Lauren Daigle calls live EP 'Sessions' a 'hat-tip' to what's to come next

Lauren Daigle just did something she's always wanted to do.

The Grammy-winning singer told The Tennessean she has been wanting to make an acoustic record and the result of that wish is "Sessions," an 8-song, mostly acoustic but definitely stripped-down EP recorded live at Sirius XM in New York City and Apple Music in Nashville.

"I've been saying for a while that I really want to do an acoustic record but we were on tour at the time," Daigle said. She and her team just had to figure out how and when to do it. When Apple Music and Sirius XM asked Daigle to do an acoustic gig, she realized this was the opportunity to make it happen.

"I was like 'Oh my gosh! This is amazing.' It worked out perfectly. We recorded those sessions and turned it into an album and I'm so excited."

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"Sessions" includes two new versions of her recently gold-certified hit “Thank God I Do,” her current radio single, “Be Okay” and the first new recording of her six-times platinum smash “You Say.”

'You Are So Beautiful' was a message Daigle wanted to convey

Daigle also carefully chose one cover song for the EP: Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful."

"I've loved that song for a long time," she said. "I think we went through like 50 songs or something to try to find what would be a good cover. I wanted it to be something that feels like it would have made sense with the record. We can tell ourselves narratives that are painful and depreciating of who we are, or we can tell ourselves narratives that are hopeful and positive. And to be able to sing a lyric like 'you are so beautiful' in all of its simplicity, is profound."

She added that with social media, there are so many messages in the world telling people they have to measure up to a certain standard that isn't real.

"It's just so simple, but it is a narrative that I want the world and I want people to be able to believe in themselves, especially through the times that we're going through."

EP also includes brand new version of 'You Say'

Daigle's Grammy Award-winning, two-times platinum-certified 2018 album "Look Up Child" included “You Say,” which has become her most listened-to song with more than 550 million listens on Spotify alone. For this new EP, Daigle chose to re-record that hit for the first time. While re-recording such a big song didn't make her nervous at the time, she says looking back, it does.

"When I look back on it is when I get nervous," she said. "I was just listening back on that original version of 'You Say,' and my voice has changed so much since the very first time I recorded that song. Like I could hear just the different placement and the tonality is different. The vowel shapes are different. There's so much that I listened to and I'm like, 'wow, this is very different.'"

She added that there are moments where she starts down the road of critiquing the original and saying she wished she had done this or that in that recording. But then she realizes that it was a time stamp of the moment and she has to honor that moment and say "this is where I was emotionally."

"I have to trust that version of that recording is what it's supposed to be," she said. Learning to see it that way, she says, is a credit to producer Mike Elizondo, who told her she could critique every little thing and work until it's absolutely perfect, or you can let the human experience shine through.

"That was that was something prior to working with Mike I would go in take after take after take, and do so many takes per song just because I want to change the style shape or hold that note longer," she said. "But you kind of start to learn that the human the human expression has a perfection of its own and letting that organic experience lend itself to people's ears is Is beautiful."

'Sessions' might be an Easter egg into Daigle's future

Daigle describes this live record as a "hat tip" to some things to come in the future that she is excited about.

"I've always wanted to try to make some sort of an acoustic record and I feel like this is the bridge," she said. "This one isn't all the way acoustic, but it's definitely more stripped-down than anything I've recorded prior. And so I think this would, if there's anything I'd say about it, this is a hat tip to what might be coming in the future."

"Sessions" will be available on numbered limited-edition vinyl variant in addition to digital platforms. The EP releases Aug. 16. To pre-order or pre-save it, visit https://store.laurendaigle.com/collections/sessions-pre-order.

Sessions tracklist:

Side A (SiriusXM)

1. "Thank God I Do"

2. "You’re All I’ll Take With Me"

3. "Be Okay"

4. "These Are The Days"

Side B (Apple Music)

1. "You Say"

2. "You Are So Beautiful"

3. "21 Days"

4. "Thank God I Do"

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Lauren Daigle set to release EP ‘Sessions’ on Aug. 16. What to expect