This is an I Heart podcast. Guaranteed human. On the Bobby Bones show now. Lauren Alina. Hey Lauren, good to see you. Hey, how are you? How you been? I'm, you know, busy. Good. Raising a baby. Yeah, so. My life has changed and yours is about to. I know. I know you were talking to my wife a little bit too. Yes, I have. Yeah. She's been asking me, where do you put the baby? That's what she said. She said she asked you, when you get home with the baby, what do you do with it? Where do you put it? I'm like, for the first few months, they just sleep a lot. So, um, just find something cozy. But I told her, do not be embarrassed to ask me any new mom questions because I have done so many things wrong because I haven't, I mean, not wrong to the point where it can't be fixed. But like, I definitely swaddled the baby longer than I was supposed to swaddle her because she had started rolling over and I didn't know that like, you just things I didn't know. Oh, you mean any question you have that you don't know. Ask me like longer in the lifespan, not at a time. Yes, not at a time. I mean, I don't, I don't really know if there's a rule about that. I hope not. I mean, you swaddle when they sleep. I was looking at your social media and you had posted like a throwback to when you were touring with Rascal Flats the last time, which was pretty recent, but you were very pregnant. Very. Is that hard to sing? You know, I didn't really notice it at the time. I think because it was such a surprise that I was pregnant. I had taken the tour and then found out I was pregnant and it was a big surprise. And so I just knew I had to do it. So I don't know that I realized how hard it was until now that I'm singing, I'm like, this is not this is much easier. Not having a, you know, seven pound baby between my ribs. I saw a tick tock and I saw it. My wife sent it to me and it shows when you have a baby inside of you, how all your organs get pushed up. And I was just thinking about you singing when all your organs are shoved up because it's got to make room for the baby. I know I don't. Yeah, I don't know how I did that. But I mean, a lot of us do it, but I was eight and a half months pregnant by the end of that tour. So I was like potentially having the baby. Do you think maybe when you're on the road and you're eight and a half months pregnant, it could happen anywhere, whatever town you're in. I did start to get nervous a little bit. Yeah, I was like, this seems really close. Was I eight and a half months? I was close. I was very close. I was close enough that I think people in the crowd may have actually been nervous that I was there. But always well, she decided to come, you know, 11 days late. So, oh, yeah, I was 11 days past my due date. So were you just every day like, come on, like, come on. I did everything. Come on. I did all the things that you can do. Spicy food or. Curb walking. What? Pineapple. Curb walking? Yeah. So it's like, you don't know about curb walking. Well, when she gets close, if she's late, you'll be sooner. You work, you walk like on a curb and you put one foot up top and one foot on the bottom and it's supposed to do something with like your hips. I don't really know to help like, dilate your cervix. Did anything actually help? No, no, just whenever we had to make an evacuation plan. Huh. She did not come. We could not get her to come on her own. That's crazy. I mean, I was like, I was talking to her. I was like, it's a really cool place out here. We really like you to get out. But has it been what's been the best part about it? Oh my gosh. It is the best thing that's ever happened to me. Um, and everyone says that, but until you and you'll, you'll soon, you will know. Um, when they hand you that baby, your whole life changes. I guess my favorite part is the way she looks at me. Um, I've never had someone look at me like that. Like just she completely. Oh, it's making me so emotional. Go figure. But, um, just she's completely dependent on me. And, um, what a gift that I get to be the one that can nurture her and take care of her. And then my second favorite is probably watching my husband with her. I love him so much more. I already loved him, but, um, watching him father her is pretty special. Bobby, that's a good sign for you. Yeah. What, my wife already loves me? She already loves you, but she's about to find you even more attractive. If I do a good job. It is crazy to see you. If I do a good job. Well, I'm sure you're gonna. Who knows? You know, so like what kind of things have you seen your husband do? We were like, okay, wow, this is crazy. Like is it just him holding her? Yeah. He has a dance party with her every day when he gets home from work. So he will turn the music on in the living room and picks her up and they dance. And now she, it's almost like she's eight months old. It's almost like she's expects the dance party. Just the way he interacts with her. I don't know. Cause when she was really little, he was a little scared over, I think when they're first born, everybody's a little scared of them. I mean, they're, you don't want to break it. Yeah, they're so little, but they're very resilient. I mean, you, your wife will, she's, the baby's going to be great. But, um, just the, just the way he talks to her and the way he interacts with her. I've just never seen that side of him and it's so sweet. How hard was it coming up with a name? We went back and forth for a while. Um, I am a woman and I don't know if this is true of all women, but I had like 15 names written down since I was probably 13 years old. But, um, we wanted to do family names for sure. So her first name is, she's named after my grandfather and his aunt. Um, but we, we had a couple of different names and then the story behind her name is actually sweet. Do you want me to tell it? Yeah, I'd love to hear it. So we named her Benny, which, you know, is a boy name. So a lot of people are coming at us for that, but they can get over it. Um, but my grandfather, Benny helped raise me. My parents were really young. So I spent a lot of time at my grandparents' house. Um, and he taught me to play basketball and all these things. So I was just really close with him. And a few years ago, I saw a girl on Instagram named Benny and I thought that was super cute. So I just wrote it down. And then her middle name is doll, like baby doll. My husband had an aunt, Lucy, Lucy doll, um, Arnold was her name. And she never had children. He was very close with her growing up. She actually just passed away right before her 102nd birthday. She lived in 101. Yes. 101.9. 101.9. Wow. Yes. And we, she passed away a few days after Christmas and we took Benny to meet her on Christmas day and she passed away like three or four days later. Um, so we were so thankful that we stopped by. She lived in Atlanta on our way down to see the rest of the family. We stopped there. But anyway, those are the, the people that we named her after, but when we were trying to decide how to spell Benny, cause obviously it is traditionally a male name. Um, and that was the first time I realized that Cameron was going to be a really good dad because he was like, well, we can't spell it like your grandfather spelled it cause it's already, I don't want people to make fun of her. And I'm like, we have a little bit of a chance for people to make fun of her with the name Benny. He was like, can we just make it more girly for her? And it was the first time I was like, he was protecting her already. It was really weird and sweet. And, um, we were at dinner at Jay Alexander on Whitebridge. I'll never forget. And we're super rich. Fancy. Um, and we were talking about how to spell it. And so I was just looking at different ways to spell her name. And my dad passed away in July of 2024. And we found out we were pregnant with her in September. So that was a crazy year. We got married in February and then dad passed in July. And then we found out we were pregnant in September very unexpectedly. So it was like all of these emotions. And I was so sad that dad, you know, wasn't going to be a part of any of it. And my dad was, you'll love this because you're being Arkansas fan. But my dad was a huge Alabama fan. And when we looked at the girl that I actually saw named Benny years ago, spelled it B E N I. And so I told Cameron at dinner, I was like, this is how the girl that I got the idea from spelled it. And he said, I love that. Let's do that. And I was kind of like, I don't know. And I looked it up and in Japanese, that spelling of Benny means crimson. And it was like, yeah. Wow. And we were at dinner and he had actually gone to the bathroom and I was looking it up. And when he came back, I was hysterically solving at the table and, you know, pregnant and he was like, what's going on? And I showed it to him. And this is really funny. My husband went to Auburn. So he hates Alabama with a passion. And I showed him the meaning of Benny with that spelling. And he said, well, there you go. Your dad told us how to spell it. So that was a really good moment for us because I know he hates Alabama, but he loves loves me and my dad more. And so that's that was like confirmation for us too, because we were in the phase then too, that we weren't even a hundred percent sure we were going to name her Benny. That was just kind of our number one name for her at the time. And when does you know? Was it after you saw her that you were sure this is a name now? Well, people, we told people that we thought we were going to name her that. And then they started monogramming things for us. And we felt like, yeah, I guess it's her name. Or it's a middle name. They started putting her name on everything. Or a nickname. We read their dream or this or throwing away all of the blankets. So I just keep it later in life. She's like, why do I have all this Benny stuff? You're like, well, we were going to name you that. We didn't name you Benny, but you didn't look like a Benny. You take her to Benny Hanna every week her whole life, just so it kind of matches. Oh, you love Benny Hanna since you were a baby. So people started getting your blankets. Do you feel at all like you? Have you feel like you've lost any of your identity? Like people only want to talk about the baby now? Some, yeah, but she is my favorite thing to talk about. Before I was my favorite thing to talk about. Well, that's kind of all of our jobs, right? Like we're our own brand. We constantly got to be like, this is what we're doing. This is how we're doing it. But now you have something else. I hope that to me it allows a perspective shift in me. It has for me. Yeah. We tell me about that. I just would I would rather talk about her. It's really interesting. I think people asking me about her is no problem because she is the center of my world. And honestly, it has opened me up a lot with anxiety and stuff about all of the all of my my job in general, because my job is me, you know, the brand is me. So I'm constantly thinking about me. You know, I mean, that sounds crazy, but it's true. And now I have something more important and it's her. So I don't mind talking about her. I love talking about her. And yeah, I've always loved my career so much. And that's it has been my identity, but now she is my identity. And this is still so important to me and I love it and I want to do it until, you know, I've made enough money to retire. So you're 101.9. Yeah, until I'm 101.9. I'll never stop singing. But she has freed me up a little bit in making it the only thing my only purpose. And that's really cool. That's a cool thing to have. I'm thankful to have that. Are you doing any kids music? Not you singing it or you listening to a lot of it and then are you judging it? Not yet. I pretty much make up songs for her and sing them. But she has just I've started playing piano for her in the last couple of weeks and she's like obsessed with the piano and he plays her a lot of music. You know, I don't I have not fallen into the children music yet, but it's coming. But I think are a lot of like the itsy bitsy spider and I made up a song and then realized I didn't make up the song at all. I just I literally made it up around Christmas time. And I guess I had heard Grandma got ran over by reindeer. So I sing her that every day, except it's Benny, Benny, Benny, Benny, Benny. Don't say melody. You're my fucking fucking fucking. You're my best friend. You're my princess. You're the apple, apple, apple of my eye. And then one day Camron's was singing Grandma got ran over by reindeer. And I was like, they stole my song. You ripped my song up. Wait, I ripped their song off. I was watching you talk about your new song, The Apple Chase Matthew, and it's about your ex's, all my ex's. Is that weird for your husband to have you still talking about your ex's? Well, you know, I would think so. But Cameron is the reason that we even put this song out. I wrote it a couple of years ago and he really loved it. And we signed with Big Loud and we were putting out, you know, a very country record. And this one is the least country of all the stuff that we had cut. But Cameron loved this song. He thought it was a hit. And to the point that when we were on tour with Aldean and Chase Matthew, he played it for Chase. And that is how the duet even came about. I had nothing to do with it. But he played it for Chase. He played it for Chase and then told Chase to act like he didn't. And and Cameron talked me into playing it. Chase had committed to doing the song before he ever even heard it from me because of my husband, because your husband had played it for him. That's cool. Yeah. So. He's very secure in our relationship. But if I wanted one of those exes, I'd be with him. Well, I don't know if they'd want me, but you know what I'm saying? I chose him and we have we have a great marriage. So I think. It bothers him less than it probably bothers me. I'm very tired of posting about my exes. But I've got to promote this song. So I'm like constantly trying to think of ways to do this. I mean, I've even gotten the baby in the tiktok. At this point, I don't know what to do because we the song is doing really well and I'm super grateful for that. But it is kind of a funny season of my life to be posting this song about all my exes, but it's the one that really caught on for us. And I'm so grateful for that because I do have a baby to feed. So we're going to continue to talk about those exes until we don't have to anymore. He's like, it's fine. We can talk about it. Gamers like whatever pays the bills. That's right. What's it like to tour the flats guys? Rascal flats? They are so fun. You know, I've been on a couple of tours like that where I toured with Alan Jackson and I toured with I've toured with a lot of people who have these huge careers that you don't get to tour with a ton because they don't tour as much. And to be on a tour with someone like that and to hear the hit after hit after hit after hit is just crazy. I mean, it's 90 minutes of nothing but hits. They don't have one song that they just kind of throw in there, you know. What is the greatest Rascal Flats song? Let's debate this in the room. Woo. I think the easy answer doesn't matter. You say yours first. My personal favorite. Just do that. There's so many good ones. I mean, I get to come out on the tour and sing. I would say currently right now, which I may have had a different answer before I had my daughter, but is my wish. I'm singing it with them on the tour and it literally sounds. I don't know anything about the origin story of this song, but I feel certain it had to be a parent writing the song for a child had to be. Because my wish for you. I don't know the rest of the word. Is that this life becomes all that you want until your dreams stay big. You worry, stay small. You never need to carry more than you can hold while you're out there getting where you're getting to. Hope you know somebody loves you and wants the same things to. Yeah, that sounds like a parent. Yeah, it has to be because at my wedding, that was the dance between on my ex other now and his mom. That was the mother, the mother son, the mother son, mother son dance. And she picked it as like her as the mom, what she wanted for him. It had, it had to be. Yeah, it had to be the verses to, I mean. Yeah, it does sound romantic. It's not super. I mean, I don't know. Not unless it's like Bill Belichick and his girl. That's the only way. That's like, it's way older. He's like, my wish. I mean, greatest Rascal Flats song. God bless the broken road. I mean, I know that's probably obvious, but that was going to be. I love that song. It is. I mean, it is an iconic song. I mean, speaking of weddings, how many people have logged on the aisle of that? I think my favorite is what hurts the most. Oh, gosh. Yes. And then when he goes, it's being so close. Oh, every night on tour, people are like, it's crazy. Yeah, they he performed at our wedding and he did fast cars and freedom. OK, famous. I know. Flex. Jay Alexander. I don't remember you calling it. But he made us get the way I was. I wasn't a big fast cars and freedom guy. But now when I hear that song, I love it because he's saying that he's saying that. And God bless the broken road at our wedding because that's a wedding song. Yeah, but he's like, speaking of weddings. But that's great about your wedding. That the mother, the DJ played it. There's something. But by the way, Gary LaVoc saying it. That's right. That's right. It's good. You know, it's so funny. People think his name is Rascal. No, they don't. Mr. Rascal. People come up to me in the meet and greet and be like, I saw that video of you in Rascal because I posted a. I posted a bunch with Gary and like people think his name is Rascal, just like random people. That's really not funny. Interesting. Like Lady A, you know, Lady Annabella, I'm like that. That's I wonder if people think she's. Yeah, are you Annabella? She's she's it. Yeah. Yeah, I like those are those people. Let's just be like half paying attention to life. Yeah. Well, I think they're just listening to the song. Yeah, that's what I mean. They're not totally dialed in. Alayna is my middle name. And so when I went on American Idol, everyone thought my family, we were the Alayna family. So my brother's name on Twitter and everything for a while was Tyler Alayna. And that's literally like not his name at all. He's a good sport. But yeah, everyone thought we I was like, my name was Lauren Alayna, which is legit. You're last name on Alayna. Nope. It's my middle name. I'm just learning this. Now, her last name is Rascal. His name is Lauren Rascal. Crazy Idol still killing, huh? Yeah. After all these years. Insane. American Idol is still. Do you go back every few years? Yeah, I do. Like every once in a while, because you're not somebody who like resents it at all. No, no, I've never have. I'm very grateful for it. I mean, I would go back and do whatever they asked me to do. I love the show. So that's cool. I saw your post from like the other day when you were like, it's been officially 15 years since I was on TV for American Idol. And I was like, oh, my gosh, I saw that clip, too. It was you coming out. Yeah. And it was all these flashback clips of you. It was so cute. What do you think when you see that really young Lauren Rascal up there? Yeah, it's I am so thankful for that girl. How the heck that 15 year old little girl walked in there. Confidence to do that. Like when I see 15 year olds now, I have, you know, family members who they're my first cousins, children are like that age. And I'm like, that's when my career started. How did I even think? Talk my parents in a driving me up to the bridge down, standing in that long line. And your audition here in Nashville. I did. Yeah, my official audition in front of the judges was at the Ryman. So my whole career started there. That's crazy. How long was the drive up? A couple hours? I'm from right outside of Chattanooga, so it's not too far. Yeah, about two and two and a half hours. Feels like forever, but probably yesterday at the same time. It is the wildest thing. Yeah. Yeah, I saw the clip. That show is still crushing. Dancing with the Stars is crushing like crazy. Yes, it's crazy. Those two shows have lasted our whole life, basically. Dancing with the Stars is a hard show. Yeah, it's crazy. It's terribly different. You're the whole reason I did that show. But you're also way better than I was. But yeah, it's really hard. But you won. So the champion. But it's really hard, right? Yes, it's very hard. Mentally. I kind of wish I'd had a baby and then done it because I was in the best shape of my life. It would be that, but I couldn't do it anymore with the child. There's no way with that schedule. The eating thing was hard because you would train and you'd order food while you're eating and then you really get to eat all the foods. And not only you're training your face off for hours and hours, you're only eating a little bit. Yeah, it's crazy. The schedule is wild, but I had so much fun. I'm so glad I did it. I'm so glad you got me to do that. Would you ever go back if they were like, hey, we're doing like an All Stars? I don't know that I could because I didn't win. Well, sometimes like Survivor, they don't pick just win or dry lunchbox. They pick like good people. Yeah, just people that are memorable and are good game players or evoke emotion. I would. I would. Would you ever do like a Survivor? You have to be away from your baby, though, is the problem. Yeah, I don't know. See, I did. I did a show kind of like Survivor. You did. I did. What? But like, did it air? Yeah. Oh, was it? I got hurt on it. It was called. What was it called? Is it that military one? Yeah, it was the beyond beyond the edge. No, it wasn't that one. I would do that one, too. That one's gnarly, though. That one looks scary. But I lived outside in the Panamanian jungle and had to build a hut and do all the things. Y'all don't know about this. Are you sure it was on something or just? CBS, I think. That's what I'm messing with. That's what they told her. Did I dream this? No, I definitely was. But I was doing one of the races and I twisted my ankle and hurt my foot. And they I said, I will stay and try to tough it out. But they basically disqualified me. Oh, my gosh. It was a CBS beyond the edge only a few years ago. Back in like the 16, 17 hundreds, possibly a little bit of 1800. Had you twisted your ankle? You're just dead. It's over because your job is like carrying stuff and running and running from animals. And a simple ankle twist is nice knowing you, Lauren. Yeah, we like that girl. She was pretty funny. Now she's going. Oh, I remember the show now that I see the picture of it. I did, too. Yeah. Yeah, I was like dominating. I won every competition I was in until I got hurt. Like I was so far in the lead. I would have won that show. Because Craig Morgan was on it. Craig Morgan was there. Yes, my dear friend. I thought you're going to say he died. I haven't heard that. No, she wrapped her heart like Craig. I got to let you guys know. We may have all died without him. Oh, my God. It was like catching the fish. She scared me. She was like, I got bad news for you guys. Oh, yeah. Like so he was providing the food. Yeah. He was a great person to have on a show. I got a fish. Oh, when you're trapped in the jungle. Yeah. I mean, he could live. You could drop him off anywhere and he would live. You are going to play our I Heart Country Festival, which we're super excited about. Yeah, I'm so pumped. That's going to be a lot of fun. Those festivals are always fun when you get to play with other people because it's not like you get to you live in the same town. But when you come home, you definitely everybody goes to their own little huts. Oh, yeah. And so with this, it's you. So few time. Yeah. A little time at home. That's not like we're trying to hang out. You, Luke, Brian, you ever tour with Luke? Twice. That was my first tour ever. Um, after Idol, I went out. Luke was direct support for Jason Aldein and I was first. What a crazy tour. I was 16 years old. That was my first tour. Oh, that was a long time ago. Like as far as like that's kid Lauren. Yeah. And he's they have both actually taken me out on tour a few times. Do you have to have a parent with you? Yeah, my mom toured with me until I turned 18. Poor thing. That was really fun for her. I'm sure dealing with a 16 year old who all of a sudden thinks she knows everything. But this season of life with my mother has been the best. And I have apologized 1500 times to her for every time I was ever a smart alec now that I have my own daughter and I'm like, is she ever going to do that? Please? No, probably yes. A little bit. Yeah, come watch Lauren on our I Heart Country Festival. It's Saturday, May 2nd at the Moody Center in Austin. Go to ticketmaster.com and congratulations on the song. Yeah, you're right. It is really doing well. Thank you. Yeah. Super cool. Thank you. And congrats. And Chase will be there at the show as well. So we'll do it together. That's all I say about Chase. He gives a crap. I'm just kidding. I'm totally kidding. I like Chase a lot. He's the best. Yeah, Chase is really great. And you guys go follow Lauren on social and not only that, Strain the Song, All My Exes. Congratulations on everything, Lauren. Congrats on the baby mostly. Thank you. That's true. I like the name, Benny. I never thought Benny was like a super dude name. Thank you. I feel like Benny is just like a universal. Thank you. I also like. Say it louder for the people in the back. I've said this on the show for 15 years. I like dude names. Unless it's like Frank or Ron, I think guy names work on girls. Yeah, I think so too. Yeah. Lauren Elaine, everybody. There she is. Good job.
