Lauren Alaina Wants to Encourage People With ‘Road Less Traveled’

It’s been just over five years since we met Georgia native Lauren Alaina. Since being named runner-up on FOX’s American Idol, Alaina has released and recorded a full-length album and more recently, her self-titled EP.

Appearing on the five-song extended play is her current single “Road Less Traveled,” a song she wrote with Meghan Trainor and Jesse Frasure.

“It was just one of those days where I went in to write with two of my good friends, and I was super comfortable, and the message of the song is so important to me and what we say in the song is so important to me,” explains Alaina. “And I know that Meghan has done a really great job with her artistry by encouraging people, and that’s what this song is all about.”

What Trainor and Frasure may have not known at the time is just how important this song was to the powerhouse vocalist.

“I don’t even know really if they knew when we wrote this song that it was kind of about [my eating disorder],” she said. “I mean, I think, sure, during the day, I was talking about how much pressure it was for me and how I feel like this needs to be a certain way and look a certain way. But I don’t know that I went into detail about, because I was really struggling with an eating disorder at the time, so I was really at the time kind of like me knowing that I needed to believe what I was writing, but it took me a while to really get there. I had to listen to this song. I had to write a million songs with this theme to kind of grow in that. So, I think maybe Meghan kind of knew, because she’s a really good friend of mine, but I don’t think we talked about it in the write. I just think we all felt this feeling to write this theme, and now I get to share it.”

Since their writing session and its release, the song has become one of the singer’s favorites.

“…it’s a song to encourage people to just be who they are and don’t apologize for it, and I think that’s a hard thing to do because it feels like there’s so much pressure to fit this mold that everyone has like made for us which is ridiculous, because last time I checked if we were all the exact same, it would be pretty boring,” she concluded. “It’s one that really meant a lot to me to write.”

Alaina opened up about her battle with bulimia earlier this year. With help from her mom, Alaina got the support she needed to become happier and healthier than ever before. “It’s all about, no matter where you come from, that you can be who you want to be and achieve what you want to achieve,” she said. “I want people to learn to love who they are. Because that’s the hardest thing in life, being able to see yourself the way other people see you.”

“Road Less Traveled” is the second single from Lauren Alaina’s self-titled EP, following her upbeat smash “Next Boyfriend.”