DASHA Explores Her Roots On ‘Anna,’ Part One Of A Two-Part Album

DASHA has officially dropped part one of her highly-anticipated two-part album. Today, fans hear the first half, Anna, a nod to her birth name, and in 2026 they’ll get the second half, Dasha.

Of the eight songs rolled out with the new collection, the multi-platinum country star begins to tell her real story and the different sides to her that her listeners never got to see. Her career had a rapid start, when “Austin (Boots Stop Workin’)” went viral on social media, making her instantly known as “the boots girl.”

That nickname accompanied by her quick rise to fame came with instant recognition but also assumptions about who she was. But as we find out in this project, there’s a lot more to DASHA that meets the eye.

“’Anna’ is all about who I am at the core and kind of the part that got skipped over because ‘Austin’ got so big so fast,” she told Rolling Stone. “I became known as ‘the boots girl,’ which is so cool but people started filling in blanks and I feel like I didn’t have the chance to fully tell my story of like who I am and why I am the way I am and where I come from and all the things that make me, me and all the little quirks of my personality.”

Musically, the EP offers an electric mix of stripped-back ballads like “Train,” to sassy, bold anthems like her newest single, “Work on Me” and “Not At This Party,” which has racked up over 133 million streams and even spawned a remix by GRAMMY® Award-winning superstar David Guetta. Other highlights include the infectious “Like It Like That” and the autobiographical “Oh, Anna!.”

These tunes collectively echo her own journey of leaving home at 18 and learning to make a place for herself in a new city in pursuit of her wildest dreams.  

“I think the songs on ‘Anna’ so beautifully unfold my playful side and my very wholesome side and my side that is scared of growing up and has just really channeled into who I am,” she went on to explain. “That’s where ‘Oh, Anna!” comes from, just that little girl in me. I’m so proud of her and she’d be so proud of me. It just kinda tells the whole story of who I am at the core.”

When announcing the arrival date of her new collection, Dasha admitted that getting back into the studio and writing these authentic songs have helped her “find myself again.” And while she’s still learning about who she is as “Dasha,” she has started to recall who she once was as “Anna.”

“I can’t wait for y’all to get to know her too,” she added.

The California native spent the first part of the year touring with Thomas Rhett and Kane Brown, along with several headlining shows of her own. Now, she’s running the show with The Welcome to Dashaville Canadian Headline Tour. This trek launched on September 16 and runs through October 19, with a final show in Ottowa, ON.