Lauren Spencer Smith recently released her debut album Mirror, and there’s no better way to describe it than being personal AF. The 15 song project walks listeners through many ups and downs Lauren has experienced over the years, and features incredibly vivid lyricism from Lauren.
“I’ve been working on this album for years,” Lauren said in a statement. “It has been with me through so much in my life, the highs and the lows, and it means more to me than I can put into words. It tells a story of reflection, healing and growth. The title comes from the one thing in my life that’s seen me in every emotion through that journey— my bedroom and bathroom mirror.”
I got to attend a virtual press conference with Lauren and learn a little more about how Mirror came together. Here’s a few things you really need to know about the album!
INSPO
Mirror has helped Lauren Spencer Smith process a lot of her trauma surrounding previous relationships – whether they were platonic or romantic. To be specific, she said, “The falling out of relationships and how difficult relationships are to navigate and lose and join again.”
However, we could consider the album to be split into two parts. “A lot of the back half of the album is from meeting my current boyfriend who I was so scared to fall in love with,” said Lauren. “The first half of the album is more dealing with falling out of love with someone, a breakup, and not knowing how to trust anymore. I feel like there’s many relationships in my life that inspired the songs.”
NARROWING DOWN THE TRACKLIST
With a 15 song track list, it’s not hard to imagine just how challenging it must have been for Lauren to decide what made the cut and what didn’t. Lauren revealed that some of the most difficult choices for the project were “Bigger Person” and “28.”
“It wasn’t necessarily challenging to write it,” Lauren said of “28.” “It was more challenging to decide if it was going on the album or if I should put it out publicly. Like, is this gonna offend people?”
Essentially, “28” is about finding out the person Lauren liked was into someone way older than her. Frustrating, much.
For me most part, Lauren wanted to add songs that she had previously released. She said, “I have lots of people who I share my music with, being like ‘give me your opinion.’ For the most part, everybody was pretty much on the same page. I’d send the song, and we’d come back and say ‘this is the best song!’ Or, we’d send one and be like ‘oh, we don’t love this one.’ It felt like everyone who was in my inner circle was on the same page of which songs we felt were the strongest… or not as strong. It honestly kinda came together really easily.”
15 was the magic number for Lauren. There was no need to choose more than that.
IT’S WHAT SHE DESERVES!
Lauren wrote the first song for Mirror when she was only 16, and now she’s almost 20! Obviously, there’s been some character development between then and now. After all, it’s hard to not change when you’re transitioning from a teen to a young adult. Mirror represents some of those changes, and a huge life lesson Lauren learned.
As stated before, Mirror can be split into two halves. “The first half of the album definitely represents that I had no boundaries when it came to relationships,” Lauren confessed. “I would allow myself to be walked all over, not appreciated, and not loved the way I deserved. The back half of the album… obviously I’m in a relationship now and there’s a lot of songs I just wrote about that. I think the main thing is learning what I deserved in the world.”
Lauren Spencer Smith deserves all that is great in this world, especially your undivided attention! Check out her new album Mirror below.
