Vancouver Island's American Idol releases her first original song

Vancouver Island’s Lauren Spencer-Smith, who wowed judges on American Idol last year, has released her first original song, called “Back to Friends.” (Artwork by Alex Forhan)

Nanaimo, B.C. -

Vancouver Island’s Lauren Spencer-Smith, who wowed judges on American Idol last year, has released her first original song, called “Back to Friends.”

The song was written and produced in New York last month and is about a past relationship, Spencer-Smith says.

“There was this guy that I was friends with and we liked each other, but the whole thing just went sideways,” says Spencer-Smith. “I just wanted to go back to when we were friends.”

From that premise, “Back to Friends” took about three hours to write and record. The following day, the singer and now-songwriter posted a video on TikTok of her singing along to her new track.

“It got like seven million views and so, instantly, I was like, ‘We have to release it,’” says Spencer-Smith.

The original song was released to music streaming platforms a couple days later and has already been streamed more than 1.6 million times on Spotify, in just a week and a half.

“Other people are relating to it and it’s a story about my life,” adds Spencer-Smith. “It’s so cool other people are feeling the emotion of it.”

The former American Idol contestant and now Dover Bay Secondary graduate is hard at work writing several more original songs. She hopes to have them produced into an album or an extended play in the near future.