Asha Banks is back with “Anything But”, which is a gorgeous piece of messy relationship pop about that particularly awful stage of a breakup where both people know it’s over – but neither one is quite willing to actually say it.
The song is the latest preview of Asha’s upcoming project and follows a busy stretch that has seen her steadily build out her musical world alongside her acting career. After releasing two EPs in 2025, she spent this year collaborating with various artists and releasing “Too Busy Missing You” and “Come Down“.
What makes this song hit is how Asha writes about limbo without pretending she’s an innocent bystander, as the story is about two people finding increasingly flimsy reasons to stay together, talking around the one conversation they actually need to have. She practically begs for the clean break – even imagining the truth arriving like a “gut punch” – because something painful and definite would be easier than continuing to hope. Then comes the frustrating part: instead of ending things, they dance, get closer and keep talking about anything but the obvious.
There’s some wonderfully sharp imagery in there too, as Asha moves from the tenderness of two people tending to each other’s wounds to the much uglier realisation that they’re also responsible for creating them. It gives an otherwise immediate pop song a little sting underneath: “Anything But” isn’t really about not knowing whether a relationship is finished, as it is about knowing perfectly well and discovering that admitting it can be harder than the breakup itself.
