Lauren Daigle, Vol. 1

The first indication of Lauren Daigle’s third full-length studio album came from an interview with American Songwriter on February 26, 2021 about the single “Hold On To Me.”

We’re in the writing process right now, so we’ll see what happens. I’m ready to get another record out. I’m so ready.

The then-untitled project serves as a follow-up to 2018’s Look Up Child with its Billboard record-breaking single “You Say.” With the writing starting before the COVID-19 pandemic, the process was most likely begun with writers Paul Mabury (a co-writer on “You Say” and “Still Rolling Stones”) and Paul Duncan (“Still Rolling Stones”). The two also held writing sessions for “Hold On To Me” with Daigle during the Look Up Child tour, indicating their potential further collaboration with her on this project.

No further details concerning the album were shared with the following single, “Tremble,” but Daigle collaborated with both Pauls again to help write and produce it.

It wasn’t until Daigle started to promote the single release of “Thank God I Do” that the new album era was teased, largely its strong use of vibrant colors. This came just a few weeks after the announcement of her signing to the major label Atlantic Records while still maintaining a partnership with her Christian label, Centricity Music, on January 31, 2023. With the Wednesday K-LOVE First release of “Thank God I Do” on March 8, a promotional newsletter also served as the official announcement of the self-titled album it is included on.

Since then, several social media posts and merchandising listings have been shared to promote Lauren Daigle.

I was at dinner with two of my girlfriends and they were like, “Hey, what are you naming this album?” And at this point, we had already been working on it for almost two years, and I was like, “Ah, I don’t know.” I was like, “I would’ve thought a title would’ve come by now, but it just is still… I guess as I keep going, it’ll present itself, but it’s not coming up yet.” And they were like, “Well, we know why.” And I said, “Why?” They were like, “Because this needs to be a self-titled record.” And I was like, “What?” They’re like, “Yeah, girl. You have poured all of yourself out onto this and we’ve watched this transformation take place in you during the course of making this record that the realist parts of yourself have made themself known.” Why is it self-titled? It’s because it took those records to find my voice, to find the voice that I can stand on in front of people and say, this is what I love. I love this sound. I love the way that we recorded this record.

–Lauren Daigle via The Christian Beat

I remember whenever I was like 16 years old, I always dreamt of a certain sound that would I would get to represent or get to reflect or that people would connect my voice to. And it was always this, like, soul — Aretha Franklin, Amy Winehouse, Jessie Jay — that i just absolutely loved. But being from Louisiana, that muddy water, there’s some soul here that’s really, really special. So I always found myself drawn to that and wanting to figure out a way to bring that to life. But beyond that, this record — well, I feel like it made me feel a way that no other record before. Look Up Child was my first one. Everything was brand new. I remember sitting at the console working with my producer, and being like, “I don’t even know how to explain music to this person because I don’t have the language.” And then the second record was me trying to explore a little bit more, trying to get familiar with learning parts of my voice.

–via Relevant Magazine

I had this man by the name of Dan McCarroll who was working with me in kind of a liaison/A&R kind of position, and Dan asked three other writers that I was working with, “Hey, based on these songs that are coming out of Lauren, what producer would you say she should work with?” And all four of them, without knowing that we talked to each one of them, said Mike Elizondo. So I went and took a meeting with him, and he’s just such a family guy, and he understands what it is to create from so much depth. I don’t know how to explain it, but he just allowed for space to create and the freedom that comes with creating. I remember being in the studio and saying, “Hey, Mike, can we do this vocal part on this song ‘Ego’?” [The latter part of the song has layered vocals repeating the title word over and over, in a kind of choral cascade.] The only time he ever turned down an idea was if the chords didn’t work based on the structure of the song or something like that. But otherwise, he just let any idea that I had actually come to life. And that marriage, that collaborative spirit, was really profound and something that gave me new wings to fly with in the course of this record.

–via Variety

Yes, as is often the case with major releases, Apple Music has an animated cover for Lauren Daigle.

Since the cover excludes any title or letter treatment, the only animations added were distortions on the decorations, adding to its abstract and colorful nature.