ASHY has returned with her first single in two years.
The Christchurch-based artist marked herself out as a pop star in the making in 2023 with the release of her debut EP, Status, which earned a place on Rolling Stone AU/NZ‘s Top 25 New Zealand Albums of 2023 list.
“ASHY’s debut EP, Status, dropped earlier this year, and it’s one of the strongest pop records released by an Aotearoa artist in years,” we wrote that year.
We haven’t heard from ASHY since then, but she hasn’t been resting on her laurels. She supported Drax Project on the Wellington pop-rock band’s New Zealand tour, participated in APRA SongHubs, and appeared at SXSW – both in Sydney and Austin – several times.
She also diligently worked on new music, including new single “Ottoman”, which was written during an intensive writing week following a string of showcases at SXSW Sydney 2023.
Written alongside James Guido, “Ottoman” is the first taste of ASHY’s long-awaited follow-up to Status, although details on the upcoming record are currently scarce.
“This has felt like such a long time since I last released and I had to come back with something special like ‘Ottoman’,” ASHY says of her new single, which you can listen to below.
“After a couple of years of travelling, performing and writing overseas I had come back with some of my favourite songs if ever written. This is the first of my forthcoming project, this is only the beginning”
Expect plenty of quality pop gems from ASHY’s new project. Guido (Georgia Lines) adds to her growing list of impressive production collaborators, following Josh Fountain (BENEE), Ben Wylen (Ariana Grande), Liam Quinn (Peach PRC), and more.
Her new project is slated to feature tracks written with producers in Los Angeles, Nashville, Sydney, and Auckland – ASHY’s clearly spreading her net far and wide in order to make as polished a pop record as possible.
ASHY’s “Ottoman” is out now.
