Lauren Daigle has already won two Grammys and three Billboard Music Awards so far this year and we’re only in May.
She’s also landed a top five album on the Billboard 200 chart and just performed a sold-out show at London’s O2 Academy Islington.
But even as the accolades continue to stack up, Lauren remains one of the most humble musicians you could meet.
Seriously, she was actually amazed that her show was so packed that the audience stretched way back to the doors at her London gig.
Surprisingly though, Lauren isn’t what you would consider a traditional pop artist.
The 27-year-old broke into the music industry as a Christian artist, a label which she finds somewhat ‘restrictive’, but she’s smashing through that glass ceiling to make a splash in the world of pop.
So she’s now what you’d consider a pop crossover artist too.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk the night after her epic London show, Lauren said of being categorised as a Christian artist: ‘When I first started I felt super restricted by it, everytime I would cringe a little bit.
‘Not in the sense of Christian – I love Jesus – but, in the sense of separating people, I had never wanted there to be this separation. So for me that would be the thing that would trip me up or be difficult.
‘It wasn’t as much the word as how it could isolate people a bit.’
Now that Lauren has successfully transitioned to the pop market – her third album, Look Up Child, charted at number three on the Billboard 200 – fans are wondering if Lauren will change her sound and lyrical direction to appeal to the non-Christian market.
But Lauren insists: ‘For me, I can’t do that because then it becomes inauthentic and I can only write from a place of what I’ve experienced.
‘I can’t fabricate. I guess we all could fabricate at some point, but for me to do something that’s inauthentic, forced and not real, then people can smell it out.’
She continued: ‘I don’t ever want to portray that. The music that always reaches the deepest is music that people have lived through. If you listen to Aretha Franklin, Adele or Amy Winehouse, there is something so compelling and convincing about their songs and it’s because it’s about something that they’ve directly experienced.’
With that in mind, surely Lauren can’t fail?
Especially if she finds inspiration from the success story of one global superstar in particular who was able to transition from country to pop – Taylor Swift.
While she’s not intentionally following Taylor’s pop crossover, Lauren admits she admires the popstar’s business-savvy approach.
‘What I have thought about is her great business prowess,’ Lauren explained.
‘She is a genius when it comes to the business end of things, so I’ve really studied her in that regard.
‘Even seeing her crossover success, it is mindblowing that she was able to move one audience to the next while still remaining true to herself and the process.’
In some sense, you could describe Lauren Daigle as a music underdog – Christian music rarely translates in pop but she’s managed to prove the naysayers wrong.
Much like Lil Nas X.
The rapper was removed from Billboard’s country chart as he wasn’t deemed country enough but, with the help of Billy Ray Cyrus, was able to return and land the number one spot.
Admiring his tenacity, Lauren said: ‘That whole story is amazing to me.
‘It’s so fascinating to me, I love the unity in that. This connectivity that comes from music where people are like, we don’t have to objectify everything, let’s come together. That’s kind of beautiful.’
If Lil Nas X is looking for a new collaboration, he need only call Lauren as she’s totally up for getting in the studio with the rapper.
Now that would be an interesting song.
Over the past three years, Lauren’s faced the rough as much as the smooth.
Comments she made in a recent interview about homosexuality in relation to Christianity were heavily ‘misconstrued’ and earned the singer some criticism.
Reflecting on the mild backlash, Lauren said: ‘I’ve had a lot of response [to that], some good, bad, some encouraging.
‘What’s amazing about the comments on Instagram is that’s a digital space with ones and zeroes and that’s just a black and white response.
‘Whereas when you go behind the stage and meet someone who’s going through a really difficult time, or who is unsure of their identity or wrestling with who they are, and when you have those stories, the ones and zeroes fall and they pale in comparison.’
She added: ‘That’s what I hold onto. Who are the people who are actually standing in front of me, what are they saying?
‘I’ll never forget the stories of people who’ve come to me and said thank you.
‘It rings so much louder than the negativity.’
Lauren’s also experienced the ‘fake’ side of the industry and how things can be blown out of proportion.
Case in point, her friendship with Selena Gomez with the pair being described as ‘best friends’ when in reality, they have more of a ‘text friendship’.
Still, Lauren said: ‘I definitely want to get to know her, she seems like such a good soul, a good person.’
The sky’s the limit for Lauren right now and she’s quick becoming one of the busiest women in music.
But, she’s loving every minute of it saying gratefully: ‘It’s non-stop but I’m having the time of my life.’
Lauren Daigle’s new single, You Say, is out now and features on her chart-topping album Look Up Child.
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