Singer-songwriter Ashley Cooke is one of a new breed of Country artists that is leveraging the power of social media platform TikTok to build a career in music.
A co-founder of The 615 House (there’s more on that in this interview), Cooke has been building a sizeable fanbase as an independent artist while creating content that is regularly going viral and capturing the attention of Country music fans. On Friday she released her new single ‘Already Drank That Beer’.
I caught up with Ashley to talk about her new song, discuss her social media journey and to find out more about The 615 House…
You’ve just released your new song ‘Already Drank That Beer’. What’s the story behind the song?
I actually did not write this one. It was three amazing writers here in Nashville. I’m still independent so it’s really cool that they let me cut this song. I love the fact that I didn’t write it because I really got to hear it the first time as a listener would. I got to be hit by the lyrics the same way that a listener would and really get to be in that moment and see what the listeners are going to see when they hear it. Personally for me, that first verse when it first comes through, it just hits you like a train the way that the lyrics come through. Even though I didn’t write it, I feel like I did because it’s exactly what I wish I could say and exactly how I felt going through a breakup and losing somebody, and the same emotion of that push and pull of a toxic relationship. It’s exactly what I wish I would have written so I’m super excited to get to record it and release it.
When you’re considering recording a song you haven’t written, is it important to you that you can relate to the lyrics?
Oh, absolutely. It’s so interesting with the social media world too, because we get to release stuff and see what people think of it, and see how they react to it. One of the biggest lessons that I’ve learned in this social media journey and just releasing music is what I relate to, somebody else is going to relate to. I think for a long time, it’s common for artists to try to write towards what you think people will relate to, but in reality write what you feel, what you relate to and what hits you, and it’ll hit somebody else in a different wa or in the same way.
Is this song the start of a new project? Are you gearing up to release a larger body of work?
For sure. It’s funny because we went into cut a couple songs and that turned into more songs (laughs). I just keep writing. We are looking to do some sort of project in the very near future. We don’t have a date yet or have it all together, right this second but we are looking to do a project very, very soon. I’m excited. Also, it’s fully produced by Jimmy Robbins, who is an amazing producer here in Nashville, and I’m just honestly really lucky and blessed to get to work with him. Very, very soon a project is coming (laughs).
Was it a happy accident that you have all this new music ready due to the extra time the pandemic has afforded you?
Most definitely. I’ve been writing songs since I was 11. years old. Honestly, I feel like I just write about everything in my life. I’ve been writing for forever and the songs that we’ve written now have definitely come from the pandemic and experiencing Zoom writing and all the different things that we’ve we’ve been through. A lot of it is has come from the pandemic times.
People seem to love or hate Zoom writing. Where do you fall on the spectrum?
Somewhere in the middle. Honestly, any writing session you walk into, you don’t really know how it’s gonna go even if it’s in person. The hardest part about Zoom is the glitches that can happen where you talk over somebody, or if you have multiple people in a write then it’s tough to know who’s talking and when. To play an instrument and have somebody sing over it’s damn near impossible. That’s the tough part of it. But also, I’ve gotten to meet so many people that I probably wouldn’t have met if it weren’t for Zoom. Even people in the UK I’ve gotten to write with and collaborate with and in different countries, and in different areas in the States, and that wouldn’t have happened if Zoom wasn’t around. Honestly, I’m thankful for it because I think before the pandemic any kind of virtual write was super unpopular in Nashville, and now everybody’s doing it. It’s fun.
It may not be perfect but it does break down those barriers and it means you don’t have to spend lots of money flying around the world if you want to work with writers in other countries. That must be a gift for an artist?
Oh, absolutely. I’m definitely looking forward to the times that I can go fly over and meet the people that I’ve met via Zoom. There’s something really unique about being in a room as a creative, there’s just this vibe that happens and this energy that comes from being in a room with somebody. It definitely has broken down those barriers in different areas of the world in order to collaborate with people. It’s a great thing and I’m excited for it to kind of go away in some ways (laughs) so it’s a double-edged sword.
You mentioned before about your social media journey and you are incredibly successful of TikTok. What’s your secret?
Honestly, there’s absolutely no secret and I would give it to you if I had it. You can’t even plan to know what will work and what won’t work, and that’s I think the beautiful thing about TikTok. I’ve been on Instagram and YouTube my entire life but nothing has quite made sense as much as TikTok does and doesn’t make sense as much as TikTok does, which is the beauty of it because it’s so ‘for you’ page based. If you don’t really know anything about TikTok, anybody with any amount of following from any place in the world has the opportunity to go viral so it just depends on what content you make and what people seem to enjoy. It’s the most fun because it always keeps you on your toes. It doesn’t matter how big of a following you have. It’s based off the content that you make every day in and out and that content is what will go on the ‘for you’ page. I love it personally. I got on TikTok kind of on a whim. I was in quarantine in Florida with my parents and my friend sent me this challenge to try and I tried the challenge. Overnight it got 2 million views. I have so many friends that were not planning on being TikTokers or being on the app even, and now it’s really turned their career to a different page because of the views and the people that have connected with their music because of the app.
I was talking to Restless Road recently about TikTok as they have really got a handle on the platform, and they were saying, similar to you, that you can’t predict what content is going to work and what isn’t…
Oh, absolutely and that’s the fun part of it. There’s been songs that I’m like, ‘this one’s for sure gonna be the one that will react. It’s the perfect time length and it’s a play on words’. You try to put this equation together because you think that you know what’s going to work and then it doesn’t (laughs) and you’re like, ‘well, okay’.The video that I made for ‘Already Drank That Beer’ that I just put out a couple days ago, it’s already at 1.9 million views and it was a video that I did not plan ahead. I was on vacation, I was showing my friends a new song and I just pulled up my camera and recorded it and that one went viral. You can’t plan for it and that’s the fun of it.
Linking into your social media prowess, you’re one of the co-founders of 615 House. What’s that all about?
In the midst of the pandemic I hopped on TikTok and overnight decided to start making content every day. Around the same time, there were probably about six or seven people on the app that were Country based creating content, and this was before Nashville had really adapted TikTok. I was in my room one night just hanging out and watching TikToks and watching The Hype House, an influencer centered house out in LA, and all they do is make videos and collaborate together, and I was like, ‘there’s this infatuation with Nashville and with songwriters that people have that are not in Nashville. The small amount of people that are in Country music and on this platform, why are we not coming together to collaborate? Why are we not crossing platforms and writing songs together and singing cool cover songs and just making content together along the way?’ My friend Chris Ruediger and I started what is the 615 house and we had no expectations for it. We just got in a house here in Nashville and I called up some people and brought in Thomas Mac and Cooper Alan and Priscilla block, and all these people that have been on TikTok. We just made videos and it became what it was. That’s a little backstory.
I’m going to spend some time looking at what you guys are doing as it’s really interesting. I need to figure this all ou!
That’s the fun part about social media, and especially doing music on it. People like Shawn Mendes and Luke Combs started on Vine, and now Vine is no longer even an app that you can download. There’s always going to be another social media platform and if your music can translate past that, that’s the goal. It’s a lot of fun because TikTok is so different and so unique. It’s been a lot of fun having to learn a new platform and getting to know the team over there and just having a blast with that.
Ashley Cooke’s new single ‘Already Drank That Beer’ is available to stream and download now. Watch the video below:
