Two years ago this month, Dasha went from country music obscurity to its A-list in a matter of weeks, buoyed by a social media frenzy and a viral line dance. Since then, her time has been split between embracing her increasing public profile and becoming ever more introspective despite the fame. “I felt like I completely lost myself, and that was the scariest part about it all,” Dasha says.
When “Austin (Boots Stop Workin’)” caught fire, the flames were intense. The California native was 24 and, in retrospect, ill-prepared for the way the song upended her life. There was criticism, ranging from expected discourse about her viral rise to outright sexism or hate, and she found herself stereotyped and objectified as a dance-on-the-tables party girl. In the wake of that fast fame, she wrote “Oh, Anna!” — the anchor of her EP Anna, released last October. Now, Dasha has released a live version of the song recorded onstage at the Grand Ole Opry.
Dasha — full name Anna Dasha Novotny — says she hopes the song puts a period on the viral portion of her life.
“The Opry version of ‘Oh, Anna’ really closes the chapter on this era of my music,” she says. “The post- ‘Austin’ and post-craziness part. It was such a whirlwind in figuring out the sound and how we’re doing this, and getting to share the vulnerable side of me, too.”
Between her Opry appearance and the release of Anna, she addressed the online hate on Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast, even sharing a scheme to make “Trailer Swift” merch after the moniker was thrown at her. She hoped the EP, and “Oh, Anna!” in particular, would connect her audience with a deeper, more vulnerable side that she says had been overshadowed by “Austin.”
“Oh, Anna” came from a writing appointment with Chris LaCorte, Emily Weisband, and Hillary Lindsey, and Dasha went into the session pondering her career. She couldn’t escape the idea that she was living out the dreams of tens of millions of girls, and her cowriters struck the raw nerve that had been exposed by those expectations.
“After about ten minutes, I just absolutely broke down,” Dasha says. “I was crying. I was like, ‘Guys, I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to put on this face and act this part. I feel like I lost myself. I thought I’d be one of those people who always knew themselves no matter what, and right now, I don’t know what to do, and I’m freaking out.”
Dasha began comparing the life she was living with the one she herself dreamed about.
“As a kid, I was so unbelievably fearless,” she says. “Just remembering all those things and writing them in ‘Oh, Anna!’ was the most healing ten years of therapy in one session I could have honestly ever imagined. It was fucking amazing.”
Dasha’s Opry debut happened a few months after “Austin” dropped, and she has returned to its stage often since. She was a member of the 2025 Opry NextStage class along with artists like Kaitlin Butts, Avery Anna, and Tucker Wetmore.
Her choice to release the live version of “Oh, Anna!” is as much a gesture of appreciation for the Opry as it is a second life for the song itself. “The Opry version is so special,” she says, “because getting their nod of approval, and getting to play there, was such a ‘Welcome to our world of country music.’ I felt so respected and honored.”
Josh Crutchmer is a journalist and author whose book (Almost) Almost Famous will be released April 1 via Back Lounge Publishing.
