In Search Of: Ashe’s “Moral Of The Story” Is Blowing Up Because Of Netflix

Here at Genius, we’re in a unique position as a music lyrics site to discover rising artists while staying on top of the latest trends. Millions of fans come to Genius every day after searching for the lyrics to songs they truly love, whether they’re looking for their favorite buzzing artists or the most viral songs of the moment. Based on our data, we’re going to pinpoint why fans have been searching for a selected artist. While our Top Songs charts already reflect what’s popular right now, this is a deeper dive into the data to find the hidden gems.

Singer-songwriter Ashe (born Ashlyn Rae Willson) has been releasing music since 2017, but she recently had a breakout moment with “Moral of the Story.” The song finds the 25-year-old California native coming to terms with her divorce and is co-written and co-produced by Billie Eilish’s brother and frequent collaborator FINNEAS. Much like Lizzo’s chart-topping hit, “Truth Hurts,” the California native’s 2019 song went viral after being featured in a Netflix film.

In a note accompanying the song’s initial release, Ashe explained her motivation for writing it. “This time a year ago I was dreading the arrival of Valentine’s Day knowing my marriage was on the verge of collapse,” she wrote. “Months later than I should have, I moved out of my house, filed for divorce, and left for tour. Faced with a broken relationship and no immediate answers to as to why we failed, writing ‘Moral of the Story’ became my way of making sense of it all.”

“Moral of the Story” is featured in a pivotal scene of To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You, during which the teen romcom’s main character, Lara Jean, sings the song to the camera. In an interview with Variety, music supervisor Laura Webb explained what drew her to the song.

“It works really well stylistically, and she’s the example of an artist who definitely has a presence but it’s a great opportunity to hopefully introduce her to an even bigger fanbase and hope that people love her the way that we all do,” Webb said. “It definitely conveys a lot of emotion.”

After the movie premiered on Netflix, the track saw an immediate spike on Genius, skyrocketing from 268 pageviews to 13,152 overnight. It would average nearly 15,000 daily pageviews over the next four days before settling into a more sustainable groove.

Since the debut of the To All the Boys sequel, “Moral of the Story” has averaged more than 9,000 daily pageviews—to put these numbers in perspective, the song averaged 36 daily pageviews in January. It saw slightly more interest in February before being featured in the Netflix movie, with 75 average daily pageviews.

Ashe’s seemingly overnight success didn’t exactly come out of nowhere. She started taking piano lessons at eight years old and began writing her own songs toward the end of high school. In fall 2012, she fully committed to music by attending Berklee College of Music. After graduating in 2015, however, she was initially more focused on being a songwriter rather than a performer.

“I didn’t think I was good enough, that people wanted to hear what I had to say,” Ashe said, in an interview with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Post. “So when I moved to Nashville right out of college, I just thought, ‘Okay, I’m just gonna write songs for other people to sing.’ And for almost 6 months, that’s all I did!”

One of the songs Ashe co-wrote is Demi Lovato’s “You Don’t Do It For Me Anymore,“ which was released as a promotional single from the pop singer’s 2017 album, Tell Me You Love Me. That same year, Ashe unveiled her first solo singles, “Used to It” and “Girl Who Cried Wolf,” on the independent label Mom + Pop Music. She was also named to Vevo’s DSCVR Artists to Watch list alongside Eilish, JID, EARTHGANG, and Lewis Capaldi.

Ashe’s 2018 debut EP, The Rabbit Hole, earned a write-up in Teen Vogue for its eclectic sound, but the singer’s 2019 Moral of the Story EPs took her the next level. The four-track Chapter 1—which contains “Moral of the Story—is entirely produced by FINNEAS, who also produced three of the four songs on Chapter 2.

“Moral of the Story” continues to gain momentum after receiving its initial Netflix bump. On February 23, the song reached one million daily global Spotify streams for the first time. With placements on the streaming platform’s highly-popular Pop Rising and Today’s Top Hits playlists, it seems likely to become Ashe’s first Billboard Hot 100 hit.