<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"It&amp;#x27;s been one year since Lauren Alaina held us captive as we all held our breath and waited to see if she would be crowned American Idol. She may have come in second, but she&amp;#x27;s still a huge winner with a non-stop tour schedule and her hit debut album Wildflower. And I have to say, hanging out with Lauren at HGTV&amp;#x27;s Lodge at the CMA Festival in Nashville is pretty special. &amp;quot;Everything awesome that has happened in my career started in Nashville,&amp;quot; she proudly tells me. &amp;quot;My audition was here, my record label is here . . .&amp;quot;Plus, as everyone knows, I&amp;#x27;m the biggest Aerosmith fan in the world so we instantly bonded over her relationship with Steven Tyler. Lauren even recently went into the studio to record some tracks with Aerosmith (so. friggin. jealous)! So, without further ado, here&amp;#x27;s Lauren reminiscing on all the awesomeness that&amp;#x27;s happened in her life in just one unforgettable year! Glamour: If we can&amp;#x27;t believe that American Idol was a year ago, we bet that you really can&amp;#x27;t. Do you remember the night at all? Lauren Alaina: I remember the feelings I felt. It was such a blur to me. There was relief that it was over. It was so stressful--it was incredible and one of the best things that has ever happened to me-- but now I didn&amp;amp;#8217;t have to worry if people were voting for me to be able to be an artist. Now I was an artist and could just work on my career and just impress people with what I come out with. Glamour: Do you keep in touch with any of the American Idol judges? LA: I was raised on Aerosmith. I actually recorded some tracks for their new album. I don&amp;amp;#8217;t know if they made it on or not but the fact that I got to go into the studio with Aerosmith is the coolest thing. It&amp;amp;#8217;s incredible to watch how Steven Tyler works. His brain is not like anybody elses brain. It just blows your mind--it&amp;amp;#8217;s an experience you have to have yourself. Glamour: Wow, that&amp;#x27;s pretty incredible. With so much going on, is there anyone in the industry that you lean on for advice and support? LA: Carrie Underwood has been someone I can always talk to and has been there for me. I talk to her a lot about always been gone and away from home and ask her how she handles it. It&amp;amp;#8217;s like a lifestyle change that you have to adjust to. She&amp;amp;#8217;s been there and done that so if I have any questions--I just ask Carrie. Glamour: Do you remember the first time you met her? LA: She&amp;amp;#8217;s my favorite artist ever. I cried when I first met her--like a little girl when they meet Justin Bieber for the first time. Like cried. It was so weird. I had wanted to meet her forever and then she was across the room from me and I had a panic attack. Lauren and I at the HGTV Lodge at the CMA Music Fest! Glamour: What other country acts do you admire? LA: I loved Shania Twain. I always sang her songs in karaoke. And the Dixie Chicks, Faith Hill and Martina McBride too. Glamour: Do you have a favorite song that reminds of you any part of your life or career? LA: I used to sing The Little Mermaid song &amp;quot;Part Of Your World&amp;quot; in all my contests growing up. So, every time I hear it, I think of being a little girl and my mom taking me to all those contests to perform. Glamour: How has life with your family changed since Idol? LA: I still live where I was born and raised in the same house. And it&amp;amp;#8217;s so small because you know we didn&amp;amp;#8217;t have a lot of money growing up. My mom always made sure we had everything we needed but we never had any excess stuff. My mom would literally go without eating to make sure my brother and I had nice clothes to wear to school. We still live there and we outgrew that house years ago . . . but we still live there because, you know, that&amp;amp;#8217;s home. I&amp;#x27;m sure we&amp;amp;#8217;ll live there forever. Glamour: What was your childhood bedroom like? LA: My childhood bedroom changed all the time. My mom loved to paint so we redid my bedroom literally once every two years. We had yellow--I love yellow. Then I had lime green, hot pink, I went through a girly phase, and then it was black and red. Now it&amp;amp;#8217;s black and red with like zebra. I&amp;amp;#8217;m really into animal prints. On my walls I had posters of Elvis and Marilyn Monroe. I&amp;amp;#8217;m so into Marilyn Monroe--it&amp;amp;#8217;s crazy I&amp;amp;#8217;m like obsessed with her. Glamour: What are your plans for the rest of the summer? LA: I&amp;#x27;m touring with Sugarland until September. I like being on tour. There are sacrifices with everything you do. I&amp;amp;#8217;m gone a lot but I get to go home every few weekends and spend time with my family. Plus, I&amp;amp;#8217;m on tour with Sugarland so I can&amp;amp;#8217;t really complain about that! Aww--could she be any sweeter? Tell us what you love about the country star below! More Music We&amp;#x27;re Loving * John Legend Singing The Jeffersons Theme Song? Oh Yeah! We Got That and Kelly Clarkson Being Stumped On Her Own Trivia Game! * July Cover Star Julianne Hough on How Ryan Seacrest and Dance Changed Her Life * The Best (Carrie!) and Worst (Mitt?) Moments of the CMT Music Awards Photo: FOX, Lauren Brown "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/entertainment/blogs/obsessed/2012/06/lauren-alaina-dishes-on-life-o>