Nashville, TN (February 26, 2021)
Lauren Daigle recently joined Zane Lowe on New Music Daily on Apple Music to discuss her new song “Hold On To Me.” She tells Apple Music about writing the song, having to cancel her dream tour due to COVID, working on new music, and more.

Lauren Daigle Tells Apple Music About Recording “Hold On To Me”…
“I remember the day that we got the vocal was good to go, we were actually almost in the mastering process. And I called my producer, I said, “You’re going to kill me.” And he was like, “What?” I was like, “I need to recut the entire vocal.” And he was like, “What?” And I was like, “I hear it different than the way it sounds, and it’s just not emotive enough. I feel like we phoned it in.” And he was like, “I absolutely do not think that’s the case, but just come back in here.” I was like, “Okay. And it’s like the moment where you’re crossing your fingers like, “Oh, please don’t let him kill me. And please, I hope that this is okay.” Go back in, and I only sang it down maybe two or three more times, but there’s something about listening back to the live audio that transformed my approach.

We wrote the song on the road and we were on tour and my voice was fragmented just from touring night after night. And so I had that audio, the live audio, and I listened to that a couple of times and I was like, “I want to bring that same spirit, that same pain, into the moment.” Because the moment that we finished writing the song was when we performed it for the audience. We were literally on the stage writing the last lyrics as we were going into soundcheck and all that.

It was one of those songs that really got brought to life because of the people in the room. I remember singing it with so much hurt and so much conviction. Fast forward, like a year and a half later, when we go to cut it in the studio, all of that was just phoned in, and I was like, “No, I can’t settle for this.” So we went back and he let me change the vocal. And you get the pressure, “Hey, turn this in on time,” and then we ended up pushing it back a couple of times because I was like, “I’m telling you, I believe in it. I really believe in this song.”

Lauren Daigle Tells Apple Music About Writing The Song With Paul Duncan…
“We had an off day and I remember being in the room with two other friends and we had phoned this guy, his name’s Paul Duncan. We’ve written a bunch of stuff together. And I remember thinking to myself, “This is going to be the biggest waste of this guy’s time. I am fried. I have nothing to offer. I’m sad that he’s away from his family, that we took some time.” He gets there, we’re sitting in a room. I was probably in sweats and peeling sleep off my eyes. It was just this really sweet moment of realizing that people can catch you when you fall. And I think that’s hard sometimes, as an artist, you’re supposed to be the one constantly holding everybody up. And it’s beautiful that there’s this mirror image that takes place, here I am in this moment of just supreme exhaustion and uncertainty and I started seeing fragmented relationships as a result of just poor decisions. And I’m in this writing room and I’m like, “I have nothing to offer here. I’m so tired.” I put in my 10 cents, say a couple of things. I had to leave to go do something. Come back in and he and my producer had put the basis of the song all together. And I remember even in that moment feeling like, this is a great song. I’m so glad you guys worked on this. Thank you. I’m super grateful, but I don’t have an emotional connection to this. But I appreciate it and this is great. Fast forward, and I remember just constantly putting myself into their shoes, where they were coming from with the lyric.”

Lauren Daigle Tells Apple Music About Cancelling Her Tour Due To COVID…
“The energy, the camaraderie, it was just great. Even when things went wrong, it was so, we’re going to keep the smile on our face. That energy, it was so beautiful and that faces in the crowd and the set and the rooms and all of it. And we got 10 shows in and that was it. And then everything shut down. And I remember thinking, “Man, well, I guess, we’ll be back in six weeks,” because that’s what they told us originally. Fast forward, it’s been just about a year and we are probably not going to be able to do that tour, and having to reconcile with that, a creative loss, it’s not a person, it’s not what a lot of people would have had to go through, but to see you’re finally touching what you’ve been seeing for the past.”

Lauren Daigle Tells Apple Music About Working on New Music…”
“Last night I wrote something and, do you know who John Foreman is? Are you familiar? He’s a part of the band, Switchfoot. We just did an interview together and I was telling him, we released this song. It’s called, A Place Called Earth. And he said to me, “Lauren, I remember when we were in there, you came in with the chorus.” And he said, “Hey, I know that it’s supposed… The meter is supposed to fall here, but I actually want it to fall here.” And he said, “Now, I’m learning the song,” because he’s doing a live stream of it tonight. And he’s like, “I’m sitting here, what was her head thinking?” And I said, “If only people knew that I sit here,” and I’m like, “This doesn’t go with each other. This doesn’t go with each other. I’ve got to figure out how to make this work.” Oh my gosh, I know. I know. It’s so fun. It’s so fun. So yeah. I mean, I’m inspired. I’ve kind of locked myself in here and we’ll see what comes of it. I’m excited though. It is definitely a writing season, for sure.”

Watch it here:

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