Singer/songwriter Ash Harrison has overcome so much, and you can hear it in her music. She has a new single that is about to debut called “Hate the Ground”. When speaking to her what stood out to me the most is how much faith she has in God. I asked her, “Who inspires you?” and she said to me God and continued to express that he has always provided strength. Her music is pieces of her story. Stages of grief and the process of how to overcome it. Her music is how she expresses her feelings and how she empowers herself. Hate the ground is a single from her upcoming debut album memories. Memories is based on an elephant “Norman” that was given to me to help me with panic attacks. As a result of being a child abuse survivor, she has PTSD. Elephants are primarily known for their very large brains enabling them to have remarkable long-term memory. Having PTSD of the trauma, healing the flashbacks of her painful memories was something she had been searching her whole life to do because unfortunately it is something she will never forget. This album is a collection of songs each telling a story of a memory and going through the process of grief. Hate the ground exemplifies the anger stage in her process of grief. “So many times, as survivors, we are looked down upon and seen as nothing but a weak victim that should just get over it when we speak out and seek justice for what has happened to us,” she said. She wrote this song with songwriter William Bates produced by Dylan Maloney in Nashville, TN to empower herself to have the courage to no longer be afraid of what people will say and think or even do when she shares her story even if it makes her sound mean, crazy, and all of the above. Ash expressed, “Healing is messy and as long as you’re not hurting anybody, expressing those feelings of anger is necessary if we are going to move forward.” When I asked her what she wants listeners to take from this song she said, “I hope this song does so much more than just empower me, I hope other survivors and those who have gone through toxic relationships/marriages know they are not alone and you’re not crazy for wanting to seek justice and tell your side of the story.” In a world where everyone fears the truth and it’s wrong to speak up, she encourages you to be the truth and speak up because we need it now more than ever.
#daddydidntraiseadoormat
Where do you see yourself in 10 years? I asked, “That’s a scary question for me these days because I thought I would have somewhat of a clue of where I would be at 30 at 20 but I have been proved incredibly wrong.” She continued to say she has goals and visions of where she would like to be but zero expectations or ideas as to what might happen, and her anxiety prefers it that way. She tries to take every day one day at a time striving to make the biggest of her biggest dreams come true and I hope one of those is to find a good man, make some cute babies, and live on some farm in the middle of nowhere but I believe all of that’s up to fate.
I wanted to hear about those childhood memories and if she remembers having a hairbrush in her hand singing around the house. “I knew I could sing since I could talk, my dreams took off when I received a karaoke machine for Christmas.” Growing up on nothing by gospel and contemporary Christian music, her music and who she was as far as time could go back stems from the Lord.
Ash is a child abuse survivor and a lot of who she is as an artist is identified in singing and writing about her story on overcoming the struggles and pain she has had to experience because of being abused. There is so much that needs awareness in the journey of truly healing from something traumatic that the world doesn’t hear about often. “That’s where I want to come in. Most of us, if not all of us, are looking for something to save us. Many of us don’t know where to begin on finding or figuring out what that is. For me it’s been God, something bigger than myself, some divinely pre-orchestrated life that was synchronistically made just for me and I for some reason I have been given the opportunity to share this story with all these beautiful talents and gifts God has given me with the world, I believe my story is the hope people are searching for. That hope is Jesus, “she said.
I can’t wait to see her grow and see what becomes of her story. I know it is just the beginning.
Instagram, TikTok, twitter, Facebook is all under the handle @itsash_harrison
“Hate the Ground” is available on every streaming platform Friday October 28th.
