Lauren Alaina's Debut into Country Music with Wildflower Album

In 2011, Lauren Alaina had a successful run on the immensely popular singing competition, reality television series - American Idol - where she finished in 2nd place out of the hundreds of thousands of contestants that auditioned for the show. Shortly after the show's finale, Lauren signed a record deal with Mercury Nashville/19 Recordings/Interscope Records, which was no surprise at all. We knew she'd get signed to a label very soon after the season's end, if not right away - not just because of how great she is, but because in every past Idol season both the winner and the runner-up got signed to a recording contract.

With her record deal securely in place and her career in country music beginning to take flight, Lauren Alaina set out to work on and record her debut album (a blend of country and pop) to be released in the fall - in October to be exact. Why so early to release an album, especially when she was busy with the American Idols Live tour that followed the show? Well, it wasn't her decision to make. Besides, from past Idol seasons, we know that Idol contestants' debut albums are always rushed to come out in the fall while the contestants are still popular and haven't vanished from the music scene or been forgotten.

So, it is not a surprise that things were moving along quickly for Lauren. I am sure she didn't mind the rush and all the hard work, so long as her album was out there for the fans to enjoy. Come October 2011, less than six months since the American Idol finale, Lauren Alaina's debut album Wildflower finally arrived, which for her die-hard fans might have seemed like too long a wait. It debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200 chart and peaked at #2 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.

Lauren Alaina won an American Country Music Award for New Artist of the Year, which is a great accomplishment, especially since her American Idol finalist Scotty McCreery won this award as well the year before her.

While Wildflower (a country pop album) was rushed in terms of the time frame it took to get the album out, it doesn't feel rushed at all. Lauren's vocals shine on every song. She envelops us with plenty of emotion and gets to our heart. She makes us smile and want to have a good time. She even makes us want to dance. And no matter what song she sings she tells a story and lives it with every note. Every song suits Lauren incredibly well and showcases her tremendous vocal ability, and just how great she is as an artist and singer.

Wildflower is a great feel-good album that is a pleasure to listen to time and time again. It is a fantastic debut by a rising country music superstar who without a doubt will be around for a long time with many more albums to follow. She is doing well on the charts and she will continue to climb even higher and break many records. That is how phenomenal she really is.

Lauren was awesome on American Idol (overall) but she is even more amazing on her debut album. I am so happy to have Wildflower in my collection and I recommend it to others. You don't have to like country music to fall in love with Lauren and with Wildflower. Just listen to it once and you will be hooked.