Dasha Novotny, also known as many by Dasha, has been taking the internet by storm with her hit song ‘Austin.’
The singer, who has gone from ‘100,000 monthly listeners to over 12 million’ says she knew she had a hit on her hands after she sang the lyrics for the first time in the studio.
Dasha released “Austin” in November 2023. She then dropped her second album, “What Happens Now?” in February, and now, she performed her hit at the CMT Music Awards on Sunday, April 7.
Discussing the inspiration for the song with What’s Trending, the singer mentioned, “I was feeling so much disappointment and anger toward this guy and I took all of the emotions I was feeling and turned it into a story that was bigger than me. I wanted this to be my scorned woman song – like my version of Miranda’s “Mama’s Broken Heart.”
Despite never before visiting Austin featured in her song, which has garnered over 7 billion views on TikTok and 75 million streams on Spotify, Dasha says the emotions and storyline are “so real.”
The singer opened up to What’s Trending about her time performing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! shortly after finding success on TikTok.
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“It was absolutely mesmerizing. The entire team was so kind and made me feel right at home. From getting on site, to rehearsals, to the actual performance – the day couldn’t have gone better. After we finished the performance, I got to go back to the hotel and meet all of my friends and family to watch it together. The whole day was something I’ll never forget.”
The song has even had a popular line dance that many have been recreating.
Dasha also mentioned, “I love lying in bed at night and just scrolling through watching people doing the line dance and also engaging with all of my other songs on What Happens Now? This entire experience has been really magical.”
In a conversation with Today, the singer says her love of performing started in her hometown of San Luis Obispo, California.
“I found my love of performing and entertaining people at a very young age,” she says. “I was 5 when I started doing musical theater productions, and then I was dancing — ballet and hip hop and stuff growing up.”
The singer-songwriter says she won national poetry competitions in school, which helped after she decided to pick up guitar and piano and start writing songs.
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The artist also opened up claiming that her dad was her first manager and started gigs in coffee shops and wineries. Her older brother helped her from there with music.
“I released my first song when I was 13 and it was my birthday present for my dad,” she says. “He gave me a small budget and goes ‘OK, go record your song.’ Then we record a little music video and that is when I say that I caught the bug for being an artist.”
@dasha i love u guys so much, half a million streams in the past 24 hours on Austin alone
Dasha even admits that the viral line dance in her hit “Austin” were choreographed by herself and her manager. The singer admits she did ballet for 15 years, and even goes line dancing on a weekly basis.
Accompanied by influencer Zoey Aune, Dasha filmed the dance and posted it online, where she’s received over 50 million views.
Dasha notes that a deluxe version of her album is on the way but has yet to add an official date on release.
