Lauren Daigle on Stepping Outside the Walls of Church but Not Choosing Mainstream Over Christian
Singer Lauren Daigle has been enjoying the success of her sophomore album, "Look Up Child," and says that she is will not compromise her faith while traveling the world ministering to those outside of the church.
Daigle's "Look Up Child" debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart upon its release in September, beating out popular secular musicians such as Drake, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj and Cardi B that week.
"It's been non-stop but we have celebrated every way," Daigle told The Christian Post in a recent interview concerning all of her success. "Last night we were on the bus going through different social media posts and different kids singing along and making up their own little melodies and sharing stories that are so potent. That's the stuff that I am constantly overwhelmed by, it's the part that never gets old and reminds me this is what we do this for, this is what we make records for."
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Daigle's new album is a combination of worship songs delivered with her Louisiana twang which center around identity, religion verses relationship, childlike faith and more.
"I feel like there are moments where you feel in life, that you're partnering with God. You can feel where there's this closeness and this breath that comes from doing what it is that you're created to do. It comes whenever you see the fruit of impacting other people, when it's not just for yourself. That's the part that makes it all the more rich," she described.
The young singer is not afraid to appeal to the world with her message of hope, which some might worry will lead her astray and trade her worship roots to become a secular artist. Daigle said her faith and mission in life has never been clearer.
"I think the passage that says, 'Go out into the world and draw people unto Him,' the Great Commission, that's what I think about in regard to the mainstream aspect," she maintained. "I wasn't looking at [making my music] as in mainstream versus Christian [album]. I was like, 'Okay, what is the purest version of me? Or what is the purest thing that God has written into my spirit and how do I express that? How do I communicate that?"
"[My music] is having crossover appeal, but it doesn't mean that I'm leaving one for the other or that I'm going to be swept up by one thing or the other. For me, it's like, 'Oh, everything just got even more clear.' Everything just got clearer as to why it is that we go and love people who are outside of the walls of our church, outside of the walls that we're comfortable with," Daigle continued.
The award-winning songstress advised that people not be afraid to be a light in the dark world. She stated that if people misunderstand her motives, it might be their own aversion to hazardous environments.
Adding, "I think a lot of Christian backlash is just because they're not used to being comfortable in an environment that might feel compromising. It doesn't mean that you have to compromise, It just means that the environment feels more compromising. So I think that's the part that I just constantly go back to, 'What is the Great Commission? To go out into the world, preaching about His love, sharing the good news.' That's how I look at it."
Daigle shared that her "heart, spirit and desire" is to please the Lord while keeping righteousness at the forefront. She vowed that her testimony would not be destroyed in any way.
"It just means He decided to take the music outside the walls of the church," she echoed.
Her debut album, "How Can It Be" was also well received upon its release in 2015. "Look Up Child," however, was a more personal compilation for the singer and was written from the perspective of some of the personal lessons Daigle has learned in the 27-years of her life.
"Making a record that has every ounce of me poured out onto it, that is something I'll never regret in life. I'll never regret being completely vulnerable." Daigle declared. "To see that not only was it one of those things but it was both and it was embraced, that's really profound. "
"I think that's a testament that whenever you live out exactly what it is that either God created you for or the passion at hand, then favor comes and favor comes through obedience."
The singer said it might sound cliche, but she hopes her music encourages people to look back at their life and remember the things God placed in their heart as a child. Daigle maintained that she is now a product of God fulfilling the very things that were written on her heart since she was a kid.
On "Losing My Religion," a song from the new album, the Christian singer says the tune is a declaration on how she longs to live as a person of faith. Initially, she was hesitant about using those words in her chorus because she did not want the overall message to get "clouded by controversy."
Daigle went on to share a story about a megachurch pastor which was asked to step down from his ministry and lost his church, after having an affair with his secretary.
"I could see privately that he had some things to reconcile and I just thought about the nature of the church, to push out someone that operated in humanity," she explained. "It's so easy to push those people away or to build the white picket fence around our ideologies that create this counterculture that completely denies just the love of Christ, the grace of Christ, the mercy of Christ, and rejects the relationship with Christ."
Adding, "A lot of times when we scrutinize those people, as painful and as not right as it is – I'm not condoning that behavior whatsoever – but sometimes we reject and we push out those people, you can't cognitively hold hands with Christ and do that."
Daigle then brought home the message of her song by using the discharged pastor as an example of religion versus relationship.
"For me, that song was about all the people that have to get up on stage or who have a history or who are walking through things that are completely hypocritical. What is the nature of the church in that moment? Is it to completely embrace religion and reject relationship? Or is it to embrace relationship and reject religion? Because the Pharisees would say hang him on a cross. So I think for me that's what that song is about completely," she concluded.
Daigle's album, "Look Up Child," is now available, for more information visit LaurenDaigle.com.
