Lauren Spencer-Smith says getting cut from ‘American Idol’ was a “blessing in disguise”Lauren Spencer-Smith says getting cut from ‘American Idol’ was a “blessing in disguise”

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While this year’s crop of American Idol contestants are working hard to win the title, one former contestant is having great success on the charts: Lauren Spencer-Smith, whose song “Fingers Crossed” has earned her fans worldwide. In fact, she says that of the fans she hears from on social media, only about a third even know she was ever on the ABC reality show.

“I would say…30 percent of my fans are like…’I’ve been with you from American Idol,’ and then like another 30 percent are like, ‘I’ve never heard of you, ever. I love you,'” she laughs. “And then another probably 30 percent is like, ‘I’ve been following you on TikTok. I didn’t know you did all that stuff, but I’m a fan!'”

But Lauren, who was eliminated during the Top 20 round in 2020, says she’s happy things went down that way.

“My life would probably be completely different if I won the show or went even further,” she tells ABC Audio. “The second I finished on the show, one of my other friends had been cut at a round before me…and she said to me, ‘Well, do you write original music?'”

That led to Lauren and the other girl connecting via FaceTime to write songs together during the pandemic, which Lauren says is what really allowed her to become good at it.

As she notes, “If I didn’t get cut off the show then, I wouldn’t have started writing as fast as I did with her…she really taught me how to song-write for months and brought me into so many things. So…definitely a blessing in disguise! Everything happens for a reason.”

That’s for sure: Lauren now has a hit single, a record deal and several sold-out headline shows.

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