The TikTok hit has become a sensation, thanks to its line-dance moves and infectious chorus
Country-pop newcomer Dasha made her CMT Music Awards debut with a brief but electric performance of her viral single “Austin.” The song appeared on her recently released sophomore studio album, which arrived in February.
Dressed in boots, shorts, and a green vest, the one-name-only singer scored a prime performance slot at the bottom of the telecast’s third hour, despite being a relative unknown — and having never been to the titular city of her breakout hit. “Thank you, CMT, for believing in me,” Dasha shouted at the song’s end. “My first time in Austin!”
The California-born, Nashville-based artist broke through with “Austin” earlier this year. The single has been used in more than 600,000 videos on TikTok — where she boasts over 636,000 followers — many of which feature users replicating the viral line dance that accompanies the song. Dasha was previously a more pop-centric artist and released her debut album Dirty Blonde in 2023.
“I started with country. It was me and a guitar and it was me with my dramatic ass feelings as like a 10-year-old writing songs and I was really inspired by Dolly Parton and Taylor Swift and Miranda Lambert,” Dasha recently told The Zach Sang Show. “Kasey Musgraves was the first person I heard the lyrics of and I was like [gasp] I can see it in my head, you know? I was so inspired by that so at 10, I started writing songs and it was all country — it was all country-pop.