Lauren Alaina Breaks Down 5 Essential Tracks From Her New Album ‘Stages’: ‘I Am in the Best Stage of My Life, Ever’

The country hitmaker reflects on the album that looks at life's highs and lows. 8/27/2026 Lauren Alaina speaks on stage at The 61st Academy of Country Music Awards held at MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 17, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Rich Polk/Dick Clark Productions Lauren Alaina has gone through many chapters in her life, and she relives many of them on her new album Stages, out Friday (Aug. 28). But happily, for Alaina, she is in a great stage right now, to say the least. “I am in the best stage of my life ever,” she tells Billboard during a recent visit to Los Angeles. “I’ve still lived some heartache in this stage, losing my dad [in July 2024], but I genuinely feel like I am living the life that I’ve always dreamed of.” The former 2011 American Idol runner up (she came in second behind Scotty McCreery) says she’s finally found the balance between career and family she dreamed of for years. “I remember for so long thinking I would never have a husband and a family, because I worked so much, and I was like, “Where am I going to meet a husband?’ Now I look at my daughter, and she is everything to me,” she says. “I can’t believe it’s my life. I think a lot of women fear that if you have a family and a marriage, your career will take a back seat, and I think that is probably true for some people. But I’m so grateful that I found a way to navigate both.” Alaina, 31, married Cam Arnold in February 2024, and their daughter, Beni Doll Arnold, was born in June 2025. This stage has also brought Alaina to a new label, Big Loud — after more than 10 years on Mercury Nashville — and to the release of her first full-length album in five years. “I’m so thankful for everything I did [on the previous label]. But it was time to move on and do something new,” she says. “That was really scary for me to make that step, because I was like, ‘What if I’m wrong?’ It took some time at my new label to get things established and make the new music.” Fans clearly missed Alaina, given the reaction to “All My Exes,” a lighthearted duet with Chase Matthew that is bulleted at No. 14 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart dated Aug. 29. Alaina worked with producers Joey Moi and Ben Johnson on the 16-track set, and co-wrote most of the songs. She also reunited with her childhood friend, Kane Brown, on “Never Been in Love,” their first duet together since “What Ifs,” their 2017 hit that topped both the Country Airplay and Country Songs chart. Alaina, who acted in the Hallmark movie Roadhouse Romance in 2021, still wants to pursue more acting roles. “I just had an audition sent to me two weeks ago, and I couldn’t read for it because my tour dates,” she says. Her dream costars are Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon. “It’s probably not going to happen, but you never know,” she says. “I mean, everything that I’ve had so far in my career, people would have said probably was not going to happen, and it has.” Below, Alaina breaks down five essential tracks from Stages for Billboard. “All My Exes” We recorded this song with Chase, and literally a month [later], I found out I was pregnant. We were trying to figure out what we were going to do about the album, and we made a plan to put out individual songs. “All My Exes” blew up and changed the entire trajectory of the album. I went back in and cut five more songs with Ben. That’s how we landed on Stages because we recorded the album in stages [and] “All My Exes” was about a different part of my life. Ben started “All My Exes” [and] sent it to me, [saying] “I think this could be something cool for you. I’ve never heard you do this sound.” This song taught me so much writing because I tend to write things about where I am in my life now and it’s comical how much it’s not about where I am right now. It reminded me of this moment with one of my exes where we got in an argument in a bar on Broadway. I went on tour with Jason Aldean and Chase. My husband and Chase became best friends, and he played it for Chase. Then Cameron said, “I’m going to tell Lauren to play it for you. Act like you haven’t heard it. Let it be her idea,” which is hilarious. So, my husband is the reason this song is out. “Rings on the Table” This was one of the first songs we cut for the album. It is one of my favorites. When I cut a song that I don’t write, I want people to listen to it and think that I could have written it. I was engaged before [to] my high school sweetheart. For me, this song loosely represents him. He was not a big drinker, but the story of this song resonated with me so much because I gave a ring back and I remember that tragic, desperate feeling. That’s why I start stage two on the album with this song, because it bridges my hometown to Nashville. Honest to God, it is such a good song. I am so thankful that I get to be the one that shares it with the world. I very intentionally set out to make a true country record, but now that I’ve turned the whole thing in, I’m so thankful that I have created a record where “Rings on the Table” and “All My Exes” coexist. Not everything has to sound the same. “Never Been in Love” (with Kane Brown) Kane played T-ball with my brother, so we met probably when I was little, but we really became friends in middle school in choir class. Even though it is a love song, this song feels like the answer to “What Ifs.” It’s so fun and just feels like one of the songs that really represents where I am now. Lyrically, this song is so true because I dated other people that I thought I loved — and now that I look at my husband and our life, I’m like, “Man, I didn’t really know what love was.” And then we got my boy Kane on it. He’s got a wonderful wife, Katelyn, and his three little babies. For me, this song celebrates his love story and my love story. Even though we’re not in the same love story, it just feels like the perfect song for us to do together. I just went down to Florida, and we got all our kids together and went to the pool and the beach. “Little Things” It’s a big one for me. In a calendar year, I got married in February, my dad died in July, and we found out we were pregnant the first week of September. So, the highest of highs and lowest of lows. My dad’s death was unexpected, and I remember I didn’t even know how I’m ever going to sing again. It was my first song I wrote after Dad died. I talked to my dad every day. I was devastated. My dad was 52. My brother, who is the singer on the first song on the album, “Babies Raising Babies,” works at Costco in my hometown and he had just gone back to work. We had both taken time off. I wanted to ask him how that was going because I almost felt like a robot. I called him and asked, “How is it going?” And he said, “Well, it’s weird because people are coming up to me, and they’re so upset about the cost of the eggs or where we’ve moved something in the store and they can’t find it. I’m just looking at them and thinking, ‘My dad just died. I don’t care about the eggs anymore.’” I was driving to the [studio] and that stuck out to me so much because I had stopped for gas and gas prices were up again and I remember thinking that probably would have been something I would have called my dad about. [My brother and I] were having this conversation, and I was like, “The things that make you the richest in life are the people that you love. When something really big happens in your life, you see all the things that don’t really matter.” I said, “I’m gonna go write you that song today.” [When my brother heard it,] he cried like a baby. “Walking on Broadway” (The song features as an interpolation of Marc Cohn’s ’90s soul-pop classic “Walking in Memphis,” as reinvented by Ashley Gorley, HARDY, Ben Johnson and Hunter Phelps.) It’s pretty stacked as far as songwriters go. “Walking on Broadway” is one that we went back in and cut because of “All My Exes.” I would have never had that one. I love it. I can literally see girls on Broadway screaming this song on the pedal taverns. It’s like the most fun break-up song of all time. I like interpolations. The demo was HARDY singing it, which was really cool. I think it’s one of the more fun songs on the album. Marc Cohn did have to sign off on it, which is always scary. I haven’t spoken to him specifically — but we also wanted to pay tribute to the song when we cut it, so we play the piano part in there. It’s obviously a completely different feel than the original, but we also wanted to honor it in its original form, so there are little nuggets in there. Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox Sign Up