- Prelude means "an introduction,"
and therefore, that is why
I felt like it was the perfect thing
to name this first piece,
this first project, 'cause this is the introduction
to me, sonically, as an individual, as a solo artist.
This is definitely something that I've been developing
over the course of these last four years
in getting to know myself
and shedding the layers of myself that weren't resonant
anymore, or never really did resonate
that I just kind of took on as a layer subconsciously
and didn't even realize that I had.
I ended up doing it through
the independent route,
using, you know, AWAL as a distributor
and through my own label Attunement Records.
And I'm actually really proud of that
because, you know,
it was essentially where I had to go in order to deliver
the creative vision that I had envisioned for this project.
At the end of the day,
there were perceptions being projected onto me
of who I was supposed to be as an artist,
and this was the way that I found
that I was able to be the most free.
Hi, MTV News! I'm Lauren Jauregui
and these are my top five musical influences.
So my first musical influence,
I would say, is Hayley Williams from Paramore.
I would say Paramore in general because the band
really was what raised me.
But yeah, Hayley's intention in her lyrics
and the musicality of
Paramore, like I [bleep] loved their drums and their guitar licks
and all of the things.
I, to this day, if Paramore comes on in my shuffle,
I will listen to the whole album back to back.
I know their entire discography front to back.
I love them so much.
I just - their songs really helped me grow up
during that part of my life as a teenager, you know?
My next musical influence, I would say, is Beyoncé.
She's so many things.
She's an enigma, truly.
I think that she's an incredible performer.
I think that her attention to detail is spectacular
in all aspects of her career, from visuals to sonics.
I'm really inspired by how she does backgrounds
and her ad-libs and that kind of approach just to
the creativity and just the colorful nature
of what's happening in the background.
And the way that she just
gives her soul when she performs something.
I can hear her soul when she's singing,
I can hear her communicating the feelings
of what she's talking about.
So yeah,
I think Beyoncé is a huge one in my influences.
So the third influence, I would say, is John Mayer.
I know his whole discography front to back, as well,
especially 'Continuum.'
'Continuum,' as a piece, was just
a flawless piece of work to me.
I love the way that he expresses himself lyrically.
I think that you get really deep into who he is as a person
and what he thinks about life.
I love songwriters.
I love people
who bare their little hearts in their writing.
And the next musical influence, I would say, is Erykah Badu.
Erykah is cool as [bleep],
and lyrically, she's just so genuine and real.
And I love how involved she is in her production process.
I love how her ear is insane,
and the way that she curates musicians,
and the way that she is so unique
in everything that she does, and her style
and her approach to things. Like, she's just
out-of-the-box bruja energy and I love it.
Oh, but I have so many more.
I have, like, Christina Aguilera,
Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, and Kendrick Lamar.
OK, those are my last four, OK?
Because it's just craftsmanship, right?
So their dedication to their craft,
their dedication to their lyrical process.
Stevie is like an OG, like, perfect 10
when it comes to sonics and lyrics
and all of the above.
Like, he's just it.
'Songs in the Key of Life' is one of the best albums
of all time.
Yeah, and Kendrick,
he did this interview that changed my life.
Just listening to him talk about like how intimately
he's a part of the production process
and the mixing process,
and how every sound is important to the whole piece,
and how his cadence and even the tone of voice that he uses
is intentional, you know,
to convey what he's trying to say lyrically.
Lyrically, I mean, the man has a Pulitzer prize.
You know what I'm saying?
He's an insane, insane writer
and captures just so many concepts so beautifully.
And then Christina Aguilera
influenced me a lot as a kid, I think tone-wise
and I think approach-wise.
She's just very flamboyantly diva
and I love that about her.
She's gonna give you runs for days,
whether you want them or not, and then love it.
[Laughs]
With Alicia Keys, I auditioned with Alicia's song
"If I Ain't Got You" for 'X-Factor'
and my connection to that song
and my connection to her in general, weirdly enough,
I had a songwriting session with her
and I was able to write with her
and I was able to see her process.
And seeing her in her imperfection,
finding her voice in the song, from top to bottom,
watching the songwriting process,
was so inspiring for me at that time in my life,
because I was so attached to needing to prove
that I was a good songwriter
and that I was good at what I loved
that I wouldn't allow myself to make mistakes.
And so I would,
I was trying to prevent myself from feeling stupid
by not throwing out a [bleep] melody
or, you know, I want to only participate
if I have a really good melody
or if I have a really good line, you know?
And watching her work in that imperfection
and finding those things through the process
of trial and error
just really opened my heart up to that creative process.
It's like, it's messy sometimes,
it's not gonna always be perfect.
And that is the ethos of creation,
is that in the chaos and in the failure
is when you can actually grow and get better at your craft.
In her songwriting and her dedication
to being imperfectly perfect.
You know? I love that about her.
You know what I'm realizing now
as I come out of this first release
is hyper-independence as a trauma response.
[Laughs]
I'm learning to kind of relax a little more
into the collaborative process,
but I do have some incredible collaborators
that kind of, I think, understood that I was
in need of that voice this time around.
Outside of proving it to other people,
to prove to myself that I was the artist
that I had always believed I was,
even before being put in a group
and even before having experienced Fifth Harmony,
I had a vision for who I was as an artist
that got really quieted over the course of that.
And really, I just kind of disconnected really deeply
from her for a long time.
I didn't write any music while I was in the group.
I was very just disconnected from my creative self.
And so, this project and this music,
and music in general for me,
was just a realignment with self.
And so I had to be hyper-independent about it.
I hope that people just feel seen
and resonate with the music.
I hope that they feel like I'm speaking to them directly
and like I'm talking about their life
when I'm singing.