With an impressive 24 songs, it is said to be the most comprehensive debut album ever released. It carries the lowercase title "shot in the dark" and was released on July 21, 2023 on the Big Loud Records label. And on a total of 20 out of those tracks 26-year-old singer Ashley Cooke from Florida is listed as a contributing songwriter.
Stylistically, the project combines lively pop energy with stories about matters of the heart typical of the country genre. Or as billboard.com describes it: "Ashley Cooke deftly mixes stories of love, heartbreak and lessons learned along the way, and showcases a range of sonic styles — all underpinned by her powerful but accessible vocals."
The majority of the album was created in 2022. For many reasons a very formative year for the young artist. "[It] has been nothing short of a whirlwind", she gets quoted by pmstudio.com. "I inked my first deals, played bucket list stages, went on four major tours and a country-wide radio tour, met thousands of new people and even a few of my heroes, fell in and out of love and spent more nights sleeping on a van bench than in my bed."
The album is the first milepost of her still young career. It was only after completing her Marketing & Communications major at Belmont University in Nashville, a little more than 3 years ago, that Ashley Cooke got to release her first songs. And it wasn't until the spring of 2022 that Big Loud Records signed her with the help of Black Blocks Music.
Interestingly among all her releases up to this point there are 5 duets! In addition to songs with Daniel Kim Ethridge, Roman Alexander, Jimmie Allen and Derek Austin, the one that stands out the most, is the collaboration with Brett Young, the balladeer with the distinct voice. This particular song about finding real love by the title 'never til now' is not only part of the current project, but has also amassed almost 36 million streams on Spotify to date.
So what has apparently become an early tradition for Ashley Cooke is now continuing on her debut album. Next to duets wit Nate Smith and Colbie Caillat, the one with Jackson Dean in particular stands out.
'what are you on fire about' impresses with the vocal contrasts of Ashley Cooke's clear voice and the rough timbre of Jackson Dean. It perfectly matches the lyrical content, which lists Lainey Wilson as a prominent co-writer. For what at first sounds like a passionate power ballad soon turns out to be a disappointed realization about a lost relationship.
both ends burnin' from a candle all night.
It ain't you, it's the love I miss.
I just wanna know where it went.
The song, with its catchy chorus and the inquiry about what the partner still is passionate about, feels like a focal point of the album. However none does sum up the project as strikingly as 'it's been a year' does, which was aptly released at the end of last year.
prayin' and shiftin' gears.
For the minute you got, it's probably a lot,
more than you wanna hear.
If you're hangin' around, I can tell you about it.
But it might take another beer,
'cause it's been a year.
With this song Ashley Cooke not only gets the listener in the mood for the extensive album, but at the same time it becomes part of the soundtrack of her own life. A soundtrack which she co-wrote and which gets perfectly complemented by the accompanying video for it. "It held some good, some bad, and some of the greatest moments of my life so far – and I wouldn’t trade a single minute of the last 365 days. Thank you all for being on this journey with me and cheers to many more."
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