About this artist
California’s Ashlyn Willson (aka Ashe) is an emotive performer who combines poetic singer/songwriter pop with electronic flourishes. She emerged in the 2010s singing on Ben Phipps’ “Sleep Alone,” and Shaun Frank’s Juno-nominated “Let You Get Away,” before releasing her 2018 debut EP, The Rabbit Hole. She gained wider attention when her song “Moral of the Story” (off 2019′s Moral of the Story: Chapter 1) was featured in Netflix’s To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You. Ashe made her full-length debut in 2021 with Ashlyn and followed it a year later with Rae.
A native of San Jose, Willson took piano lessons starting at age six and first began writing songs in her teens. After high school, she briefly attended community college before enrolling at Berklee in Boston, where she majored in Contemporary Writing and Production. After graduating, she relocated to Nashville, where she quickly found songwriting and production work. However, it was her solo work as Ashe that caught the attention of Swedish DJ Ben Phipps, who then invited her to collaborate on the single “Sleep Alone.” The track went viral and helped her land similar collaborations with artists like Shaun Frank, Whethan, and Louis the Child.
In 2017, Ashe released her official debut solo single, “Used to It,” followed by The Rabbit Hole EP in 2018. She returned the next year with two more EPs, Moral of the Story: Chapter 1 and Moral of the Story: Chapter 2, both of which featured production by Finneas O'Connell. In February 2020, Ashe’s song “Moral of the Story” landed at number five on the Billboard digital charts after it was featured in the hit Netflix series To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You. Her first album, the personal Ashlyn, was issued by Mom + Pop in May 2021. It reached number 18 on the Billboard Alternative Albums chart and, matching Moral of the Story: Chapter 1, peaked at number two on the Heatseekers chart. Throughout 2022, Ashe released a series of singles including the punchy “Angry Woman” and the ballad “Love Is Letting Go,” which featured a guest appearance from Diane Keaton. Both appeared on her sophomore LP, Rae, that October. ~ Matt Collar