Album Review: Lauren Alaina, “Road Less Traveled”

Reviews by Samantha Stanley on March 20, 2017 add comment 1.45K views

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When Lauren Alaina first auditioned for Season 10 of American Idol back in 2011, the then 15-year-old Georgia native made such an impression Aerosmith legend Steven Tyler told her she would make 40 million people cry. Later coming second place, Alaina went on to release her debut album “Wildflower” in October of that year.

That was 5 years ago, with Bro Country seemingly out of the window and the ladies gaining more radio airplay and recognition, now is the perfect time to reintroduce 22-year-old Lauren Alaina.

With such a long time between albums it would be easy for an artist to be forgotten or maybe not even release material at all, but for Lauren Alaina that is not the case. Despite going through a lot personally with her parents’ divorce, a struggle with bulimia and vocal cord surgery, Lauren has not let that break her but instead has used these experiences and taken the time to grow as an artist which has resulted in her sophomore album “Road Less Traveled”.

Over the years’ live performances of new material has been posted online which only built my excitement even more, and one of those songs was the opening track “Doin’ Fine”. A deeply personal track about her parents’ divorce and her father overcoming his issues with alcohol.

What Lauren does very well is being able to make you think a song is about something happy with a positive sounding melody, but can kick you in the gut lyrically, which is evident with “Doin Fine”. Jumping right in with the opening lyrics ‘Daddy got sober, Mama got his best friend, I’ve cut down crying to every other weekend’ it delves into real life issues and in some ways, is a way of coming to terms with the fact not everything is perfect, some things are out of our control and we all have our issues and ways of dealing with them to overcome and grow.

I think the general perception of a signed artist is they live a glamorous life and that once they’re famous they are instantly rich. “Three” debunks that and shows the unglamorous side of show business and the sacrifices artists make in their personal lives to chase their dreams, which essentially is made by getting your song on the radio. “Three” is encouraging for anyone who has a dream they want to follow in the sense that it won’t always be easy. There will be sacrifices but when you get an ounce of achievement for it, all the sacrifices and hard times along the way seem worth it. I really hope this will be a single and that it’s one that country radio embraces.

Title track “Road Less Traveled” is one of the more anthemic tracks on the album and is Lauren’s highest charting track to date, currently sitting at number 3 on the Country charts and deservedly so. It’s a crowd pleaser during live shows but again has a very positive message for listeners with lyrics like “You won’t make a name if you follow the rules, history is made when you’re acting a fool” and “Don’t follow anyone, march to the rhythm of a different drum.”

“Same Day Different Bottle” is a track I have personally been hoping Lauren would release since the day I saw a live performance video surface back in 2014. For me, it set the tone of the new music that fans and critics had been waiting for and showed a very vulnerable side to the singer that we hadn’t seen before. It is her and her family’s story about a deeply personal issue with her father’s struggle with alcohol and to even write this song, let alone record it and put on an album was incredibly brave. This is the kind of track that will turn Lauren Alaina from a good singer to a superstar.

Overall: “Road Less Traveled” is like reading a diary, you can feel the struggles, perseverance, and growth both personally and professionally. In the time between albums, Lauren has really honed her craft and grown as a songwriter as well as a vocalist. I have said for a long time that one of the best voices in Country music belongs to Lauren Alaina but she just hasn’t had that ‘career song’ yet, however, I feel that could change as there are some very strong contenders on “Road Less Traveled” – namely “Same Day Different Bottle” and “Three”.

It’s a well-known fact I am a sucker for a good ballad, add some powerful vocals in there and I’m sold! Lauren does that exceptionally well, with a good mix of sassy and fun up-tempo tunes in between. After such a long wait between albums, I was worried it wouldn’t meet my expectations but it did and more.

Lauren Alaina has been very underestimated over the years which has been both a blessing and a curse at times, but 2017 is her year and it’s great to see the masses finally catch on to what a talent she is. I hope award nominations reflect that over the next year.

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