Ashe on ‘Stop the Wedding!’ and New Album ‘The Girl of Your Dreams’

Ashe is tucked away in her Nashville home. It’s more of a cottage, she explains, a cup of coffee in hand. It’s straight out of The Holiday.

“It looks like a grandma decorated it,” the singer-songwriter tells The Hollywood Reporter on a recent Zoom call. “But it was in fact me.”

The 33-year-old is in the midst of a career-high. Her latest album, The Girl of Your Dreams, has earned the singer her highest Billboard 200 debut to date, landing at No. 20. The album’s pre-release single “Stop The Wedding!” has continued to climb the charts, landing at its highest-yet position at No. 28.

It’s not the first time she’s experienced a viral moment — her 2019 single “Moral of the Story,” which was featured in Netflix’s To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before: P.S. I Still Love You, served as a breakout moment for the singer. Heading into the album, she was hopeful that the hype surrounding “Stop The Wedding!” would push people to listen to the entire album, which given its debut this week, it seems that came to fruition.

“‘Stop The Wedding!’ while to the world it stands alone and on its own little island, to me, it’s No. 1 of 11 songs,” she explains. “It lives in a body of work. I’m excited for people to have that context.”

There was a time for Ashe, whose real name is Ashlyn Rae Willson, when she felt extremely protective with her work. There’s always a complicated feeling when sharing an album with the world. But lately, thanks to her latest album and her 2025 stint as The Favors with collaborator Finneas, she’s finding herself moving away from that.

“A previous version of a previous songwriter that I was, was a bit more precious,” she says. “Now, as I’ve gotten older, it’s not that I wouldn’t take it less serious, but it’s art. It’s meant to be interpreted and perceived and misinterpreted.”

Adds Ashe: “I’m very OK with that — probably in a way that I didn’t used to be. I can’t wait for people who love it to love it. And for people that it’s not for, to not get it, and it just to be here.”

When did you notice something was happening with “Stop The Wedding!” and its rising viral moment?

I was on tour with Benson Boone when I started teasing “Stop The Wedding!” It came out while I was on that tour. I was able to feel the difference of that song pretty immediately. A couple days after it came out, I played it in L.A. and so much of the crowd of people who didn’t know who I was until now were singing the song. That was like, “OK, this feels different. Something about this is unique in its own thing.”

How are you processing it in relation to the album?

It’s a really singular, special song. I’d be devastated if I heard another artist put it out. If I heard that song and someone else put it out, I’d be like, “Whoa, no, that sounds like an Ashe song.” I’m really proud of its DNA. But it’s funny because while I have this true pride in it, I also have this distance from it now that it’s in the world and it’s becoming a part of people’s stories. It may mean more to someone who just left someone at the altar than it will ever mean to me. That’s bizarre and cool and awesome. This is the first time in my career that I have a healthy separation from the music. Not in a way that I don’t obsessively love it, but in a way that people’s reception of it is not a reflection on me and who I am and my worth as a person. I’ve never had that until now.

What do you think made the difference in finding yourself getting to that place?

Well, Nicole, I had a bit of a nervous breakdown in 2023, and I almost quit music, and it really took a lot of therapy and gardening and rediscovering why I really loved music and rediscovering that this is what I’m supposed to do. I am uniquely made to be a music artist. I’m uniquely made to be a songwriter. I feel uniquely equipped to handle this world, and I had to relearn that. I had to gain that confidence because I really lost the plot there for a second. Then put out my third record, Wilson, and then Finneas and I made The Dream. We made a whole ass band and put out a record. There was just so much healing and confidence that came from all of that, that now I’m a really solid version of myself.

I have so much to learn. Every day, there’s some new statistic with “Stop the Wedding!” My text thread with the label is like: “This new crazy thing just happened.” so I’m learning on the fly. This is a level of success that I have not had before, but I really know who I am, and I really like her. I love her. God forbid a girl like herself.

Do you think when you were starting out that you would’ve been equipped to handle the level of success you’re having now?

I do feel equipped to handle it now in a way that I definitely was not before. It’s funny, the universe, God, Oprah, whoever’s really in charge, I think [they] knew that this was a time that I could experience it and not lose myself to it. I don’t think that that would’ve have been the case in the past. It’s funny too, because I’ve been doing this for so long. There was so much I needed to learn and go through. You can see it from my first album to now, consistency has only just now clicked in. I think I really started to settle into my personal style and trusting my voice and what I have to say during The Favors album. That’s all been more recent as in the last three years.

It was right. It was correct that it happened this way. The real difference now is I so deeply love my life just as it is. I was deeply in love with my life before “Stop the Wedding!” came out. For all its extraordinary and very ordinary bits. “Stop the Wedding!” having this moment is not the point, it is the cherry [on top] to have a life that I’ve worked really hard for and to protect.