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Ashe on New Single ‘Funeral,’ the Success of ‘Stop the Wedding!’ and What to Expect From Her Upcoming Album: ‘I Really Feel Like I’ve Arrived’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Ashe has built a career on melancholic tracks, yet she never found herself in tears while penning one until she wrote "Funeral." Ironically, the emotional ballad—serving as the second single from her forthcoming fourth studio album, *The Girl of Your Dreams*, due out October 16 via Atlantic Records—carries an unexpectedly uplifting tone. Don't let the title fool you; "Funeral" finds Ashe embracing the deep comfort of knowing you've discovered your soulmate. The track opens with a tender piano motif but gradually swells into an exuberant, trumpet-heavy celebration, drawing inspiration from the lively funeral marches of New Orleans. "You'll be my Tuesday night and my Sunday drive / And the last speech at my funeral," she belts in the chorus, her voice tinged with a soulful edge. "Every love song I write ends up being so morbid. I don't know why—I just think about death a lot and I think about love a lot and I think they are very closely intertwined," Ashe tells Variety over Zoom, speaking from Nashville as she strolls to her favorite coffee shop. The casual, candid vibe of the conversation makes it feel less like an interview and more like two friends catching up on FaceTime. "Having a witness to your life is so meaningful and such a joyful thing," she adds. "So this song starts out like, 'Oh, is this going to be sort of a sad ballad,' and we're like, 'Nay, we're going to be dancing by the end.'"

"Funeral"—released today—was co-written with producer Noah Conrad, who first teamed up with Ashe on her 2019 breakthrough hit "Moral of the Story," alongside songwriter Annika Bennett. "When we got to the bridge and I wrote, 'Make it long / Tell em every story and every song / Say I found who I belonged to,' I just wept in front of Annika and Noah," Ashe recalls. "And then we all sort of got teary together and were like, 'Love is what it's all about!'" That earlier track, which catapulted Ashe into the spotlight, was born from a painful divorce, and creating *The Girl of Your Dreams* has felt like a full-circle journey. Now happily remarried to musician John Canada—whose own artistic path includes work with acts like The Band CAMINO—Ashe channeled her growth into the album's lead single, "Stop the Wedding!" This theatrical, almost cinematic plea is directed at her younger self, urging her to walk away from a doomed marriage before it began. Ashe describes it as the "older, wiser sister of 'Moral of the Story.'" "It would have been the song that I needed so 'Moral of the Story' would have never had to be written," she explains. "But listen, I love that song, so it all goes the way it's supposed to go. There's such an overwhelming sense of gratitude for my life and where things are at—I'm not grateful for an abusive ex-husband, but I'm grateful for a story and for art that I am so proud of." This newfound perspective has made the album rollout feel lighter and less fraught with anxiety, especially as it marks her first release under Atlantic Records. "It's such a healed, playful, fun record—and I'm just in a place in my life where I'm very nervous system regulated," she says. "It's the first time in my life that I'm not super attached to the success of the thing. I mean, I'm also saying that at the same time that I'm having the biggest release of my career."

That success is already undeniable. Since dropping on August 7, "Stop the Wedding!" has become Ashe's most commercially potent solo debut to date. In just three weeks, it amassed over 15 million streams on Spotify and climbed into TikTok's top 50 trending songs, sparking a viral trend where users share their own reasons for leaving relationships as cautionary tales. "It feels a little like, finally!" Ashe says of the song's triumph. "If there's anyone who goes like, 'Oh, what an overnight success,' I get to really have pride in the fact that I've been doing this forever. Now people are pointing back to, 'Oh my gosh, this is the same girl who put out 'Moral of the Story.'" She adds, "I really feel like I've arrived. And I'm like, good thing this didn't happen sooner. It's correct that 'Stop the Wedding!' is the song that's changing everything." Ashe also hopes the track serves as a broader wake-up call, helping listeners "realize that they're not stuck." A touching moment came when her husband's friend shared a video of his three-year-old daughter singing every word. "Like, imagine this little girl 20 years from now is being proposed to by the wrong person, or is feeling stuck in her job, or doesn't know which major she should choose, or is being told to do something that isn't right for her. And she has this callback memory to 'Stop the Wedding,'" Ashe says, her voice catching with emotion. "There could be an entire generation of girls that might be affected by this—like, what if we're making the world a better place? And I just cried and was like, 'Man, that is the whole point.'"

The visual world of *The Girl of Your Dreams* is equally ambitious, with "Stop the Wedding!" featuring an old Hollywood-inspired music video directed by Silken Weinberg, drawing heavily from Alfred Hitchcock's aesthetic. Ashe has cited Grace Kelly's roles in "To Catch a Thief" and "Dial M for Murder" as major touchstones, admiring "this sort of softness about her that I really admire." And that's just the beginning—Ashe teases that a film project is in the works, though she's careful not to spill too much. "I don't know what I can and can't say, but there is a movie coming," she reveals with a knowing smile. This cinematic, theatrical energy permeates the entire record, which leans into playful, whimsical territory with '70s influences like ABBA and Queen. "We were not trying to make a sad singer-songwriter record," she insists. Interestingly, Ashe was exploring a potential role in a West End show during the writing process, and while the timing didn't align, it "definitely pushed me deeper into this very playful, whimsical, theatrical world." That spirit may well translate to her live performances. "I half think I should start it in curlers in front of a mirror, like slowly pulling them out for the first song or something," she teases. "I can see it really unfolding as… not Broadway, but like a show." Ultimately, Ashe hopes this album offers listeners a "soft place to land" amid a chaotic world. "The world is so miserable right now," she reflects. "My heart for this record was like, 'We need to add some whimsy into the world.' And that feels like my calling right now."

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