"American Idol" prepares a vocalist for the pressures and the demands of life in the show business, but it rarely gives participants any experience writing music for themselves. Lauren Alaina did just fine covering everyone from Reba McEntire to The Beatles during Season 10 and eventually finishing as runner-up, and her 2011 debut album "Wildflower" peaked at no. 5 on the Billboard 200, but the country up-and-comer wanted to get more involved with the writing on her next album, yet untitled.
Alaina got her wish with the new single "Barefoot and Buckwild." She told Radio.com that the experience was "exciting and scary and really awesome."
"I've learned so much about myself and my music from sitting in those rooms and creating different sounds," she said. "I write about what's on my mind. It's like a stress reliever. I didn't realize when I first started writing how much it would set me free from certain situations in my life. It's incredible."
Alaina said that she used personal experiences for inspiration, and the songwriting process served as a way to vent. She didn't deny using to tried-and-true Taylor Swift method of writing songs about bitter relationships.
"I was having a hard day, dealing with the fact that my grandfather has Alzheimer's and I wrote about it," she said. "And then I wrote a song about my ex-boyfriend, who was terrible and the worst boyfriend I've ever had in my entire life, and I got a great song out of him so I can thank him for that."
A thank you for inspiring a breakup song? That's something that John Mayer, Harry Styles and Joe Jonas never got.
