I'm surprised there's something here.
That's how far we've come, or fallen. When there's a bidding war over an artist, when we start reading about it in the trades, it's usually dismissible, a youngster in a traditional genre spewing generalities.
But that's not Dasha.
I'll be honest, I only heard about her a few days back. I was on the lift with Zach Kuhn and he mentioned her, and how hot she was. And then I read about her being signed to Warner and I decided to check her out.
Now the hit, the single, is "Austin." And if you listen, at first you'll be turned off by the simple, monotone, machine-like rhythmic bed. And then there's the voice, which isn't that much more than a whisper. But then...
"Did your boots stop workin'
Did your truck break down
Did you burn through money
Did your ex find out
Where there's a will, then there's a way
And I'm damn sure you lost it
Didn't even say goodbye
Just wish I knew what caused it"
She's not singing to the back row. This isn't a television competition, this is personal. You're getting a peek inside someone else's mind, their feelings, the situation they've found themselves in, that you've probably been in yourself.
"Was the whiskey flowin'
Were you in a fight
Did the nerves come get you
What's your alibi"
There has to be a reason. There must be. We were in love, on the same page, and then you bounced. WHY?
"I made my way back to LA
And that's where you'll be forgotten
In forty years you'll still be here
Drunk washed up in Austin"
She's shoring herself up, with attitude, but we know it's all a pose. Maybe if some superstar belted the lyrics we'd see it as a triumph, but not when Dasha sings.
"Hell of a bluff, you had me believin'
How many months did you plan on leavin'
What happened, bad habits?
Did you go back, go batsh*t?
I loved you, how tragic, oh-oh"
Once again, WHAT HAPPENED?
About two-thirds of the way through I realized why "Austin" was a viral hit. It speaks to people. It's what Taylor Swift used to sell before she went Top Forty. It's personal, raw.
But the rest of the cuts have nowhere near the same number of streams on Spotify. But as I listened to the album I was stunned that it contained the same viewpoint, the same personality, there was a person at the core of these songs and sure, she didn't have a great voice, but she had something to say.
This is what we've been looking for. And funny how the fans found it before the labels. We crave authenticity, we crave relatability. With every celebrity selling out, how are we supposed to identify? We want to own the act, not the corporation. That's the essence of music, it connects on a level that's impossible to fully describe, but we know it when we feel it.
Now in the old, pre-internet days, Dasha wouldn't have gotten a deal, her voice would not have sufficed. But today the script has flipped. If you've got a good enough voice we'll provide the material, and that's ass-backwards. You see when done right music is about artistry, inspiration, feeling, not some paint-by-number dream.
I could opine about the commerciality of Dasha, but that's not my point. There's definitely something here, and it's perfectly clear, and it stands out in a Sargasso Sea of endless crap.
You know it when you hear it.
And you might not, and that's fine.
Then again, the women have overtaken the music business. Because they have no problem being honest, displaying their emotions, their humanity, and that's what we're all looking for.
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