Ashe Just Released the Album of Your Dreams
Written by Taylor Gabrovic
Graphic by Rebekah Witt
Photo credit: Silken Weinberg
With The Girl Of Your Dreams, singer-songwriter Ashe has delivered her most cohesive and perhaps best album to date, full of cinematic production and the vulnerable lyricism she's perfected over the years. With a perfectly timed mid-October release, the album soundtracks the nostalgia and emotions that come when the leaves begin to fall. And quite a few tracks could fit perfectly in your favorite fall and winter films and television shows, so be ready for even more fan edits on your social feeds!
You likely remember the pandemic-era track that rose to fame after its feature in the Netflix hit romantic comedy To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You, which sang about the mistakes you make when you think “that you're in love, when you're really just engaged.” That song was “Moral of the Story,” and up until this year, it was the fastest-charting track of Ashe’s career.
Since releasing “Moral of the Story,” Ashe has released four studio albums: Ashlyn (2021), Rae (2022), Willson (2024), and her latest, The Girl of Your Dreams (2026). She has collaborated with talented names like Niall Horan, Diane Keaton, Suki Waterhouse, and Finneas (with whom she co-founded The Favors, who released their dreamily nostalgic album, The Dream, last year).
You have likely seen Ashe on your social feeds while she supported Benson Boone this past summer on his “Wanted Man Tour.” During that tour, Ashe released the song that has since replaced “Moral of the Story” as her fastest-charting single: “Stop The Wedding!” The cinematic, ABBA-esque track passionately proclaims to the listener, “You can burn the dress, and run away. “Stop the Wedding!” has since amassed over 100 million streams (and counting) and climbed charts all over the world.
When discussing the track with People Magazine, Ashe commented, “It genuinely feels like the sort of grown version of ‘Moral of the Story.’ Like a very liberated, ‘Wait, that didn’t even have to happen at all. We could have totally just skirted out of there.’ But because of all the things that I was taught as a young girl and as a woman, I stayed in a super manipulative thing.”
The idea for the hit song came to Ashe ironically, on the day of her wedding to fellow musician and member of The Brook & The Bluff, John Canada. Before walking down the aisle, Ashe was reminded of her first wedding and the tumultuous marriage that followed. While remarking on how wildly different the two experiences were, Ashe said, "I thought, if this didn't feel right, I could totally put a halt to the whole thing. I definitely didn't have that first time around." She then walked down the aisle and filed the idea away. Two months later, in a studio in Studio City, “Stop the Wedding!” came into existence.
When discussing the timing and process of making the album with People Magazine, Ashe said, “I wrote this entire album from a very healed, actualized, fulfilled place. I wasn’t searching. I wasn’t searching to find myself or find love or find my purpose.” This was a new experience for Ashe compared to creating her previous three albums.
On October 2, Ashe announced her fourth studio album, The Girl Of Your Dreams, and its second single, “Funeral.” Though it hasn’t reached the chart success of “Stop The Wedding!,” “Funeral” is a personal favorite of the two, with jazzy, horn-filled production inspired by a New Orleans funeral procession. It is also the first sad song in Ashe’s discography that she's ever found herself crying while writing. The album also has full-circle brilliance, opening with “Stop The Wedding!” and closing with “Funeral,” where Ashe sings about finding the right person to marry and give “the last speech at my funeral.”
Nine tracks sit between “Stop The Wedding!” and “Funeral,” ranging from upbeat love songs to heartbreaking piano ballads. Up second is a song all about raising your standards, “Lasso The Moon,” which will also be the third single from the album. In the chorus, Ashe sings, “Lasso me the moon/Not asking for much/It's up to you/If you wanna steal my heart/It's not so hard/It's all written in the stars.” The production makes this track feel like a song from a coming-of-age musical, where the heroine has been pushed too far and won’t take disappointments anymore from the men in her life.
Keeping with the astronomy theme, the next song on the tracklist is “Stardust,” which is another personal favorite. With its ‘70s-inspired production, it feels like a track that would have also fit perfectly on the debut record of the band Ashe co-founded with Finneas, The Favors. This makes sense since Ashe has said that “Stardust” was a track for The Favors and that chapter of her life.
“Love Bomb” is a track right after the heart of those who love some retro-pop, go-go boots, Bob Mackie, Elton John, and The Beatles. Despite what the title may imply, this track is not a love song but rather one where Ashe sings, “But I’ve learned shiny things ain’t free/So if you're gonna drop a love bomb baby, I’m not gonna stick around/You used to make my heart go boom-boom baby, now I’ve got you figured out,” and says that instead of hurting someone else, the love-bomber should simply drop the bomb on themselves!
Track five slows things down a bit, where in “Blue Hour,” Ashe sings of beginnings and endings, missing things that are no more, safety nets, and taking ‘in the view ‘till it’s gone.’ However, the slowing pace is only temporary, as “Swan Lake” brings back all the energy, and more, that its similar, preceding track created. Somehow, “Swan Lake” makes the cinematic, whimsical, and original production of “Stop The Wedding!” seem subtle by comparison. The track features an instrumental section where you can picture the Radio City Rockettes doing their chorus-line kicks (a potential tour idea worth exploring). As the music fades, listen closely for a few notes from Tchaikovsky’s ballet of the same name.
Once track seven hits, the mood, production, and theme shift for the remaining songs. Another personal favorite from the album, “Sunburn” sings about those you miss, but the goodbye was for the best: ‘Stuck with the very same memories, but what comes to me first/I think of the sun, you think of the burn.’ In this track, Ashe’s timeless vocals shine through, and it feels like a song you'd hear in a quaint, cozy jazz bar.
Ashe warned listeners that “Always September” would be one of the album's more heartbreaking tracks, and she didn't mislead them. It is another standout track reminiscent of the album Ashe released with The Favors last year. In this piano ballad, Ashe’s vocals take center stage while Ashe mourns a love lost: “I’m wrapped up in the cover, while you've been moving on/Tell me what’s it like in summer with her hanging on your arm?”
This title track is somewhat unexpected in the best way, but is also pure Ashe. Hearing the title, seeing the old-Hollywood aesthetic, and listening to the album's singles, one might assume the title track would be unabashed confidence, a power ballad where Ashe proudly claims the title of “The Girl Of Your Dreams.” But that would be the wrong conclusion, as the track is centered around Ashe explaining her faults and shortcomings (“You are the bright summer day, I am the cold April grey”) and questioning how she can still be the one someone chooses (“You must be in a haze, I’m no holiday/How long ‘till you wake up?/How long ‘till you see?/I’m not who you think of when you're falling asleep/Caught up in stars and the moonlight/All I can think is how could I ever be, the girl of your dreams?”). It is a raw, relatable track, and Ashe has never shied away from those in her career.
Up second to last is “Sweet Caroline,” which, to be clear, isn't a cover of Neil Diamond's crowd favorite. Instead, it's about that one friend you wish was still sweet, the one who changed unexpectedly, ruined the friendship, and now you can never go back: “All of a sudden, you hate me religiously/Out of the blue, you're somebody new, what happened to you?” Lastly, Ashe closes the album with “Funeral,” ending the album on a joyous note.
In an interview with Variety, Ashe said that the volatile and miserable state of the world today impacted her goal for The Girl Of Your Dreams: “My heart for this record was like, ‘We need to add some whimsy into the world.’ And that feels like my calling right now.” It is safe to say that Ashe accomplished her goal of adding some whimsy, but she also created one of the best pop albums of the year.