We, at New England Country Music, are continuing our series spotlighting women in country music. While the acronym WCW, standing for ‘Women Crush Wednesday,’ is often used for physical attraction, that is not the case here. This series will feature talented women who are crushing the country music scene.

This week we are featuring Lauren Alaina, a twenty-four-year-old singer/songwriter from Rossville, Georgia. She began singing when she was just a toddler. She sang in church, with her family, in school, and in restaurants. When she was eight, she won the talent competition at the Southern Stars Pageant. She performed on stage at Chattanooga’s Riverbend Festival for the next four years. When she was ten, she competed with 1,500 kids to ultimately win the American Model and Talent Competition in Orlando, Florida. She made her very first trip to Nashville at the age of twelve, where she had the opportunity to play on Broadway at Tootsies. Like many teenage girls, Alaina struggled with her body image and battled bulimia. Since overcoming this, she has become an advocate for young women who are facing the same fight. She told People Magazine: “There are so many people who have eating disorders or who body shame themselves every day or have some sort of insecurity, and I feel like I have a direct reach to some of those people. When I finally healed, I wanted to help other people heal, because it’s a trap. It’s a horrible place to be in. You feel alone and you feel like no one understands. I decided to speak out because I wanted people to feel like there’s someone else out there that’s had to deal with it.”

Lauren Alaina’s music career really kicked off in 2011, when she was the runner up to Scotty McCreery on American Idol. Shortly after Idol, she landed her first record deal and released ‘Like My Mother Does.’ It sold 121,000 in its first week. It was just a couple of months later, in June, that she made her Grand Ole Opry debut. Lauren Alaina worked through the summer and dropped her debut album, ‘Wildflower’ in October 2011. It sold 69,000 copies the first week. To get people to notice her album, Alaina made multiple television and radio appearances. In January 2012, she was asked to join Jason Aldean on his My Kinda Party Tour. She also opened for Sugarland’s In the Hands of The Fans Tour. This same year, Alaina was awarded the ACM New Artist of the Year award. Over the next year, Lauren Alaina released several singles including: ‘Barefoot and Buckwild,’ ‘Next Boyfriend,’ and ‘Road Less Traveled.’ In April 2017, ‘Road Less Traveled’, a co-write with Meghan Trainor and Jesse Frasure, reached Number One on the Billboard Country Airplay chart. She released her second album, appropriately titled, ‘Road Less Traveled,’ in January 2017. She was asked to tour with Martina McBride on her Love Unleashed Tour and she also toured with Luke Bryan on his Huntin’, Fishin’, and Lovin’ Every Day Tour. In October 2018. Alaina released a single, ‘Ladies in the 90s.’ We’re hoping this is going to be part of her next studio album.

Unfortunately, Lauren Alaina does not have any New England tour dates scheduled.

Be sure to download one of our favorites, ‘Road Less Traveled,’ on iTunes here.

You can stay connected with Lauren Alaina by following her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Stay tuned for our next installment of WCW in country music. It is set to hit our page on Wednesday, June 5th.