We interrupt our regularly scheduled podcasts for a special bonus episode with Lauren Daigle. Enjoy this conversation where she takes us back to where she saw the stage long before her career began. It’s like God gave her a glimpse of all that was to come.
Interview Links:
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Transcription:
Lauren Daigle: If you have a pure heart and pure intentions and those get misconstrued along the way, like you still can operate in freedom because you can give people the permission to just misunderstand. And sometimes you’re going to do things that not everybody likes it, but if you know that, that’s what God’s telling you to do,
you know, even in friendship, she was like, this doesn’t even have to be on a platform just like true freedom is when you can say, say what you mean and say what you feel and if people misunderstand that’s okay, because you’ve actually invited them into that space to misunderstand you.
Sarah Taylor: Well, there she is Lauren Daigle.
So we interrupt our regularly scheduled podcasts to bring you a special bonus episode, because when you have about 20 minutes with Lauren, you get that thing ready to go right away. I want you to enjoy this next conversation where she takes us back to how she saw the stage, the lights, the audience long before her career ever took off.
I think it’s beautiful. It’s like God kind of gave her a glimpse of what was to come and with faith, she trusted it. I don’t mind the sound quality too much on this. It’s like recorded off of a cell phone. But again, when you have a few minutes with Lauren, you take what you can get. Here we go.
Lauren Daigle: Hey Sarah, how are you, girl?
Sarah Taylor: I’m good. How are you, Lauren?
Lauren Daigle: So good. I am. I’m doing great. I just sit, she said Sarah Taylor with Seattle. Okay. That’s who we’re talking to next. I was like, oh,
THAT Sarah, I know her!
Sarah Taylor: Although I think one of my first interactions with you was we were both locked out of the same ballroom at the momentum thing. Remember that?
Lauren Daigle: Oh my gosh. Yes. Yes. Wow. Those are the good old days. I tell you what.
Sarah Taylor: Well, you’re a good person. You’re a good person to be locked out of something with.
It’s kind of like, I feel like I got the better end of the deal. There’s like 500 people inside that conference room and I’m with you on a bench.
Lauren Daigle: Oh my gosh. You know what? I got to get into the deal too, because you were just so kind. I was so new, Sarah. I remember just being like, I don’t know what I’m doing.
I felt like I was walking around that thing like a chicken with my head cut off. I literally was like, I don’t know what any of this is that it was, it was so fun. Those were just fun years of learning and growing and I’ll never forget the last one, uh, that I was at. I think it was, it was either the last one or the year before where
someone looked at me and said, well, you’re not the newbie anymore. And I was like, wait, you’ve been doing this for like four years or five years now. This is like back then. And I was like, no, no, no, no, you can’t. Your idea of VB in the newbie cannot change because then there will be some forced responsibility for me to like, actually know what I’m doing with all of this.
And I have no idea. So you need to say with your head thinking, I have the newbie cause I like being green and we just, we cut up the laughed. It’s those are the, those are fun, fun times.
Sarah Taylor: Speaking of being the newbie, you recently did American idol, which you auditioned for when you were, how old?
Lauren Daigle: 17.
Sarah Taylor: Okay. And the answer then was no.
So what’s that full circle moment like when they ask you back just recently?
Lauren Daigle: Oh my gosh. It was so much fun. The humor in it all is that the producers, the people who are working there, Megan’s specifically. They’re still, they were the ones that were there when I was there. So when I walked in, I was like, who am I going to see with this,
isn’t documented the mentorship thing. I walked out of there like who am I going to see, and it was the same people. And I was like, oh my gosh. They’re like, okay, Lauren, Hey, and we all started sharing memories. I was like, I cannot believe after tens of thousands of people that they’ve seen over the years, I’ll just say running and things like that, that they actually remembered.
I was like, wow, this is crazy. So it was just really fun. It was like seeing people that were part of my journey, and, you know, being told no is so constructive and so healthy if you grow from it and learn from it. And so they were, I mean, it was all for a purpose and I think going back, Megan came in my room prior to, um, the show
and she said, we wanted to do this comeback thing where it’s like all of these artists that didn’t necessarily get an opportunity to play on the big stage because of 2020, um, got a chance to do that. And the thing that’s so wild is she’s like, As you were looking, we were like, wait, Lauren actually never got to sing on the main stage either.
And I was like, no, I got cut everything, and so we all laughed and it was just really fun to get, to be a part of that experience.
Sarah Taylor: I love that. You know, I remember you saying that when you were a teenager at home during your illness, you looked in the mirror and you said that you actually would see like an arena and you were on a stage singing.
Talk to me more about, about that.
Lauren Daigle: Yeah. Oh my gosh. One of my favorite things about life. Like if there’s one memory that I just, I love going back to, I would say it’s that one. That’s probably my favorite memory. I, uh, sick. I was, I was about 16 at this stage and I remember having these like, almost like lucid
dream like daydreams. I don’t know how to explain it. And I mean, now I know it was like God showing me what was to come, but I would be like brushing my teeth and looking in the mirror and I could literally see, instead of my reflection, like, audiences or tour buses and cars, all these like awards and charts and different things.
And I was like, this is wild. It’s like, what is this? What is this about? And this is before I was singing or doing anything like that. I didn’t take my first voice lessons until I was 16 years old because my mom was like, we got to have something that’s kind of like restful for you to be a part of that still stimulating and encouraging.
And so I, um, started voice lessons. Well, here I am seeing all these pictures fast forward to 2020 and the tour that Lauren Daigle World Tour was the tour that was the one I would always see, like in my mirror, it was crazy. I was like, wait a second. This is like dead on. Like, everything was exactly what, um, I had seen.
And it’s funny because like, it’s been seven years now, about seven years, um, since I started touring for the first time and it’s like all the seven years in the back of my mind, I was always like, Well, this decision leads to what that vision in the bathroom looks like. Well, this decision lead to what that vision and bathroom looked like.
It was almost like a guidance, you know, like here’s the step-by-step directions of where you’re headed. And, um, just throughout the process of making decisions and, you know, learning and growing, that was always like an anchor point. I feel like God just gave me a very young age. And so, whenever we went out on that tour, I was like, oh my gosh, I can’t believe it.
Like it’s actually happened. Like he actually brought me there from 16 years old showing me like, this is what a piece of your future is going to look like to now. It’s like, I cannot believe I’m just. It’s wild. It was so wild. And, um, and then it all came to a crashing halt back in March of 2020. I was like, wait, we just started, like, we were only 10 shows and we hadn’t even done it for a month.
I was like, wait, what? So I am super excited to get back out on the road again.
Sarah Taylor: Oh, I bet I saw on Instagram that you were writing with Jonas Myron. I get so excited when your day is spent collaborating and writing. Can you give us any glimpses of what you came up with during that time? Yeah.
Lauren Daigle: Oh, absolutely.
Um, it’s been so fun. I’ve been riding on and off throughout the year. Just different, you know, I started back in January. I took last year off to just kind of grieve what the season was, and also rest a bit and kind of come up with some new norms, you know, as a lot of us probably did and come January 2021, I was like, okay, I have to start.
I got to get up out of this bed, you know? And, um, we started writing I started writing with Jonah, he was such as just a safe landing space, you know? And then, um, Natalie Hamby, Ellie Holcomb to some dear friends of mine that, um, some new friendships and some old friendships, but it’s been really exciting to get, to be a part of and just to get music again.
And I’m like, oh my gosh, record number three, here we go. It’s going to be fun. And it’s different than I think what I expected. It’s taking definitely more of, um, A storytelling kind of approach. So I’m really excited about that.
Sarah Taylor: Well, my last question, before I let you go, you had a tweet a while back that said true freedom is giving people the permission to misunderstand you. And with a platform as large as yours,
um, you know, that’s hard fought to get to that place, but I can imagine that is where your freedom is. Can you give the rest of us some advice on how to do that? And then the benefit that comes from it.
Lauren Daigle: Yes, absolutely. Okay. Well, first of all, I have to let everyone know I did not come up with that. I was told that by our dear friend, who you also know Jason Gray. It was actually back in the very, very beginning of when I started touring.
Um, he and I were on a tour together and he was just telling me about advice that he’d gotten along the way. And that was one of the things that he had said. And I mean, I, I am not the queen of one-liners like, I don’t know if anybody’s read that Matthew McConaughey book, green lights. He has all these one-liners the whole time, like throughout the book of these one-liners that have literally driven his life.
And I’m sitting over here, like, I can’t remember a one-liner to save my life. But for some reason, the one-liner that God wanted me to remember was that specific, um, one, true freedom is giving permission for people to misunderstand you. I just, I needed that throughout this process and I’m not good at it.
Like that’s the, the irony is like I have to repeatedly tell myself that because I’m actually really bad at it. I think. I love people pleasing. I’m one of those people that are like, oh, I love when the whole world is happy and we’re all like spinning in circles and dancing on rainbows. Like, hello, here we are.
And that is just, that’s not the reality; one person can’t make everyone happy. And I think that as much as I even that coming out of my mouth, I’m like, no, no, no, there’s got to be a way. You know what I mean? It’s like, I think I just, I needed Jason to tell me like, Hey, if you, if you have a pure heart and pure intentions and those get misconstrued along the way, like you still can operate in freedom because you can give people the permission to just misunderstand.
And sometimes you’re going to do things that not everybody likes, but if you know that that’s what God’s telling you to do, you know, even in friendships, he was like, this doesn’t even have to be on a platform just like, true freedom is when you can say, say what you mean and say what you feel and if people misunderstand that’s okay, because you’ve actually invited them into that space to misunderstand you.
And I think for me, that’s just, so that is such a practice that’ll probably take the rest of my life to understand, you know, so yeah. I don’t know if that helps shed any light on it, but how I think about it is when you’re sitting down at a coffee shop and you, this happened to me the other day, sitting down at a coffee shop and tonight like, oh, Hey, I really liked that dress you have on.
And I was like, oh my goodness, thank you so much. Let me tell you the story about this dress. Um, and I sit there and I tell them the story of how this dress is made, um, and like the obstacles that this woman had to overcome in order to make this dress. And I, I was so inspired by her story. like, of course I’m going to delight in sharing it with someone else.
Well, As I’m telling the story I look at their faces and their faces are growing grim and they’re like, not amused. They’re almost like, could you please stop talking to me? And then when I walk away, I hear them start laughing. And I was like, I have an opportunity right now to listen to that quote over myself and say, now actually operated in the freedom of who I am by just simply sharing a positive story,
and if they want to scoff at me for that, it’s okay. It is okay. And I’m going to give them the permission to misunderstand who I am in this so that I can carry forth in the freedom of who I am. And so I don’t know if that helps, but those are kind of the daily practices of how to how to keep yourself alive in this cancel culture, you know, society where we’re living in.
Sarah Taylor: Yeah. That helps. Gosh, Lauren, you are just a delight every time. Thank you for your time today.
Lauren Daigle: Oh, Sarah. I’m so glad I got to talk to you. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it so much.
Sarah Taylor: All right. You take care. All right.
Lauren Daigle: All right. You too. Maybe we’ll get locked out of momentum this year.
Sarah Taylor: Okay, bye. There she is so delightful, so much fun. The one and only Lauren Daigle. We’ll be back next week with our regularly scheduled, you know, like bi-weekly podcasts. And again, thanks to Northwest University for sponsoring the whole thing, because that’s what makes the Passion Meets Purpose podcast possible.
Could I say any more “p”‘s in that? Why did I name it that? Why, why, why .
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