As she soaked in the grandstanding sounds of these top-tier singers, Lauren continued honing her craft as a songwriter. “I feel like I’ve been doing music for a long time, but I really started properly doing it about a year ago,” she says. “I feel like a completely different person. I’ve been through so many things that are very abnormal to go through at 18/19 years old. I feel much more mature than I should be for my age, but it feels great. Every songwriter says this, but the more you write, the better you get.”

The desire to push herself as a songwriter partly comes from her American Idol experience. “Growing up, I was always just known as the singer,” she reflects. “Everyone would tell me you need to write your own original songs. I always wanted to do that, and going into the show, I knew it would help because I was going to meet people. I’m from quite a small town, and there isn’t really anyone else who does the music thing out here.

This important period of nurturing her craft allowed Lauren to develop her voice and the stories she wanted to tell. “My vision is any time something happens in my life that upsets me, it bums me out that I don’t have a specific song for it,” she says. “I love to tell people that I write the song that I didn’t have to help other people.”

While goosebump-raising balladry to have a good ol’ cry to is at the heart of her music, Lauren can deliver the bangers too, like on the gen-z pop star posse cut of the latest single ‘Fantasy’ featuring Gayle and Em Beihold, two young singer-songwriters Lauren feels a kinship with.

“I wrote that song just over a year ago. When I wrote it, I knew I wanted other people on it. At the time, I didn’t know Gayle and Em yet, but I had the song for a couple of months. Me, Gayle and Em were all having big songs at pretty much the same time, so every festival, every radio show, we were booked together, so we would always bump into each other. We became a little girl group and really good friends; we’ve had a group chat ever since. A couple of months ago, I just reached out and they said yes immediately.”

The real challenge for any artist, though, is how you turn the virality and excitement into art that has a real legacy, and now Lauren is turning her attention to her long-awaited debut album ‘Mirror’. It’s something she looks at with refreshing honesty.

“It’s been a struggle,” she admits. “Making an album is the hardest part. There are so many different people giving opinions. Some people don’t like these songs, and then some other people like these songs. You’re guessing in your head what you hope people will like. Honestly, though, it’s been really fun. We’re at the point now where we’re having meetings to discuss everything because it’s coming closer. The order of the songs is pretty much the order of what’s happened in my life in the past three years. It’s cool to step back and listen to everything and the state of mind I was in when I wrote those songs compared to how I am now and how I’ve changed as a person.”

Approaching life as a major pop star in waiting with a sharpness and sense of perspective, you feel that Lauren is perfectly placed to have a career in the mould of her idol Adele. Throughout it all, there’s one defining principle that she applies to everything that centres her work. “The main thing is always to be true to yourself,” she reflects. “Some people like to try to write to be popular, and there’s a mix between the two, and it’s always important to write about yourself and what you think is important to you. Authenticity shines through.” ■