Ashley Petrie’s First Album, “25” is Now OutAshley Petrie, the Music Lab instructor at Bear River, has recently released her first album, which is available on Spotify and Apple Music. She has played guitar, flute, saxophone, sung in a country rock band, and now she’s recently decided to release her first solo work. Her album “25,” released on January 1st, 2025, consists of 7 songs and a runtime of 25 minutes.
Funny enough, she also happens to be 25 years old.
Quite a few of her close students listened to the album as soon as it came out, and it turned out to be a unanimous hit.Senior Gabby Gerster recounted the excitement she felt after hearing of the album's release.“I first listened to Petrie’s album on my way home from a tech rehearsal where she told me it even existed, and I was jaw-dropped the entire way home,” Gerster said. “I had seen clips of her on her music Instagram page, but I had no idea she had such a masterpiece in store,.
“Eevery song is so relatable and applicable to personal situations which is a quality I love, and the vocals and instrumentals are obviously fantastic.“She was my second most listened-to artist (on my weekly airbuds recap)! I could not recommend listening to it enough, she is truly amazing.”BRCurrent.com Online Editor and sophomore Ella Miller said she experienced the same feelings of excitement after initially hearing about the album.
“Ms. Petrie told me about her upcoming album being released at the time and I became really interested. I love the songs and how they connected to femininity so well,” Miller said. “My favorite song is most definitely ‘No Exceptions.’”
Petrie has always loved songwriting, but hadn’t formally published anything until the start of January.“I've always wanted to release an album and I’ve always been a singer and songwriter. I’ve never actually released anything, or put it out, other than putting things on YouTube. I've never gotten anything published, but I've always wanted to do that.”Petrie then explains how “25” came to fruition due to her path crossing with her brother-in-law’s.
“My brother-in-law has been studying music production and has been trying to start a production company. He reached out and (said), ‘Hey, want to produce an album together?’ That was in October, and all of the songs, except for ‘Blissful Ignorance,’ I had written beforehand,” she continues, “‘Blissful Ignorance’ was written specifically for the album.”Petrie isn’t sure if the album will prove profitable yet.“You have to get all of your 10,000 listens before you start making money. There was no money involved in making it, and we didn't have any money to put into it. We recorded it all in my sister’s kitchen.”If you know Petrie as your teacher, your colleague, or she’s just a name you’ve heard of, consider listening to “25” and spreading the word!.