Healing from unimaginable loss takes time – more than we might be willing to sacrifice. Country singer-songwriter Lauren Alaina has emerged as one of the format’s most potent storytellers working today. Potential has always slumbered right below the surface, but in recent years, she’s managed to unlock the full extent of her range and the richness therein.
On the heels of radio single “Getting Good,” Alaina released the truly heavenly and teary-eyed baptismal called “The Other Side.” It’s a soul-driven dedication to her late stepfather Sam Ramker, who passed away tragically one year ago this week, and she also harvests heavenly backing vocals to truly embody her entire emotional story. On Monday’s (October 21) broadcast of Dancing with the Stars, Alaina and her dancing partner Gleb Savchenko mounted a routine to the evocative ballad.
“Don’t you cry for me ’cause I’m in God’s glory / And I can see his face, it’s amazing / I know you have doubts but I see it right now / I promise it’s real, keep praying,” sings Alaina, operating as a narrator who has since crossed the rainbow bridge. Yet there’s an enlightened maturity to which she addresses coping and dealing with death that’ll elicit both teary waterfalls and smiles. That’s the charm of her acrobatic skills these days – she’s able to cultivate intensely moving meanings from the most universal of truths.
“The Other Side” was co-written alongside industry stewarts Jon Nite (Luke Bryan, Tim McGraw) and Zach Kale (Florida Georgia Line).
Listen below.