There’s no denying the talent that Lauren Alaina possesses as a sixteen year old.  Throughout her tenure on American Idol (she finished second to fellow teen country singer Scotty McCreery) Lauren managed to stay true to herself while growing from that charm of not knowing how good she is to coming into her own as a performer, much like the way Carrie Underwood did throughout her own tenure on the show six years ago.  The big difference, though, is that Lauren still doesn’t know how good she can be or allow herself to get there and it is that slight lack of confidence (not uncommon at her age) that ultimately found her in second place. 

With her first single from the show, “Like My Mother Does,” Lauren shows off her talent on recording with a song that people with long memories will remember as a track on former Idol contestant Kristy Lee Cook’s Why Wait album or as the single that Jesse Lee had released not even a year ago (only to see it get pulled, for some reason).  So, with that long history, the song has already ‘failed’ twice but perhaps the third time will be the charm because Lauren really does sing this song great.

Like Underwood, Lauren has a powerful country-pop voice that is pliable and able to bend notes in ways that is unusually difficult for even the best singers and that could be why Lauren hurt her vocal chords the day of the Finale.  She has to learn how to use and harness that power effectively.  As for the production of this song, it’s straight MOR country-pop and it effectively showcases the mid-tempo ballad well but the one thing it could’ve done without is the layers of vocal harmonies that makes it sound almost like dual vocals in places. That sounds too processed for country music.

Of the two songs recorded and released to country radio, I expect this one to find a slightly bigger audience at first but to see it slowly fade as Scotty’s song finds an audience that may never have watched Idol.  Both should find the Top 20 but may struggle after that.