Hours after winning The Female Song of 2024 for “Austin (Boots Stop Workin’)” at the People’s Choice Country Awards, singer Dasha criticized those who say she doesn’t fit in the country genre.
Dasha (real name Anna Dasha Novotny) is a country and pop singer-songwriter who went viral on TikTok earlier this year and peaked at No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100. She has released one EP, $hiny Things, and two studio albums: What Happens Now? and Dirty Blonde.
When accepting the award on September 26 at the Grand Ole Opry, she thanked the country music community for being so accepting, saying: “This year has been so insane. I’m just so grateful to this wonderful country community for opening their arms so wide to me.”
However, during an appearance on the Talk Tuah with Haliey Welch podcast, Dasha revealed that she has been receiving hate online from country music fans, who have also made derogatory comments about her appearance. While the episode was released on October 1, it was filmed only hours after Dasha took home the award.
Newsweek reached out to Dasha via her Instagram account for comment on Wednesday.
Dasha at the 2024 People’s Choice Country Awards on September 26. The singer defended herself against those who say she “isn’t country.”
Terry Wyatt/Getty Images
“It makes me really happy making people mad about what I wear, like, one of my favorite comments to get is people being like, ‘You skank, you’re a slut, country music hates you cause you’re such a slut,’ and I’m like, ‘No they actually f****** love my ass cheeks hanging out,'” she said.
“Suck that, tell my Billboard-charting song to gobble my c***, like, you know?”
When Welch asked the singer whether anyone in the country music industry hadn’t been very welcoming, Dasha revealed that the fans were the hardest to win over.
“I think the hardest win over has been fans, honestly. Like, I have either fans f****** love me or they f****** hate me and they can’t, they like, they hate that I’m in country. But it’s good cuz it fuel, right?” she explained as the two women high-fived each other. “And I feel like you understand that.”
Welch has been dealing with online hate herself. While some people have embraced the meme that made Welch an online star, others have criticized her for making the most of her internet fame.
Dasha continued: “They’re mad that I’m pop country. A lot of, like, down the middle bro country fans are like, ‘F*** off you’re not country,’ and I’m like, ‘Well cool, I make pop music that’s country, I make country music that’s pop.'”
“Like, it doesn’t really f****** matter; there’s good music, and there’s bad music. If you don’t like it, that’s so fine, but just shut the f*** up,” she said.
For Dasha, winning the award for her hit song reaffirmed for her that she belongs in the country music industry.
“And that’s why, like, the award last night felt really f****** good…it was literally, gobble my d***,” she said.
The singer reiterated the fact that the industry, as well as media publications, publishers and labels, have been supportive of her music.
“I feel like they, they really f*** with my songwriting and me as a person, and so they just, like, have been really kind, but the fans have been really hard. It’s funny, like, the fans have been the really hard part about this,” Dasha said.
The biggest winners at the People’s Choice Country Awards in September were singers Morgan Wallen, who won four honors on the night, and Shaboozey, who was named The New Artist and won The New Artist Song for “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”
