‘American Idol’s Lauren Spencer-Smith Dominates TikTok with ‘Back to Friends’
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Lauren Spencer-Smith is one of the biggest stars to come out of Season 18 of American Idol. The Canadian teen is well on her way to becoming the next Olivia Rodrigo as her song “Back to Friends” is heating up on all streaming platforms. Lauren has also established herself as a huge TikTok star, making waves on social media with her captivating voice.
Lauren auditioned for American Idol when she was 16 years old after finding social media success. She hoped that American Idol would help her reach her dreams after growing up on Vancouver Island. Little did she know, it would open more doors for her than she ever thought were possible. Lauren made it to the Top 20 on Season 18 though many of us thought she had the potential to win it all. Throughout her journey on the show, she had the support from her followers and longtime fans.
Lauren Spencer-Smith Reaches Nearly 1 Million Streams with Mega Hit “Back to Friends”
“Back to Friends” is a song that is bound to put you in your feels. The lyrics hit so hard about falling in love with a friend, but wishing you could go back to how it used to be. These are the kind of songs that resonate with people on TikTok. “Back to Friends” has already been used as a sound in nearly 5,000 TikTok videos. Lauren’s 1.2 million TikTok followers have fallen in love with the song too.
Lauren almost has 1 million streams on “Back to Friends” on Spotify just 10 days after it was released. Her song is on its way to following in Rodrigo’s viral TikTok footsteps. Rodrigo’s song “drivers license” broke the Spotify record for most streams of a song in a single week and pretty much took over TikTok for months.
“I haven’t been obsessed with a song like this since ‘driver’s license,'” one fan wrote on Lauren’s TikTok.
Ahead of hitting 1 million streams on Spotify for “Back to Friends,” Lauren posted a TikTok video with all of the goals she wants to accomplish as a singer. On the list is “win a Grammy” and “selling out a stadium.” Both of those are definitely possible after releasing a song of this impact.
Lauren Has Had Quite the Musical Journey Leading Up to This Song Release
In 2019, Lauren went viral for a video singing “Always Remember Us This Way.” The stripped-back video taken in the car with her dad was only just her first glimpse at fame. It now has 32 million views on Facebook. This video scored her an invite to Steve Harvey’s talk show. She performed “What About Us” on the show, the same song she performed for her American Idol audition.
Lauren created her TikTok account with her first video dating back to October 2019. She was even invited to sing on stage with Keith Urban at the Sunfest in Cowichan. Lauren was nominated for a Juno Award for the Adult Contemporary Album of the Year for her album Unplugged, Vol. 1. Clearly, she was already a star even before her time on American Idol.
Lauren has been singing since she could talk which is totally evident in her strong vocals. She has the confidence and vocal prowess of Kelly Clarkson who also skyrocketed to fame at a young age on American Idol. Even though Lauren did not win the show, she clearly won over the internet and social media platforms. She totally should have won though because she had some of the cleanest vocals in the entire competition.
TikTok has become increasingly popular especially with the contestants that audition each year. We have been seeing way more TikTok stars join talent shows which is very important. The shows are realizing that the way musicians and performers are discovered is very different now. All it takes is one video or song to change a performer’s life forever, just like it did for Lauren.
