Photo: Getty Images
Lauren Alaina set the stage for the next chapter in her career.
The country star revealed on Wednesday morning (May 13) that her fourth studio album, Stages, will arrive over the summer, following Wildflower (2011), Road Less Traveled (2017), and Sitting Pretty on Top of the World (2021).
“I'm fifteen years into a ten-year town and 31 years into a lifelong dream,” Alaina said in a statement about her new album, produced by Joey Moi and Ben Johnson. “Stages represents every version of me along the way: the dreaming, the breaking, and, ultimately, the becoming. There's something on this album for everyone, no matter what stage of life they're in. Stages is letting everyone see behind the curtain of the girl in the spotlight. It's a reflection of the moments that shaped me and the dream that carried me through. It's always been the same dream, different stages.”
Alaina’s album announcement arrives shortly after she released her latest single, “Raining Whiskey,” an infectious anthem that shows the former American Idol runner-up “tapping into her most melodic and sassy era yet.” “Raining Whiskey” followed Alaina’s hit radio single with fellow country star Chase Matthew, “All My Exes.” The pair teamed up to perform the collaboration live on the main stage at the 2026 iHeartCountry Festival. The Bobby Bones-hosted show returned earlier this month to Moody Center in Austin, Texas. The two artists took part in the star-studded lineup with Kane Brown, Luke Bryan, Carly Pearce, Parker McCollum, Riley Green, Shaboozey, Dylan Scott, Russell Dickerson, Gretchen Wilson and special guest George Birge.
Other recent releases by Alaina include Those Kind Of Women,” “Household,” “Heaven Sent” and “Little Things.” The Georgia-born country star is bringing her music on the road on Darius Rucker’s headlining “Songs of Summer Tour,” plus the ACM Lifting Lives Country on the Green: Riley Green & Friends event ahead of the ACM Awards this weekend. That lineup also includes headliner Riley Green with Randy Houser and Rodney Atkins. Alaina is making a return to the ACM Awards as a presenter after opening up in an emotional, vulnerable take on the event in a viral post last year.
Stages will make its debut on August 28. See Alaina’s announcement here: