Digital Cover: Dasha is Leading the Country Renaissance

Country is having a moment, and for good reason. From the reclaiming empowerment of Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter to the Wild West making it’s way onto catwalks galore to – of course – the cowboy attire-donning crowds of The Eras Tour, 2024 has gone country crazy. Blazing the trail for Gen Z, though, is the one and only Dasha, whose hit single ‘Austin’ has our boots tapping even nearly a year after it dropped in November 2023. 

And in the ever-expanding world of country music, few modern voices capture the essence of the genre’s raw emotion and authentic storytelling like Dasha. Born with a love for lyrics that cut deep and melodies that linger, Dasha’s journey from California through Nashville’s iconic music scene has been nothing short of transformative. Equal parts vulnerable and self-assured, her sound blends classic country with a contemporary edge, crafting songs that reflect heartbreak, hope, and everything in between.

Hailing from San Luis Obispo, the American singer-songwriter focuses on making music that feels true to herself. From navigating, as she puts them, “gnarly situationships” to rediscovering her artistic voice in the vibrant, competitive atmosphere of Music City, Dasha is living life to the fullest, letting it fuel her creative fire and turning every high (and low) into an earworm track you won’t forget. 

“Most of my songs are based on my life,” the 24-year-old rising star confides as she sits having her hair and makeup done for our NOTION cover shoot. “It’s rare that I write something that’s not personal. I get inspiration in random ways – like walking down the street and seeing a random interaction. Sometimes I get a song title, a lyric, or even a rhyme scheme. The other day, at my show, a song was playing, and I was riffing a melody over the instrumental part and recorded it. I collect these little nuggets: song starters. When I’m in a session, I go through them, find an idea, and build from there.”

From just a minute of talking to Dasha, it’s easy to see the spark. There’s a twinkle in her eyes and a fire in her heart that is infectious, it’s a talent that’s bursting out of her and a drive to make the creativity inside into a reality in the world. Meeting her in the midst of her European tour, it’s also clear that it’s all still sinking in: the growing fame, the burgeoning cultural capital and mostly just the very fact that people like what she’s putting out there.

“Every time I think about the past six or seven months, I get emotional. I’ve wanted this so badly my entire life”, Dasha smiles wistfully. “And for it to not just happen, but happen in such a huge way globally – especially with country music – blows my mind. It’s overwhelming and busy, but I’m so grateful. All my greatest dreams are coming true because of a song I wrote with a couple of friends in L.A. when I’d just dropped my label and management, and was completely independent. It came from trusting my gut, going back to my country roots, even before it was cool again.”

Looking back at the making of ‘Austin (Boots Stop Workin’)’, Dasha was reaching for catharsis and therapy through her sharp pen: “I was really mad at this guy – it was a gnarly situationship”, Dasha sighs. “I learned a lot about myself and my self-worth, how I wanted to be treated in relationships, and ‘Austin’ came from that breaking point: ‘I value myself too much to let you treat me like this, I’m done, I’m so fucking done’. I needed to write the song to cement it in my brain… I was over crying, I was over sadness; I was embarrassed. Like ‘why the fuck have I let this guy treat me like this for so long’… I needed to write my scorned woman song. I freestyled the “Did your boots stop working, did your truck break down?” line, and everyone in the session was like, ‘What did you just say?!’”, she laughs, “It came together in less than an hour; the whole song just fell into place. I wanted it to read like a story from front to back, and I’m really proud of it.”

From there, the song took on a life of its own, becoming Dasha’s breakout moment, landing her first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 and soaring up the charts for months to come. Unlike many a Nashville-hailing hit, it wasn’t just the American listeners that fell under her spell: ‘Austin’ went on to hit the top ten across Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, and the UK. It’s especially a feat, we discuss, as country is not always the most universally loved genre. Often belittled or looked down upon, it’s a sonic world that’s unfortunately become synonymous with a less pleasant crowd in the last couple decades. One of blind patriotism and toxic masculinity (the ‘why’ of which is interesting to delve into, if you’ve got the time sometime) when in actuality it’s a genre with a nuanced, rich and diverse past, with songwriting at it’s heart, focused on grassroots history, humanity and – as Dasha explains – the art of telling a story.

If you were trying to help someone understand country music, I ask, how would you convince them to try? “I’d say embrace the storytelling”, Dasha explains. “Give it a chance, dive into the vulnerability of the genre. Country gets a bad rap because of ‘bro country’ – the whole beer, trucks, and partying vibe. I love some of that stuff, but it’s not for everyone. Country has expanded so much. For example, in my album, I don’t talk about that at all: I talk about real stuff that a girl in her twenties goes through. There’s a new level of vulnerability in it.”

Making pop, Dasha described, seemed like what the world (and her old label) wanted of her, but it never felt right. And so, seeking authenticity and creativity, she returned to her true love of country, and it seemed the world started to do the same. Looking at the mass success and aesthetic coopting of the genre right now, Dasha explains she thinks there’s a lot of things which have driven the resurgence, but at the heart of it is a relatability and universality that resonates with people.

“There’s a level of authenticity that country music, fashion, and culture bring – it’s the epitome of what America is. It’s small dive bars, small towns, people working 9-5 jobs to make their dreams come true. It’s real. For a while, popular music was about stars living these big lives that most people don’t relate to, and I think audiences got tired of that. Country is all about storytelling. Country is like a movie playing in your head. It’s clever songwriting, and that’s what got me into it. I love writing songs, and I think people find it engaging because it’s real – it’s relatable.”

Writing a clever song and it going viral is one thing, but carrying on to create a meaningful project and driving yourself forward is another. Dasha has done both, putting her all into making the aptly titled What Happens Now?, her sophomore (though first fully country) album. Having dropped the deluxe version this month, we rewind to when she first began work on it: “I knew I was going to make a country album. The first song I wrote for it was ‘Drown Me’, which is actually the least country-sounding. It’s like my graduation into country. Writing ‘What Happens Now?’ came after ‘Austin’, and it felt like I was finally doing everything the way I wanted – no more listening to other people’s opinions. I made the entire album, from the songwriting to the cover art, all by myself. It was the first time I fully let my voice and vision shine, and I’m so happy I did.”

With the five new tracks on the deluxe version, Dasha is moving forward. “’Bye Bye Bye’ is the feature,” she muses, “it’s the final, cathartic goodbye to that chapter of my life… One of my favourites is ‘Way Too Drunk’… I wrote it when I was so hungover. It’s just a song for the girlies, having that recap the morning after and being like ‘ok who has pictures, who has videos, what the hell did we do last night?’…I dedicate that song to my drunk alter-ego, her name is Barb, and she is an animal. So, I wrote the song about Barb.”

“Another one of my favourites is ‘42’, I wrote that one by myself just in my mom’s living room when I had 42 days back in Nashville.” In true country fashion, the song reflected everything Dasha knows and loves about the genre, as well as about herself: “I love that song because it’s 100 percent me, capturing exactly what was going on in my life at that moment: it was like a journal entry. It was just a stream-of-consciousness song, which I wrote in 30 minutes or so”.

Nashville, of course, is a vital place for Dasha: moving there at 18 to study songwriting at Bellmont, she took her raw talent and learnt “the whys, the hows and the technique; certain strategies; dissecting the Top 40s and why this works”. “I have such an analytical brain too,” Dasha explains, “I love math so that kind of itched a good part of my brain where I was able to dissect why a song was good.” With her newfound understanding, she dropped out of college, moved back to Los Angeles and got stuck into the lifestyle, learning about pop culture and how to network.

“I met a lot of really fake people, and I met a lot of really amazing people, and I was able to self-discover. It made me realise I never want to be the type of person that someone walks away from feeling like they’d had a fake interaction, it just makes me sad to think about that. No matter how big this thing gets, I just want to be the most genuine I can be. Making other people happy makes me so happy and I never wanna lose that, I saw a lot of people in LA losing that.”

And so, Dasha moved back to the home of country: “I just love that you can drive like 15 minutes out of the city to where my horses are that I ride, to where all the line dancing bars are. That’s where all the true American culture is that I really value. And obviously Nashville is the songwriting capital of the world, all the best songwriters live there so I’ve learnt a lot about that too and got stuck in.” The land of many icons past and present, we delve into the ones who came before her, like “The Chicks! Love, love love. I love their attitude; they were so edgy for their time. They paved the road, they walked so could run and so did Dolly Parton, of course, and Shania Twain, god she’s such a queen! Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert…I feel like it’s been really hard for women in country for a really long time because it’s been so male-dominated, not only with artists but with listenership, a lot of dudes…I feel like the girls are finally taking country back.”

Of course, like many a rising star, there’s another Nashville-hailing icon who serves as a major inspiration to Dasha: “The first time I fell in love with music was Taylor Swift’s debut album, it was the first CD I ever bought. I was 6 years old I had a CD player in my room, and I would put on concerts and pretend it was me singing. I would just imagine singing in a stadium. Now I think, I have played a stadium and that little girl’s dream came true”, she sighs with tears in her eyes. 

In just her 24th year of life and already fulfilling lifelong dreams, Dasha has had a memorable year to say the least. Emerging as one of the genre’s most exciting new voices, she’s proving that country music’s reach extends far beyond geographical, gendered or sociopolitical borders. Connecting with the Nashville community as much as the Swedish crowd she was singing to the night before we spoke, drawing in the TikTok teens making up dances to her songs as much as the ordinary folks in their dive bars, the energy is visceral. “I feel it on stage,” she smiles “and it makes me have an even better performance because I want to give them the best show possible. I wanna make them fall even more in love with country music.” And with Dasha blazing the trail, they sure will.