Words by Grace Kinter
You may recognize Asha Banks from the screen, specifically with her roles in A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and My Fault: London. But 2025 showed fans a brand new side to the multifaceted actress, even if it wasn’t so brand new to Banks (who admittedly wrote her first song at the age of 6). After years of leaving her own feelings and experiences at the door to step into a role, Banks is ready to sink her teeth into her identity as a musical artist. Her breakout EP, How Real Was It?, cemented her talent and versatility and gave her a strong backbone to take on her first headlining tour this March.
Stand-out tracks on How Real Was It? include “Done is Done,” which begins with a pensive guitar. Though not technically a title track, this song is our first direct callback to the title of the EP. She sings reflectively: “How real was it? Was it Bible- or skin-deep? / How real was it when you took the best of me?” “Delay” sonically and lyrically encapsulates vulnerability at its core, from the dreamy and gentle instrumentation to Banks’ soft, heartsick vocals. “There’s so much left to say / I’m slipping away, I’m stuck in delay / In delay, in delay…” Striking harmonies greet us around two and a half minutes, acting as the perfect bridge to truly land that final chorus. “Mascara Tears” picks up the speed a bit and introduces us to a new perspective, one with more nuance on heartbreak. Banks ponders, “Can I break your heart and still feel broken?” When speaking about her lyrics, she shares, “Every day I’m trying to be more honest and say the scary thing. The scariest thing you have to say is the thing people want to hear the most.”
All in all, How Real Was It? is classic in its admission of the crumbs heartbreak often leaves us with. I’m reminded of Olivia Rodrigo’s earliest heartbreak ballads in terms of the lyrical storytelling. Banks makes us feel like we’re in the room with her, going through the stages of grief. And though her experiences are her own, we can all hear pieces of our own heartbreaks in her music. At just 22, the world is her oyster to become one of the greats in indie-folk. Every song feels fully actualized and produced with care; each instrument added a layer or enhanced a lyric or shifted the tone. When it comes to 2026 and the future of her music, she teases, “Bring on the chaos.”
