and music producer from Chicago. He gained recognition after his remix of the track "XE3" by Mssingno, which as of December 2018 has garnered over 13 m ...
was her fifth No. 2 on both the US and Global
Spotify Viral 50 charts.
[Peaks on the US and Global Spotify Viral 50:
* "Can't Hide" (Global and US):
* "Used to It" (Global):
* "Back of Your Hand" (Global):
* "Moral of the Story" (Global):
* "Moral of the Story" (US): ] Her 2017 single "Let You Get Away" with Canadian DJ
Shaun Frank was nominated for
Dance Recording of the Year at the
2017 Juno Awards and was
certified gold in Canada in 2019.
Ashe assisted
Demi Lovato in composing her 2017 single "
You Don't Do It For Me Any More" from their US
platinum-certified album ''
Tell Me You Love Me'' (2017).
Between October 2017 and January 2018, Ashe embarked on tours with
Louis the Child
Louis the Child (893 – 20/24 September 911), sometimes called Louis III or Louis IV, was the king of East Francia from 899 until his death and was also recognized as king of Lotharingia after 900. He was the last East Frankish ruler of the Car ...
,
Lauv
Ari Staprans Leff (born August 8, 1994), known professionally as Lauv (), is an American singer and musician, best known for his breakout hit "I Like Me Better"; included on his compilation album ''I Met You When I Was 18 (The Playlist)'', whi ...
, and
Whethan
Ethan Snoreck, better known by his stage name Whethan (formerly Wheathin), is an American DJ and music producer from Chicago. He gained recognition after his remix of the track "XE3" by Mssingno, which as of December 2018 has garnered over 13 m ...
.
After signing to
Mom + Pop independent label, she released her debut single "Used to It" in June 2017 and "Girl Who Cried Wolf" in November 2017.
"Used to It" was her second single to reach No. 1 on the Global Spotify Viral 50 chart.
Ashe was placed alongside
Billie Eilish
Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell ( ; born December 18, 2001) is an American singer-songwriter. She first gained public attention in 2015 with her debut single " Ocean Eyes", written and produced by her brother Finneas O'Connell, with whom ...
and
Lewis Capaldi
Lewis Marc Capaldi ( ; born 7 October 1996) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician. He was nominated for the Critics' Choice Award at the 2019 Brit Awards. In March 2019, his single " Someone You Loved" topped the UK Singles Chart wher ...
on
Vevo
Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, ...
's list of Artists to Watch in 2018. Throughout April 2017, Ashe supported
The Chainsmokers during their
Memories Do Not Open Tour and performed onstage with
Big Gigantic
Big Gigantic are an American instrumental electronic hip hop and jazz musical duo based in Boulder, Colorado.
The band have played at a wide range of music festivals, including Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Lollapalooza, Ultra Musi ...
during
Coachella Festival 2017.
2018–2020: ''The Rabbit Hole'' EP & Moral of the Story
![Ashe 05 20 2018 -13 (29399626678)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Ashe_05_20_2018_-13_%2829399626678%29.jpg)
By the time Ashe had released her debut EP, ''The Rabbit Hole,'' in June 2018, she had clocked over 200 million accumulative
streams and nine No. 1 songs on
Hype Machine.
The EP was described as "a versatile and compelling seven-track affair." Ashe supported
Quinn XCII on his ''From Michigan with Love World Tour,'' during which she also released her single "
Moral of the Story"''.''
On April 5, 2019, Ashe released the four-track EP, ''Moral of the Story: Chapter 1'', which
Finneas O'Connell
Finneas Baird O'Connell (born July 30, 1997), known mononymously as Finneas ( stylized in all caps), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has written and produced music for various artists, most notably his sister, ...
entirely produced. O'Connell also produced three of the four tracks on her sequel EP, ''Moral of the Story: Chapter 2.''
In February 2020, the single "
Moral of the Story" was used in the
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
teen
rom-com
Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...
''
To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You'' (2020), which caused the song to reach number 2 on both Global and US
Spotify Viral 50 chart.
Ashe made her debut chart appearance on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 with "Moral of the Story" and the
''Billboard'' 200 with ''Moral of the Story: Chapter 1''. Ashe has also recently released a duet of "Moral of the Story" featuring
Niall Horan. As of June 2020, the single has been used in over 901,400 videos on the online platform
TikTok
TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes.
TikTok is an international version o ...
. As of september 2022, her collaboration with
Niall Horan has reached over 160 million streams on
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
.
2021: ''Ashlyn''
In March 2021, Ashe released another song with O'Connell titled "
Till Forever Falls Apart
"Till Forever Falls Apart" is a song by American singer-songwriters Ashe and Finneas, and is the third single from Ashe's debut studio album '' Ashlyn'' (2021). It was released on March 2, 2021 by Mom + Pop Music. The song was written by the ar ...
". Her debut album ''
Ashlyn'' was released on May 7, 2021, including the songs "I'm Fine" and "When I'm Older" issued prior to the album, along with "Me Without You", released on May 5. ''Ashlyn'' debuted at number 194 on the
''Billboard'' 200 dated May 22, 2021.
2022–present: ''Rae''
On March 3, 2022, Ashe released the single "Another Man's Jeans" after releasing snippets of the song on social media. Ashe released another single, "Hope You're Not Happy" on May 6, 2022.
Three months after her song, "Hope You're Not Happy" released. She returned to her "home", which is the Bay Area in San Francisco as was set to perform exclusively at
Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival on the 6th of August.
The day of the 6th she performed at the Twin Peaks stage at 3:45 pm. She sung a few of her singles off her, new ''
Rae'' such as, "Angry Woman", "Shower With My Clothes on", and "Another Man's Jeans" off her album that would release a two months after. During her set she also sang, "
Somebody To Love" by
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1970 by Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals) and Roger Taylor (drums, vocals), later joined by John Deacon (bass). Their earliest works were influenced by progres ...
Soon after, Ashe announced her second studio album, ''
Rae'', on June 22, 2022, the same day that she released the song "Angry Woman". The album was released on October 14, 2022.
Before the release of the album, Ashe released three more of its songs; "Shower with My Clothes On" on July 29, "Emotional" on August 26, and "OMW" along with its music video on October 12, 2022.
On November 4th, 2022 she released a single with
Stephen Sanchez
Stephen Sanchez (born November 3, 2002) is an American singer-songwriter. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Sanchez released his debut extended play, ''What Was, Not Now'', in October 2021. In September 1, 2021, Sanchez released the single " Until I ...
, titled "
Missing You" with a duration of 3 minutes and 55 seconds.
Artistry
Ashe says that jazz music,
Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton (''née'' Hall, born January 5, 1946) is an American actress and director. She has received various accolades throughout her career spanning over six decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Glo ...
, and
Carole King are major influences and inspirations to her own music.
Ashe put an "e" on her stagename to pay homage to Carole King.
Artists she admires are
Stevie Nicks,
Carole King,
John Mayer,
Justin Vernon
Justin DeYarmond Edison Vernon (born April 30, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the primary songwriter and frontman of indie folk band Bon Iver. Known for his distinct falsetto voic ...
and
Bon Iver
Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon.
Vernon released Bon Iver's debut album, ''For Emma, Forever Ago,'' independently in July 2007. The majority of the album was recorded while Vernon ...
.
Discography
Studio albums
Extended plays
Singles
As lead artist
As featured artist
Songwriting credits
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashe
Living people
Berklee College of Music alumni
21st-century American women singers
Musicians from San Jose, California
1993 births
21st-century American singers
Singers from Los Angeles
American women singer-songwriters
Mom + Pop Music artists
Singer-songwriters from California