Ashley Cooke Discusses the “Beautiful Chaos” of Her Self-Titled Sophomore Album (Exclusive)

Ashley Cooke is ready for fans to know who she really is. The country singer was the latest guest on American Songwriter’s Off the Record podcast, and, during her appearance, she told host Lisa Konicki about her forthcoming self-titled sophomore record.

“It’s beautiful chaos,” she said of the LP, which is due out Aug. 14. “… I wrestled with all different titles for this record, and I landed on a self-title because when all my friends and family were listening to it, they were saying things like, ‘Ash, we’ve known you for a long time, but I feel like I really know you in this record.’”

Cooke noted that she was “terrifyingly” real throughout all of the songs on the album, which is something she hopes fans feel when they listen.

“I feel like I’ve been in the game for a while. I’ve been signed since 2021. I have put out a debut record. I’ve radio toured. I’ve had a number one song. I have said, ‘Hey, this is me artistically as a brand, as an artist,’” Cooke explained. “But I want people to really feel like they know me as a person with this record.”

Cooke admitted that it’s “scary as hell” to be so candid in her music, which she described as “mainstream but also clever.”

“Dan Huff produced this record, and he crushed the feel of it. Dan is the perfect partner in this record, because I’m such a lyricist and he’s such a musician,” she said. “… I want to write poetry that also has something that makes you feel something.”

Cooke said she accomplishes that by frequently turning to her Notes app, which she called her “holy grail.”

“If I’m in a heavy conversation and somebody’s crying, I’m like, ‘Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. What you just said was so good,’” she said. “I love reading, I love books, and I love poetry. I just love words. So to me, the words are the most important part… I love co-writing with people that just get it melodically when I can bring in the lyric behind what something is.”

Ashley Cooke Discusses Standout Tracks on Her Sophomore Album

It’s proved to be a winning combination. Fans have already heard several songs on the album, most recently “Baby Blues,” which Cooke penned while hungover on a writing retreat while struggling to finish another song.

“We’re writing this all fighting for our lives, very hungover, trying to figure it out,” she recalled. “Seth Ennis in the room was like, ‘Well, what if it’s a line like, Well baby, put those baby blues away before you get attached to me.’ And we all were like, ‘That’s a cool song idea.’”

“We all started singing along this almost Motowny feel-good, Baby, put those baby blues away,” Cooke continued. “We just start writing the song. It just fell out into our laps and became my favorite song on that retreat.”

Elsewhere, fans have yet to hear “When We’re 30,” which Cooke said is “one of my favorite songs on the record.”

“It’s basically just a silly, cheeky song saying, ‘If we’re single when we’re 30, go ahead and buy the ring. Let’s do the damn thing. We’ll laugh at anybody that ever did this dirty. If you’re single when we’re 30,’” she said. “It feels like an anthem for anybody that has that friend that you’re like, ‘I think I love you, but not in that way, but also could be that way if we’re both single and I’m desperate. Help.’”

The LP ends with “The Girl Who Cried Wolf,” which was a last minute addition to the project.

“When the record was done, I was like,’”Man, I feel like fans are going to hear this in six months, and they’re going to think that I’m so in love and so happy and all this stuff, but I’m very much not. And I’m pretty pissed off, to be honest,’” Cooke said of what prompted her to pen the track. “I was like, ‘Man, I feel like I need to write about this.’”

She proceeded to do just that, writing the song alongside Lauren Hungate, Emily Weisband, and Joe Fox.

“We wrote about my patterns and what it’s like to go back to a relationship one too many times,” she said. “… It’s about when you do that and then your family and your friends start to not believe you that you’re really done this time. You’ve already gone back so many times.”

“It’s the last song on the record intentionally,” Cooke added. “It ends at a cliffhanger of, did she go back? Will she go back? Is she back with him?”

Ashley Cooke Discusses Her Hopes for Her Forthcoming LP

The song is one of many examples on the album where Cooke said she unabashedly “word vomited” her feelings and experiences for fans.

“I want them to find themselves in it. I think that, because I got so hyper-specific with this project, people will hopefully find themselves in it,” she said. “… I just want people to know that it’s OK to write for therapeutic reasons. It’s OK to create art that is just simply because you felt it.”

Cooke leaned into that belief fully on the album, as she committed herself to not chasing radio play or awards, but rather honesty.

“I think this is just the era that I’m entering into. I don’t really care if they do break records, and win awards, and make it on the radio,” she said. “Of course it’s awesome. It’s fun. I get to do more with my career when they do, but it just means more to me if it’s something that I care about, and that the music is real and tells a real story that I feel like people can understand.”

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