Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Her audition: Lauren Anderson, 40, of Oak Park, Ill., performed “Midnight Train to Memphis” by Chris Stapleton. She opened with a scream, then entered into a take-no-prisoners approach to her audition. And she displayed a big enough voice to pull off that approach. It took way, way too long, but finally, Snoop Dogg turned at the very last second. He said he purposely waited to turn so he wouldn’t have to compete for Lauren. He praised her performance and called her the “missing part” to his team. Reba was impressed by Lauren’s vocal firepower. Because only one coach turned, Lauren automatically became Team Snoop.

Here’s more about Lauren:

* She’s a blues artist from Chicago who’s now based in Nashville and has lots of already released music.

* Her debut EP, “Do and Hope,” named after her mother’s family motto “just do it and hope it turns out okay,” was released in 2014. Her debut album, “Truly Me,” landed in 2015.

* She’s followed up with two EPs, “The Game” in 2018 and “Won’t Stay Down” in 2019. And she’s released two more albums — “Love on the Rocks” in 2021 and “Burn It All Down” in 2022.

* The title track to “Love on the Rocks” has been streamed more than 1 million times on Spotify. Another of her most streamed songs, “Back to Chicago,” is also on that album. It’s a collaboration with artist Mike Zito.

* Lauren says “Love on the Rocks” is a song she wrote last minute heading into the studio “while trying to get a boy off my mind.”

* “I didn’t love it at first, but what do I know, because it debuted at #14 on the Billboard Blues Chart … and ended up making me feel like maybe I should keep going in this crazy music industry.” Check out the music video below.

* Lauren’s clearly hoping for a career boost from her appearance on The Voice. On social media, she writes: “I’ve been grinding now for many, many years. Most of the time you feel like you’re moving towards a goal post that keeps moving. Or running in quicksand … This (appearing on The Voice) is only the beginning.”

* In her web bio, Lauren says she grew up in a household filled with music and was inspired by the likes of Susan Tedeschi, Bonnie Raitt, The Pointer Sisters, Eva Cassidy, Etta James, Joss Stone and Kelly Clarkson.

* She began classical piano lessons at age 8 and started taking classical music lessons when she entered high school. At one point, she spent a year in Italy and planned on becoming an opera singer before deciding rock and soul were more her style.

* She also obtained a master’s degree in music therapy from the University of Kansas. She’s worked with a pediatric unit and a school for at-risk youth in Kansas City as a musical therapist.

* Lauren’s latest release is a collaboration with Tracee Perrin called “Seasons Change.” It dropped in April and is about “embracing life’s rainy days, rather than sheltering from them,” Lauren says.

Lauren on social media:
Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
YouTube