Lauren Alaina Shares Wisdom Ahead of Tour Kick-Off: 'You're the Only You You'll Ever Have'

Lauren Alaina walked around in a fog for at least a week after Trisha Yearwood surprised her with an invitation to join the Grand Ole Opry in December. The invitation was one of her greatest goals realized, and despite the fitted black dress she was wearing, she squatted on stage to wipe her tears and catch her breath before she remembered her attire and stood back up.

"I'm still kind of in shock over it," Alaina said. "I can't wait for the actual induction. It was just such an honor."

Alaina will be inducted into The Grand Ole Opry on Feb. 12, less than two weeks before she is set to launch her headlining Top of the World Tour presented by Maurices. Two years have passed since Alaina's last headlining tour, and she's anxious to get started. The tour will launch in Maryland on Feb. 24 and run through April. The Georgia native will lean on Maurices for some of her stage clothes and load her concert with songs from her new album Sitting Pretty on Top of the World.

Alaina says a therapist told her: "You're the only you you'll ever have. Be nice to yourself." The statement resonated at such a level that it triggered the singer's odyssey to self-love, and she's celebrating that journey on multiple platforms.

"That album is really just me wanting to start loving myself and learning to love myself and sharing that message for other young women and men and everyone," she says. "It's been a really hard journey for me to find self-acceptance and find self-worth. This tour really feels like a celebration of all of the growth I've had over the last 10 years in my career and in my personal life."

In addition to her album and tour, she released a motivational book in December that sums up what she's learned. Getting Good at Being You: Learning to Love Who God Made You to Be is packed with advice on how to speak to yourself with kindness, chase your dreams, identify self-sabotaging behavior and build rich relationships. The opening chapter – If I Was My Best Friend – sets the tone for the book.

"It's about talking to yourself the way you would your best friend," Alaina says. "We spend every day, all day long with ourselves. We are the one person we can't get away from, and that can be negative or that can be positive. What I really try to do is love on myself. I am very much a words of affirmation person. I genuinely try to find something beautiful about everyone, but I would find the flaws in myself. I think we all do that to a certain extent."

There's another chapter about Alaina's My Kinda People charity, a foundation that generates awareness and support for those who need it. The singer said My Kinda People is "a huge part of who I am." But, she is proudest of the chapter she wrote about grieving. The topic was inspired by the loss of her stepfather, Sam, who died of cancer in 2018.

"That's the most important chapter to me personally," she says. "I would say for someone who's grieving, if you're looking for some source of healing surrounding a loss, The Other Side chapter is the one I am the proudest of."

The process of writing the book was therapeutic and healing, she says, and that putting things "down on paper" helped her see her life "through a different lens."

"I just walked away with such overwhelming pride for my life," she says. The singer believes Maurices shares her dedication to self-love, female empowerment, and helping people with a price tag that hometown families can afford. When she was considering whether to move forward with the sponsorship, she went to Georgia to visit her extended family. She kept the potential business deal a secret but mulled it over as she made plans with her beloved aunt Kim and cousin Holly.

"Aunt Kim said, 'Can we run down to Maurices and see if we can find me something to wear?'" Alaina recalls, noting her aunt didn't know she was in talks with the company. "It was like this moment of, 'Yeah, I'm gonna work with these people because my aunt Kim is my hero, and she's wanting to go here so that she can feel her best. That is the kind of partnership that I can get on board with.'"

Alaina also likes the company's clothes, particularly its denim, which she says she'll incorporate into her wardrobe on stage. Women, she says, can come to her shows and then go shop at Maurices and find pieces of her outfits on their local racks.

As excited as Alaina is about her book, the Maurices partnership and her new Sitting Pretty on Top of the Word album, she really can't wait to get back on stage.

"I'm just so ready to be back," she says. "It has been so long, and it's such a huge part of who I am. I'm just ready to get back out there in front of people and do what I love."

As part of the upcoming tour and brand partnership, Maurices and Alaina will shed light on and support deserving women with unique moments during the tour through the Maurices "Hometown Heroes" sweepstakes. The program will spotlight women who are hometown heroes, such as healthcare workers, educators, first responders, and military members, who give back to their communities across the country. The winners will be rewarded with a special experience inclusive of tickets to Alaina's headlining concert near their hometown and the ultimate Maurices shopping spree to help them look and feel their best.