Canadian singer-songwriter Lauren Spencer Smith released her debut album, Mirror. The album has a 15-song tracklist, including her platinum hit songs “Fingers Crossed” and “Flowers.” It also includes her song, “Fantasy,” featuring GAYLE and Em Beihold.
Her lyrics have an incredible way of connecting with fans, and her voice is unbelievable. She is truly the artist of her generation.
Lauren is headlining a world tour with Blake Rose and Geena Fontanella as the openers. The tour starts today, July 14th in Chicago, and will end on November 4th in Auckland, New Zealand.
Is there a certain song you're most excited for listeners to hear?
Lauren: I'm excited for everyone to hear “Do It All Again”, mainly because there is an outro and it's the final song on the album. It's very unlike me to do anything musically cool so we actually ended up doing something like that. There is a play on words relating to other songs on the album at the end of it. I'm really excited for people and fans to film their reactions and see what we did as the big twist at the end of the album.
If you could do a collaboration with any artist who would it be?
Lauren: I normally always say JP Saxe, I love him and his music is a big inspiration. Funny enough he played the piano on the outro of “Do It All Again” which was extremely full circle. I usually say him so I'm going to stick to it and manifest it for album two.
Is there one city or venue that you are playing at in your upcoming tour you've always wanted to play at?
Lauren: I'm really excited to play The Queen Elizabeth in Vancouver because I am from Vancouver and it's a bigger venue out of all the other venues. It'll be the biggest one out of the American/Canadian leg of the tour and it's the last show of the American/Canadian leg and my whole family will be there so I'm very excited.
What song was the most challenging to write?
Lauren: Probably “28”, it wasn't necessarily challenging to write it. It was more challenging to decide if it was going on the album or if I should put it out publicly, is it going to offend people. So I would definitely say that one was the roughest. “Bigger Person” was a little rough and that one hit pretty hard for me but “28” probably stumps the rest of them.
What was your thought process on choosing the songs that made the final record?
Lauren: A lot of the songs are obviously out so those were a must-have because that's what we were wanting to do. I have lots of people who I share my music with and giving me their opinion and for the most part, everyone was on the same page of I’d send a song and we would all come back and say this was the best song or we'd send one and be like oh we don't love this one. It felt like everyone in my inner circle was on the same page on which songs we felt were strongest and not as strong. It came together really easily. There wasn't really too many that I felt didn't make the album that I didn't want them to. I felt we go to the perfect number 15, this is it we don't need to write any more this is how many need to be on the album.
What was your inspiration behind this project?
Lauren: So many different things, really just my life trauma as it stands, breakups, best friend breakups, really just the falling out of relationships and how difficult relationships are to navigate and lose and join again. A Lot of the back half of the album is inspiration from meeting my current boyfriend who I was so scared to fall in love with again and let somebody in again. The first half of the album is more of falling out of love with someone and a breakup and not knowing how to trust anymore. There were many different relationships in my life that inspired all the songs.
This being an autobiographical album, which song do you feel personally most connected to the most?
Lauren: Either “Bigger Person” or “Do It All Again.” I’d love to say “Do It All Again.” It’s sad but the whole meaning of the song is I would redo this album and all the emotions all over again because I'm happy and I'm where I should be in life. I wouldn't be where I am today if I didn't go through all those things. Also, “Bigger Person” is extremely sad and I feel like I still suffer with the things I wrote “Bigger Person” about every day of my life and the people who it's about. There's probably two that I'm like this is the sad part of me and this is the I'm over it, I'm happy, I'm where I should be, relating to both.
Did you decide to post on social media or was it done naturally?
Lauren: when i started posting on social media it was way before anyone knew who I was and that was very much let's just post it on social media. This is cool, I took a video of myself. I want to be a singer and I know that means I need to post on YouTube and maybe one day someone will notice me. By the time TikTok came around I was already posting on Facebook and on Instagram because I realized from posting there are ways to make money and to do this as a living. So definitely by the time TikTok came around it was very I’m posting on social media because this is what I need to do for my job. Of course, I love making videos and singing so it all ties together into one big happy thing that I love doing. But I would be lying if I said I wasn't using social media strategically instead of just for fun.
How do you feel about your music connecting so well with your audience in such a personable way and how that contributes to your career as an artist?
Lauren: Honestly it's really crazy, I write songs and I don't think anybody is going to relate to them and then they all do. I’m like we’re all sad and this makes me sad but also makes me happy cause we're not alone and we're in this together but I think it's really cool. At the beginning of songwriting, I felt more like I'm just songwriting to learn how to songwrite and writing about my own life. It's turned into a feeling I need to write the things I want to write about cause I know people will relate to it and I know it needs to be spoken about. It's really cool that people just relate to it because I feel like my songwriting has a purpose and that I'm here to make people feel less alone.
Were there any certain things you learned about yourself through the process of writing the album that changed the final product?
Lauren: Yeah I've been writing this album for three years, and me three years ago is a completely different human being than who I am now. Especially the fact that I was probably 16 when I wrote the first song and I'm almost 20. That's a very big maturity gap when you're in your teenage years of the different person you've become. I would say the first half of the album represents that I had no boundaries when it came to relationships and I would allow myself to be walked all over, not appreciated and not loved the way I deserved. Throughout the back half of the album, I'm obviously now in a relationship and there's lots of songs about that and how I'm being loved how I deserve. The main thing is learning what I deserved in the world and how I was being treated was wrong and I didn't deserve it and how I'm treated now in my current relationship is what I do deserve.
What songs on the album are you most excited to perform live? Is there anything you can tell us about your upcoming tour?
Lauren: The problem is all my songs are ballads so it's not fun. It's very much we're all gonna sit in this ball of sadness for 80 minutes. I am really excited to perform “Best Friend Breakup,” I've gotten a lot of messages from fans that “Best Friend Breakup” is gonna be the one for them and it has some type of rhythm to it so it will definitely feel a little bit fun. I love performing “Flowers,” people always scream that one so loud and I feel so great when we sing that one. We’re actually gonna be doing some covers and specifically one Adele cover that I'm so excited about, I'm not gonna say exactly what it is but everyone's gonna be shook and it's gonna be really fun.
What was the artistic intention for the album art for Mirror? Are there any additional visuals for Mirror and will there be a theme?
Lauren: There is definitely a theme and if we decide on a deluxe album it would be cohesive. I'm not a fan of my artwork prior to my album. There's a lot of things that happened last minute or were out of my control for “Fingers Crossed.” When we went into the album artwork I said it can not be bad. It has to be classic, simple and something that ties into reflection. I didn't want to just stand in front of a mirror and call it Mirror. We worked with an amazing Creative Director that helped us plan out the entire album shoot and we shot a million different looks and themes but this was the one we loved the most. We really loved doing the reflection on water and just making sure it looked classic and beautiful and if I looked back on it in 20 years am I still going to like it because it was simple. If I go crazy and cool with it, what if I look back at it and it's not cool anymore to do so we should go classic and timeless.
Do you find writing to be cathartic? Do you get nervous being that vulnerable as you are writing?
Lauren: I feel like I get asked this a lot, yes it’s cathartic, I cry in every session. Sometimes we will be writing and I don't realize what we are writing is that sad. Me and my best friend- who write together all the time. I feel like we have a lot of trauma but we are so outgoing and funny people so we constantly joke about it. We are always nonchalant and midway through you'll hear the chords and be like this is the saddest thing we’ve ever wrote and start crying. I'm such an oversharer, I think it should be nerve wracking to me to share my feelings with people but for some reason, it’s not. I just join sessions with people I've never met. I'm like cool so this happened to me, and this happened to me and let's write about it. They're like wow you just shared everything I've never met an artist who shares so much of their life, I'm like that’s a problem but it works out with our songwriting.
Your project is called Mirror and how do you feel the title best represents this body of work?
Lauren: Originally why we titled it Mirror was because everything I write is always a reflection of personal experience. I feel like the only thing that has seen the rollercoaster of emotions that I've been through was my bedroom and bathroom mirror. Every time I cry it's always in my bedroom or staring at myself in the mirror or taking a photo afterwards which technically is like a mirror of yourself. There was never one person who was in my life from three years ago to now other than my songwriter. My mirror was the only thing that was just a constant that witnessed absolutely everything. Sometimes I feel that one of the metaphors for Mirror is that your mirror still sees you even when you're not looking in the mirror. When you walk by the mirror it's like oh she looks sad even though you haven't looked in the mirror so it was a cool reference, even when you’re not paying attention your mirror is the only thing that sees you.
If there's one message you would like listeners to take away, what do you hope that is?
Lauren: I would say that we end the album on “Do It All Again” and I love that we do that. Three years ago, I never would have thought I'd be where I am today. I think everything happens for a reason even though some of the things that happened are so terrible in that moment. I never would have imagined something positive would have come out of them. I really hope especially if people are listening from front to back they always leave the album feeling like everything happens for a reason. This has made me feel that I'm going to get over my breakup, I'm gonna get past this, I'm gonna find true friends or true love, find myself and be a better version of myself in the future.
What was your favorite part of creating the album?
Lauren: Probably the songwriting part, I feel like making album artwork and all that kind of stuff is fun but it's also not. You're just having your photo taken all day and I don't like getting my photo taken. With songwriting a lot of the sessions I can just show up in sweatpants with no makeup, be sad, write, be with my best friend and write about what I was going through not realizing it was going public or on the album in general. I felt like that was always the safest space throughout the entire process.
See Lauren Spencer Smith on Tour HERE
Listen to Mirror HERE
