American Idol finalist-turned-country star Lauren Alaina is back in the studio and stepping back into the spotlight after undergoing vocal cord surgery in August. She kept the surgery a secret until making an appearance at the Nashville premiere for the movie The Best of Me Thursday night.
Lauren explains, “I just started singing again, and I can still do that, so that’s great news. ‘Cause I was scared to death, but I’m gonna start recording here in the next couple months and try to get everything out.”
After the surgery, Lauren couldn’t say anything at all for a full eight days. She adds, “Eight days after that I could talk for five-minutes a day, which, you might as well just not talk at that point. I mean, what are you going to say in five minutes? Have you met me?”
The doctor told Lauren she would need the surgery at some point, and she could’ve found herself out on tour having to cancel dates due to the vocal problems.
She says, “I had to do it. There was really no other choice for me.”
Now that she’s back in the studio, Lauren is ready to record material as a 20-year-old woman. She made her debut album at age 16 after finishing second to Scotty McCreery on American Idol. Her young age limited the kind of material she could take on with her hit debut album, Wildflower.
Lauren says of the time since she made her first album, “I’ve grown up a lot and learned a lot about myself.”
Lauren’s debut project, Wildflower, bowed at #2 on Billboard‘s Country Album chart and #5 on the overall Billboard 200 tally in 2011. It’s gone on to sell more than 300,000 copies.
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