Dasha: ‘What Happens Now?’ – Debut Album Review

Dasha releases her debut album, What Happens Now?, out now, February 16th on all streaming platforms. Listen to the brand new project here.

For rising star Dasha, her new album, What Happens Now?, is truly a return to her roots. While the singer-songwriter may have begun her career with viral pop tunes on TikTok, country music is always where her heart has been. 

When she chatted with Country Swag last November, she revealed, “I had this epiphany and was like ‘I have to go back to my roots and start making country music again’, so in the last nine months to a year, I’ve really dove into that […] I have never had such an amazing time making music before. Music has never come so effortlessly to me before as it has with this music. It’s the beginning of this new country era.”

Her passion for the music shines through on the eight song collection, which is lyrically much like a journal through her deepest thoughts and feelings. This is evident on songs like “Drown Me,” “42,” and “Even Cowboys Cry.”

Conversely, the album’s opening track is truly an outlier, a driving up-tempo that adeptly mixes electro pop beats with twangy guitar rhythms as she ponders the potential of a summer romance with a boy who “hurts so good.” 

“Austin” is a more straightforward country up-tempo, with its hand-clapping, two-stepping countrified rhythm about a guy who failed to keep his promises. “Did your boots stop workin’? Did your truck break down? Did you burn through the money? Did your ex find out?” She asks. “Where there’s a will then there’s a way and I’m damn sure you lost it // Didn’t even say goodbye // Just wish I knew what caused it.”

Of “Austin,” she revealed to Country Swag that it was one of her favorite songs she’s ever recorded.  “We started creating this whole story about this guy who kind of screws you over and you leave him at this bar, and I love how angry it is,” She shares. “It crawls under your skin, because it’s not that you’re mad – mad, it’s like you’re hurt – mad, and I feel like that emotion really comes through in that song. We wrote it in an hour, which is crazy fast for a song.”

Despite being a California native, Dasha embraces small town life on “Talk of the Town” and “Share this City,” musing that “the smallest towns have the biggest mouths” on the latter, as she deals with a relationship that’s at the root of a town’s gossip. Likewise, “Share this City” finds her trying to dodge an ex. “I’ve been avoiding all the places that we used to love, and heaven only knows I don’t get out enough,” She admits mournfully. “Maybe we should call it a truce and maybe I won’t run into you.”

Heartbreak weaves its way though many of the songs, including the incredible standout that is “Drown Me,” a sad guitar ballad that finds her sinking beneath the weight of her broken heart, powerful imagery finding her pleading with a former lover that she’s addicted to. “Empty all the air inside my lungs and shook me in the water, even when you think I’ve had enough, then hold on to me harder, Baby drown me, if you need me,” She sings. “I’m infatuated, baby, with the way you make me hate you.”

“Even Cowboys Cry” and “42” are also powerful ballads in their own ways, with the former encouraging a cowboy to open up and deal with his demons. Meanwhile, the latter is about counting down the days until you see someone again and longing to pick up where things left off, despite a year between.

“So tell all the girls you’ve been kissing that they had a good run // But it’s all over and through // Tell them that your little lady’s moving back to the city // And it’s not them, it’s that I finally get to have you // And your penthouse with the bad view // And my toothbrush in your bathroom // And you can tell I’m tryna act cool // But do I finally get to have you?”

While Dasha may have previously dabbled in pop music, it’s clear from What Happens Now? that country is truly where her heart lies… and where she belongs.

What Happens Now? Tracklist:

1. What Happens Now?
2. 42
3. Austin
4. King of California
5. Drown Me
6. Talk Of The Town
7. Share this City
8. Even Cowboys Cry

Country Swag Picks:

1. “Austin”
2. “Even Cowboys Cry”
3. “42”

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What Happens Now? is available everywhere you buy or stream music. Take a listen below and check out more new recently released music on our ‘New Country Music’ playlist. Be sure to give the playlist a follow for your weekly new country music fix.