Dasha’s ‘Oh, Anna!’ at the Opry Closes Book on Her Viral Fame Era
Two years in the past this month, Dasha went from nation music obscurity to its A-list in a matter of weeks, buoyed by a social media frenzy and a viral line dance. Since then, her time has been break up between embracing her growing public profile and turning into ever extra introspective regardless of the fame. “I felt like I completely lost myself, and that was the scariest part about it all,” Dasha says.
When “Austin (Boots Stop Workin’)” caught firethe flames had been intense. The California native was 24 and, looking back, ill-prepared for the means the track upended her life. There was criticism, starting from anticipated discourse about her viral rise to outright sexism or hate, and she or he discovered herself stereotyped and objectified as a dance-on-the-tables get together woman. In the wake of that quick fame, she wrote “Oh, Anna!” —the anchor of her EP Annalaunched final October. Now, Dasha has launched a stay model of the track recorded onstage at the Grand Ole Opry.
Dasha — full identify Anna Dasha Novotny — says she hopes the track places a interval on the viral portion of her life.
“The Opry version of ‘Oh, Anna’ really closes the chapter on this era of my music,” she says. “The post-‘Austin’ and post-craziness part. It was such a whirlwind in figuring out the sound and how we’re doing this, and getting to share the vulnerable side of me, too.”
Between her Opry look and the launch of Annashe addressed the on-line hate on Rolling Stone‘s Nashville Now podcasteven sharing a scheme to make “Trailer Swift” merch after the moniker was thrown at her. She hoped the EP, and “Oh, Anna!” In specific, she would join her viewers with a deeper, extra susceptible facet that she says had been overshadowed by “Austin.”
“Oh, Anna” got here from a writing appointment with Chris LaCorte, Emily Weisband, and Hillary Lindsey, and Dasha went into the session pondering her profession. She could not escape the concept that she was dwelling out the desires of tens of hundreds of thousands of women, and her cowriters struck the uncooked nerve that had been uncovered by these expectations.
“After about ten minutes, I just absolutely broke down,” Dasha says. “I was crying. I was like, ‘Guys, I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to put on this face and act this part. I feel like I lost myself. I thought I’d be one of those people who always knew themselves no matter what, and right now, I don’t know what to do, and I’m freaking out.”
Dasha started evaluating the life she was dwelling with the one she herself dreamed about.
“As a kid, I was so unbelievably fearless,” she says. “Just remembering all those things and writing them in ‘Oh, Anna!’ was the most healing ten years of therapy in one session I could have honestly ever imagined. “It was fucking amazing.”
Dasha’s Opry debut occurred a number of months after “Austin” dropped, and she or he has returned to her stage typically since. She was a member of the 2025 Opry NextStage class together with artists like Kaitlin Butts, Avery Anna, and Tucker Wetmore.
Her option to launch the stay model of “Oh, Anna!” It is as a lot a gesture of appreciation for the Opry as it’s a second life for the track itself. “The Opry version is so special,” she says, “as a result of getting their nod of approval, and attending to play there, was such a ‘Welcome to our world of nation music.’ “I felt so respected and honoured.”
Josh Crutchmer is a journalist and creator whose e book (Almost) Almost Famous might be launched April 1 through Back Lounge Publishing.
