Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Season 12 Voice runner-up Lauren Duski released her long awaited debut EP Wednesday, and you might say it was well received.

It immediately jumped to number three on the iTunes country albums chart, trailing only the new album from Florida Georgia Line and Kacey Musgraves’ “Golden Hour.”

In fact, it briefly jumped to number two on that chart before settling back into the number three spot, which is where it still was at of 7 p.m. eastern time today.

The “Midwestern Girl” EP features two singles Lauren released in 2018 — “Costume Party” with its 570,000 streams on Spotify and “Heart Hurt Good” — plus three new tracks, one an instrumental intro to the EP.

“If you ever want a direct look into my life, just listen to this EP,” Lauren, who’s from Gaylord, Mich., said in a recent Facebook chat with fans.

“It’s about a lot of personal stuff, a lot of change, a lot of healing, some really sad, some really happy and it’s all 100 percent me, just this normal girl from the midwest who’s trying to figure out her life.”

Especially personal, Lauren said, are the new songs on the EP. In particular, she pointed to “The Weather,” the closing track on the EP and a song she wrote about her grandfather’s journey after the passing of his wife.

And more Lauren music is on the way in 2019. Lauren said she spent the majority of 2018 writing songs and recording for this year.

That means two more EPs are planned for this year, both with more songs than the first on “Midwestern Girl,” Lauren said.

Tour dates are in the works too. You can keep up with those via Lauren’s Facebook page.

Here’s the official music video for “Costume Party” — it has more than 250,000 views on YouTube — from the “Midwestern Girl” EP.