Every once in a while, you hear a song that immediately takes your breath away. One that paints a picture. One that takes you back down memory lane to relive memories of carefree youthful energy. One that makes you feel like, somehow, the writer was in your head when they wrote it. Ashley Kutcher’s “Love You From A Distance,” with poignant lyrics like; “Remember when I’d drive you home cause you didn’t have your license? We were windows down, cruising, thinking ‘Damn, I really like him,” is all that, and so much more. Kutcher expertly crafts intimate and emotional songs that sit in the middle of country and pop, making her an exciting new presence in an ever-growing field of powerful females in music. 

Just a few years ago, Kutcher, originally from Maryland but currently residing in Brooklyn, NY, was pursuing her nursing degree at Towson while, otherwise, living a normal life as a college student. She frequented the college towns popular (and delicious) breakfast spot called Towson Hot Bagels (also known as THB), with friends every weekend, was drowning in schoolwork, and regularly posting covers of popular songs to social media. Then, she started getting noticed by local restaurants and other businesses in the Baltimore area.

“The local bars would see my covers and be like, ‘Hey, come play our happy hour’,” she said. “Putting a three-hour cover set together sounded like a lot of work, but then I thought, ‘I really only have to do this once. Once I know all these songs, I can do this at many different places.’ Before I knew it, I was playing three to five days a week at any brewery, bar, or restaurant that would have me. I loved the social aspect, so it was kind of combining what I love to do, and getting paid for it.” 

“LYFAD,” which was written on the bathroom floor at Kutcher’s parents’ house, attracted the attention of industry big wigs, who reached out to the young college student, inquiring about representation. “This song was just a total accident,” she said. “I didn’t even know if I wanted this career and all of a sudden I have all of these labels, and publishers, and management reaching out to me being like, ‘Are you signed yet?’ ‘Are you signing?’ I know that happens when an artist has a ‘moment’ like that, but I was so back and forth about it. With that song, it was like, ‘You have this chance to do music… do you want to do that?’ then I ended up finding a team that I love and working with them.”

The song, which reads like a diary entry about an ex-boyfriend who left his mark, flowed out of her seamlessly, and listeners were drawn in immediately. “To see people relate to it so much was absolutely insane,” she said. “People really like that vibe, and I love writing songs like that. I don’t want to deviate from it too much, but I also want to have songs that people can vibe out to. Something a little more upbeat.” 

That desire to create a balance between stripped ballad types and more upbeat songs is reflected in Kutcher’s back and forth experimentation between pop and country. Songs like “LYFAD” can, likely, be heard by tons of other female singer/songwriters at any open mic night in Nashville, while other tracks like “Fake Bitches” and her newest release “Nothing’s All The Time” lean more towards a clear pop sound reminiscent of other young voices like Tate McRae and Chelsea Cutler.

“The major question was, ‘What am I doing?'” she said. “Do I want to take this completely pop or do I want to embrace this, what I call, ‘acoustic writing,’ and lean into this slightly country aspect that I tend to gravitate towards sometimes? My EP, One Eighty, was kind of pulling me either way, and after that came out, I thought about what felt good, and what felt like more of a ‘moment.'”

Ultimately, she decided that she just wants to make timeless music that is relevant now, and could be 10-15 years down the line. She looks to artists like John Mayer, Hozier, and Taylor Swift, all of whom have had significant shifts in their music without, truly, sticking to one specific sound, as the blueprint for how to blur the line between genres.

“I will be touching on both pop and country, just not to the far extremes,” she said. “I think somewhere in the middle fits me, so I’ve been leaning into that and making sure everything sounds cohesive around that center point.”

She even credited some of today’s brightest up-and-coming stars for helping realize it’s possible to do both all at once. “Artists like JP Cooper and James TW… even recently, Noah Kahan has been a huge influence,” she said. “All of these people… I fell in love with these songs. What they all have in common are these timeless guitar-driven pop melodies. A lot of them are male acoustic artists, but I’m exploring that genre as a female. I have a hard time nailing myself to one genre because I think I can fluctuate.” 

Kutcher’s tenure as one of Baltimore’s resident gigging musicians during college helped prep her for her own shows as a solo artist. She recently played her first two headline shows, one at the Mercury Lounge in NYC and one at the Moroccan Lounge in LA, as a bit of a test run while working on a new project. She was supported by fellow pop singers Annika Bennett in LA and Nova Miller in NYC. “Having people sell out these venues to come see me perform, not even covers, but my original music, was mindblowing,” she said. “Then, afterwards, meeting them, and having some people show so much emotion, like crying in my arms, was so overwhelming for me. I was just so blown away that they were into my music, and me as an artist, that much. I’m just so grateful.” 

While she is still hard at work on her first full-length album, she made sure her fans got their fill of new music while they wait. Her latest release, “Nothing’s All The Time”, a midtempo pop-leaning track about overcoming hard times and maintaining a positive mindset through pain, is gaining traction, and may be a clear sign of what is to come.

“My goal this year is to release this album,” she said. “I just want to release music that I can be proud of, and that, hopefully, people love.”

At the end of the day, Kutcher is just a girl who loves music, is connected to it in every possible way, and is proud to be able to create music that others can carry with them.

“I can remember specific moments of my life listening to certain songs,” she said. “The fact that I’m able to do that for people with songs like ‘Love You From A Distance,’ is something I want to keep doing.” 

You can stream “Love You From A Distance,” “Nothing’s All The Time,” and more here, and you can follow Ashley Kutcher on social media via the links below.

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