Your Country's Right Here: Lauren Alaina Blossoms with ‘Wildflower’
posted in: Country • Features
Lauren Alaina has turned her hometown of Rossville, GA., about 10 minutes south of Chattanooga, TN., into a tourist attraction.
Yes, the sixteen-year-old runner up on American Idol, who won praise from none other than judge Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, still lives in her hometown with her parents J.J. and Kristy Suddeth and attends high school there. Just don’t expect to see her working at CiCi, the pizza parlor where she held a part-time job before she became a professional recording artist. With her debut album Wildflower blasting up the charts to No. 2 so far, Alaina isn’t in need of the job.
I just looked at a house with my parents, said Alaina. We are having to move because the house I live in now we moved into when I was like four years old. We didn’t have a lot of stuff and we’ve collected a lot of stuff. This house [we’re considering] is big. It’s got three stories and it has a pool. That would be fun!
The smart money bets that Alaina is just beginning a life full of fun now that her singing talent has been discovered. Although she’s one of the youngest contestants ever toappear on American Idol, critics note Alaina sings with a maturity reminiscent of one-time Idol contestants Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson before her.
Although such success would turn some people’s heads, Alaina seemed very grounded, chatting about how nervous she was thinking of her upcoming road test for her driver’s license. But, she said, even if she passed she wouldn’t be driving the new Ford Mustang that she won for placing second on American Idol.
I’ll be driving my mom’s 2011 Kia Sorrento, said Alaina of her vehicle of choice, at least for now, because she doesn’t want to damage the powerful Mustang. We’re actually going to switch cars for a while.
Although some teens might think that parental closeness is to be avoided, that’s not true of Alaina. She said her family bonds and Christian viewpoints will keep her from taking wrong turns, as have other young stars.
My mom goes everywhere with me. She keeps me focused and grounded, said Alaina, adding that her mother will accompany her to the 45th Annual CMA Awards on Nov. 9 in Nashville. She is always someone I can talk to and so is God. I was raised the way I was raised and I’m not going to change.
And why should she? Alaina said that she’s perfectly content balancing her new high-powered career with her life as a high school student.
Friends ask me all the time ˜Do you ever get tired of people coming up to you? she said. I don’t! I’m a social butterfly and anytime I can talk I’ll do it.
She said that her fans knowing so much about her singing and her background is one of the high points of her career so far.
Everything they say to me is super cool, she said. They have nicknames for me. They call me ˜Lala’ and that’s what my family calls me. That’s really sweet.
And even when fans don’t go up to her, Alaina will sometimes approach them. That’s just what she did October 11, the day her album came out, and she went to Best Buy in New York to buy it.
I heard that was good luck, she said laughing. And that way I knew at least one person would buy it!
As she walked through the store she heard two men talking about the recording.
The one said ˜I came in to buy that Lauren Alaina CD.’ Alaina recalled. The other man said ˜Is that the little girl from ˜American Idol?’ So I walked over and said ˜Yes it is and that’s me!’
Both men were stunned, said Alaina, but the one who held her album quickly recovered and asked her to autograph the record.
When I was signing I said to the other man ˜Are you gonna get my album?,’ she said. He told me ˜I will now!’ and I signed that one, too.
Find out more about Lauren Alaina, her music and her upcoming appearances”including a tour next year with a performer that she hints is a major country star”on her Web site.