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Ashley Cooke’s sophomore, self-titled album is a coming-of-age, introspective deep dive into the last couple years of her life.

A self-proclaimed “coastal country” artist, where the sea meets shore, Ashley Cooke combines all the ingredients that make for the perfect soundtrack to whatever season you may be in, taking inspiration from her memories on the East and West Coasts.

“I was raised kind of all over, but California and Florida feel like the most pivotal places that I really grew up,” she remembers. “When I look at the ocean, I don't just feel happy. I don't just feel sad. I don't just feel one thing. There's this really big emotional feeling, and I feel like this record did that.”

Setting the tone for the album with “if i’m being honest,” Cooke offers a reintroduction to her fans, bringing a new sense of self, reflection and, sometimes, messy truths.

The song opens stripped back in the studio, a choice Cooke says helps bridge the gap between the person behind the lyrics and those listening from afar.

“It just felt like a cool way to kind of get into it and intro everybody into my self-titled record. It was very intentional,” she explains. “The way that I wrote the song was so personal and intentional. I sat down in this living room where I'm at right now and had a bottle of wine with two of my oldest co-writers. We just kind of word-vomited all this stuff about me.”

She describes herself as “bad about commitment” and says she has “been putting walls up since June of ‘97,” but this track breaks down those barriers and lays a new foundation built on truth, vulnerability and connection.

“I feel like this is an era where I've never felt more confident about who I am in my music, who I am as a person, the brand, where I'm from, how it all intertwines,” she says. “I just felt like this record really establishes who I am as an artist, but also just allows people a peek behind the curtain a little bit.”

From the first track to the final song of the 15-song album, Cooke takes listeners through a roller coaster of love, heartbreak and everything in between. At times pretty but messy, angry yet healed, the record captures the complicated emotions that come with growing, changing and finding yourself. Whatever experience you may be going through, there is a song on the record that allows you to find yourself in it.

“It was stuff that, through tears and real situations and real relationships, I sat down with my trusted friends and co-writers and really got personal and made it real.”

Each song is laced with details you can’t miss if you tried, weaving together intricate memories that bring fans inside the houses, conversations and car rides where these stories live.

“You hear all these details and you're like, I didn't live that, but I can immediately put myself in what they're talking about because they got so detailed with it.”

The album wraps up with the standout “the girl who cried wolf,” a song that leaves the door open for future mistakes, experiences and growth, all while staying rooted in an ending that can look different for everyone.

“It’s not tied up in a bow. It’s not perfect. I could be going back [to him]. You don't know what's going to happen,” she says. “But it was just one of those songs that wrecks me because I feel like I've been there so many times, and I'm sure other people have. I hope that they can see themselves in it, live in the hurt and have a soundtrack to what they're going through.”

Honest truths have been key to her amassing more than 2 million monthly Spotify listeners, and this record is sure to keep those numbers multiplying.

Cooke’s success has been a steady rise, proving herself over and over again with each record, single and EP in her discography. This album is no different. That consistency is something that does not happen by mistake.

“I feel like I always said, if I get to walk on stage someday and accept the award for Entertainer of the Year or something crazy like that, manifesting that happening, I don't want to get up there and feel like I didn't earn it and put in the work to actually do it,” she explains. “I've tried to do it the right way. I don't want to cut corners or just have a viral moment. I really want to build it.”

But that doesn’t mean she is a stranger to virality. Her “baby blues” segment is one of the most anticipated moments on stage, locking eyes with a blue-eyed audience member and singing just to them. Bridging the gap between fan and artist even further, it creates an intimate moment only a lucky few get to experience.

“I’ve sung to all different types of people, guys, girls, old, young, all the things. It's always just a blast to include the crowd.”

If you have not yet experienced the coastal country tunes combined with one of the most captivating up-and-coming storytellers in person, you still have a chance. Ashley Cooke is getting back to center stage on her “the baby blues world tour,” with stops across the map.

“There’s nothing like a headline tour. You leave every night being so fulfilled because you realize, like, these are my people. They are here to see us and to listen to this music and to be here.”

Stream and scream your heart out, as Cooke's sophomore, self-titled album is one you don’t want to be late to the party on.

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