When Ashland Craft appeared on Season 13 of The Voice in 2017, she had no idea how much knowledge she would gain on the reality TV talent show. The rising star, who was on Miley Cyrus’ team, is still applying lessons she on The Voice, in the decisions she makes about her career now.

“The process itself was definitely a learning experience,” Ashland told Everything Nash. “I really had to be honed in with who I was as an artist, and sometimes it worked, sometimes not. But again, it’s more of a TV show than anything. I made a lot of amazing friends.”

Ashland went on The Voice to get her music heard, but walked away with a wealth of information that gave her plenty of advantages as she readies her own music.

“It’s learning the industry, honestly,” Ashland acknowledged. “It’s learning how quickly things go, and then how fast you have to make decisions. Take what you’re given and make it the best you can. I think that’s probably the biggest thing. You didn’t get to pick your songs all the time, and you didn’t get to necessarily brand yourself the way you wanted to. But I think the biggest thing for me was, even if I didn’t have a choice, I still am going to make it my personal mission to make it sound like I chose the song. So, it was more of a self-challenge than anything.”

Ashland didn’t win The Voice, but she still, rightfully, feels like a winner because of the way the show helped advance her career.

“I’m very thankful that I did it. I made a bunch of amazing musician friends,” she reflected. “Now, looking back on it, it was just another stepping stone to my career. I feel like I may be a lot more confident on stage under pressure. I think that’s probably it.”

Ashland just released “Trainwreck.” The song was written by Channing Wilson and Randy Montana, but Ashland knew as soon as she heard it that she wanted it to be hers, even if she had to fight for it.

“Trainwreck” is a song that I have been fighting to get for the past couple of years,” Ashland admitted to Everything Nash. “Channing finally gave it to me after he decided he was going to go a little bit of a different route with his music. I heard the song the first time when I opened for Channing. I didn’t know who he was and I fell in love with it, and begged him for the next year.

“And then finally, he texted me on my birthday, and was pretty much like, ‘Go for it. I really think if I’m not going to do the song, you’re the only other person that I would want to do the song,’” she recalled. “It was so crazy. I didn’t even realize that it was such a well-known song in Nashville already, before I even moved there.”

Ashland is working on her debut album, which will be released on Big Loud Records.