Upon dropping her latest hit single, Didn’t I, American singer-songwriter Dasha shared that she and collaborators Ashley Gorley, Emily Weisband and Ben Johnson wrote and recorded the new song “in about 45 minutes” as they had to take shelter before a tornado came through Nashville.
Currently in Australia, Dasha sat down for an interview with Nova 96.9’s Fitzy & Wippa with Kate Ritchie and discussed what happened in more detail.
Fitzy (Australian radio personality Ryan Fitzgerald) asked if it was true Dasha wrote Didn’t I in 45 minutes and taking shelter from a tornado, the singer confirmed that was “100% true”. Fitzy then asked if she needed natural disasters around her to write music, to which she quipped, “I never knew, but I guess I do!”
Pressing her for more information, Wippa (Australian radio presenter and comedian Michael “Wippa” Wipfli) asked if she was just in her room when the songwriting session was happening.
Dasha then told the story: she was in Franklin, Tennessee, after having a session with songwriter Ashley Gorley. They were situated in the direction the tornado was coming and didn’t have all day to finish the song.
“It was our first ever time writing, and I was so excited to write with him,” Dasha said. They had a four-hour session allotted to write Didn’t I, but for the first three hours, the pair were busy talking.
“Then the publisher called and asked how the session was going, and we were like, ‘We've just been talking and having a good time’, and she goes, ‘Awesome, the tornado is going to hit in an hour – you need to leave so you don't get wrapped up in a tornado.’ We were like, ‘Oh, we haven't written a song yet.’”
She continued, “So, we had to get our shit together, and we wrote Didn't I in less than an hour. So, the demo you hear that was recorded in one pass; that was one vocal!”
Dasha added that she “didn’t have time” to second guess things like the song’s concept or chord structure – for the best, we argue.
You can listen to Dasha’s interview on Nova 96.9 below.
In a statement, Dasha said about the single upon its release, “Didn’t I is so nostalgic, there’s something about my past that intrigues me, including the men.
“In the writer’s room, I was referring to a time months and months ago when I was backsliding into the guy that Austin is about. It’s admitting like, ‘oops here I am again, my bad’ but I love how we made it lighthearted and fun.”