Coming in second to the dopey
Scotty McCreery,
Lauren Alaina is cut from the same country cloth as the winner of American Idol 10. Like
McCreery,
Alaina hails from the south and is perhaps a little bit too young to have lived everything she sings, but unlike
McCreery,
Alaina doesn't have a preternaturally aged voice.
Scotty's baritone suggests he's seen things he hasn't, but
Lauren still has a girlish twang to her voice, which lends her a greater bit of vulnerability, something that comes in handy on her quickly recorded and released debut,
Wildflower. It also helps that
Alaina is nowhere near as smarmy as
McCreery, who always seems to regard his passable talents as exceptional.
Alaina is earnest, pouring her heart into generic celebrations of the New South, name-dropping
Alan Jackson and
Jason Aldean, diesel trucks, John Deeres, Sunday mornings, a mother's love, country boys in blue jeans and T-shirts, everything outside of sweet tea that makes small southern towns great.
Byron Gallimore, who previously produced
Sugarland and
Faith Hill, gives
Wildflower an appealing gloss that helps disguise the ordinariness of the material along with any of
Alaina's shortcomings, and that slickness serves
Wildflower well, making it a much more enjoyable piece of product than
McCreery's
Clear as Day. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
