‘Idol’ finalist flogs honesty
Six years after being a finalist on “American Idol,’’ country singer Lauren Alaina is finally feeling happy, healthy and celebrating hard-earned radio success. All it took was to be honest with her fans and herself.
The bubbly, enthusiastic singer with an impressive vocal range was a fan favourite on the reality TV show, being named runner-up in 2011 behind country singer Scotty McCreery. But behindthe-scenes, she was a teenager who was struggling with body image issues that escalated once she was in the public eye.
In middle school, she began noticing the difference between her body shape and other girls’ when she joined the cheerleading team.
“I was taller and had an athletic build, where those girls were gymnasts and they were lean,’’ said Alaina, who is now 22.
While “Idol’’ brought her a national audience and legions of fans, she couldn’t avoid seeing the negative, trolling comments.
“I would see these people calling me ‘fat’ and calling me horrible names,’’ said Alaina, who is from Georgia. “And this one page called me ‘Miss Piggy’ and they only referred to me as ‘Miss Piggy.’ I was a 16-year-old girl. I did not know how to deal with that and I was already insecure about my weight.’’
Almost immediately after her season on “Idol’’ ended, Alaina released her debut album, “Wildflower.’’ But those weren’t her songs, and her label couldn’t make any of the singles stick on country radio.
“I was really fearful that I was going to lose my record deal,’’ Alaina said. “It’s really scary as a female to not have that success early on in your career, ‘cause you don’t know how many chances you are going to get.’’
Meanwhile her personal life was adding more stress. Her father went into rehab for alcohol addiction and her parents divorced. Her eating disorder got so bad that it started affecting her vocal cords. Finally her mother staged an intervention with a doctor to try to force her to confront the truth and get professional help.
“I thought I had it all wrapped up and nobody knew,’’ Alaina said. “I was so sick, like my hair was falling out.’’
Through it all, the singer had one song in her back pocket that she hoped would change her career, a tune called “Road Less Travelled,’’ which she cowrote in 2013 with Jesse Frasure and Meghan Trainor before Trainor’s “All About That Bass’’ launched her pop career.
Four years later, the song hit the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s country airplay chart (which tracks radio airplay).