At Monday’s CMT Next Women Of Country showcase, Season 10 Idol runner-up Lauren Alaina debuted a new song called “Same Day, Different Bottle,” that she cowrote with Caitlyn Smith and Dan Couch. Turns out, the country/pop weeper about watching someone battle alcohol addiction has a very current and personal relevance to her life right now.
At last night’s BMI Country Awards, Lauren told Chris Willman just how current and relevant “Same Day, Different Bottle” is to her state of mind:
“The song is about my father,” she confirmed. “He actually got out of rehab today! I haven’t gotten to see him yet, because he’s back in Chattanooga, where I’m from. That song was like therapy for me. It’s not easy growing up in a household with something like that. I love my dad — he’s one of my favorite people in the world — and he’s a great person. He just struggled with alcohol, and he’s overcoming it right now, so I’m really proud of him. I played him the song, and he loved it. It made him cry. I think it was good for him to hear my side and to see how it affected me. Today is a new beginning for him. It’s gonna be a battle for the rest of his life, but I’m going to be right there with him, and pray that every day he doesn’t want to drink it up and touch a bottle. I hope it’s no longer the same day, different bottle. Different day, no bottle!”
Here again is Willman’s video of Lauren’s performance:
Lauren also told Willman how she wasn’t sure she wanted to write about her father’s issues, but is glad in retrospect that she did:
“It was therapeutic,” Alaina affirmed. “I went in that day and it was weighing on my heart. I was worried about my dad and about my life. I didn’t want to write about it, yet I did want to write about it, because I knew it would probably make me feel better. And I battled with it for 25 minutes and was really struggling with deciding whether or not to speak up. Because I never, ever even talked about my dad drinking—ever—to anyone. Some of my best friends that I grew up with didn’t know; he went to work every day,” so it wasn’t like he’d ever been a falling-down drunk whose behavior invited public inspection, she noted.
Lauren went on to state her confidence that her father will stay sober, and her nervousness about putting such a personal song out there for public consumption. Check out this link for more from Willman’s interview with Lauren on what was going through her mind during the songwriting session.
To see a longer list of songs Lauren has been co-writing for her upcoming album (which she confirms will also include outside cuts), check out this post.
