Lauren Daigle Shares Musical Inspirations and Why She Loves Touring
By Movieguide® Contributor
While on THE KELLY CLARKSON SHOW, Lauren Daigle revealed her musical inspiration growing up and the best part of being on tour.
“This is what [my father] would do. He’d say, ‘Here’s the deal. We’re going to play this game called the dollar game.’ Okay, now it was actually really helpful looking back because it trained my ear,” Daigle told Clarkson. “But he would say if you could guess who’s singing the song, then I’ll give you a dollar. If it’s really hard, I’ll give you five dollars. He got to listen to whatever he wanted, meanwhile, I’m making some cash.”
Because of this, Daigle’s musical inspiration was largely guided by her father, who played the songs and musicians he was interested in, including Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks, Bonnie Ray, Celine Dion and Whitney Houston.
Playing the game with her dad trained Daigle’s musical ear and helped her find a joy in singing that has carried her through life. Now that she is a touring musician, she sees a new side of music that she missed when she was a kid.
“I always tell people, ‘I wish you could see from my vantage point. Like my perspective.’ Getting [on stage] and seeing these faces, some of them have tears falling down their faces, some of them have so much joy and excitement, some of them are hugging their loved ones, some of them are grieving, and you can see that,” Daigle said. “Just seeing the whole expression of humanity as a whole. It is like my favorite thing. Everybody comes with their different story, their different backgrounds, and it’s the best to me.”
“Music is that thing where you don’t even have to speak the same language, but you can enter a song into the atmosphere of the room or whatever and everything can change,” she added. “You can know someone in a second…It’s just the way that something as a sound has interacted with their spirit or their soul the same way that it’s interacted with yours and all of a sudden, there’s this cosmic thing. I love – I live and breathe and die for that experience.”
Daigle recently used her platform to celebrate and advocate for adoption and foster care as part of CBS’ 25TH ANNUAL A HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS special.
“The show provides the opportunity to show how these kids’ lives have been transformed,” Daigle said. “When you feel those children’s hearts, and you see the ache that they have experienced and then how adoption can provide a sense of stability and worth. It’s pretty priceless.”
She also shared that she hopes to adopt in the future.
“I tell my friends all the time, ‘Why don’t we all just say we’ll adopt at least one kid and just see where that goes?’” she said. “I feel like if we all can do it together as a sisterhood, then we’ll be able to support each other….it’s like an adoption pact. I tell them I might adopt more children than I have biologically.”
Movieguide® previously reported on Daigle:
Lauren Daigle recently released the deluxe version of her self-titled album “Lauren Daigle,” and while it’s her first album that isn’t purely worship, she says it’s most vulnerable project she’s ever released.
“I felt like there was this freedom that really came out throughout the writing process,” Daigle told the Des Moines Register. “Did this record feel vulnerable? Did I feel vulnerable sharing it? It wasn’t the intimidating vulnerability, because there’s that type of vulnerability. It was more like, ‘Oh, finally there’s freedom. I can share with the world more pieces of who I am.’ There’s a delight in that.”
By moving away from the genre that launched Daigle into popularity, she could address issues like mental health, which she would otherwise have struggled to tackle.
As Movieguide® reported, the COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on Daigle’s mental health, and she “began having anxiety, depression, and panic attacks.”
However, one of the most popular songs on the album, “Be Okay,” was a direct result of this newfound freedom to describe personal struggles.
