Lauren Alaina emotionally opened up about “Heaven Sent,” a vulnerable song on her latest studio record.

Alaina, 31, released her fourth album, Stages, on Friday (August 28). She spoke about the project on The Bobby Bones Show on Tuesday morning (September 1), including a deeply personal ballad. Alaina lost her father, J.J. Suddeth, in July 2024. He was 52. Shortly after the loss, the former American Idol runner-up found out she and husband Cam Arnold were expecting Baby No. 1. Their daughter, Beni Doll Arnold, was born in June 2025.

“I have a song called ‘Heaven Sent’ on the album that I wrote about my daughter and my dad,” Alaina told Bobby Bones. “I found out I was pregnant with her two months after he passed away, and it was a big surprise. And so, the song basically says that my dad sent her to help me feel better. And, you know, it’s so funny. Genetics are so wild because she never met him and she’s never, you know, talked to him or interacted with him. And she makes faces that look so much like him. And I’m sure I make them and I don’t realize it. But it’s really nice to have a little piece of him, you know? It’s really cool.”

Alaina wrote “Heaven Sent” with Michael Hardy (HARDY) and Ben Johnson. It was produced by Joey Moi. Moi co-produced Stages, along with Jacob Durrett, Mikey Reaves and Adam James. “Heaven Sent” is the final song on Alaina’s 17-track album. The record “chronicles the defining chapters of Alaina's life, with her signature lyrical candor and powerhouse vocals. Over the course of the album, she explores coming of age to starting a family and more, marked by three STAGES – Stage One: The Dreaming, Stage Two: The Breaking, Stage Three: The Becoming,” according to a press release issued Friday.

“Babies Raising Babies (feat. Tyler Suddeth)” (Lauren Alaina, Ben Hayslip, Matt Jenkins) *
“Those Kind Of Women” (Monty Criswell, Derek George, Lynn Hutton, Lainey Wilson) *
“Household” (Lauren Alaina, Casey Brown, Lydia Vaughan, Parker Welling) *
“Paints The Picket” (Johnny Clawson, Peytan Porter, Kyle Sturrock) *
“The Ringer” (Mackenzie Carpenter, Josh Jenkins, Steve Moakler) *
“Rings On The Table” (Claire Douglas, Adam James, Madison Kozak) *
“If You Ain't Gonna Love Me” (Lauren Alaina, Ben Johnson, Hunter Phelps) *^
“Walking On Broadway” (Marc Cohn, Ashley Gorley, Michael Hardy, Ben Johnson, Hunter Phelps) ^
“Better Off” (Lauren Alaina, Joe Fox, Matt Jenkins, Josh Miller) ^
“Raining Whiskey” (Ben Johnson, Jordan Minton, Hunter Phelps, Geoff Warburton, Victor Williams) ^
“All My Exes (feat. Chase Matthew)” (Lauren Alaina, Jimmie Gutch, Ben Johnson, Whitney Phillips) *+
“Daddy Shoots Straight” (Lauren Alaina, John Byron, Ben Johnson, Blake Pendergrass) ^
“Spin” (Lauren Alaina, Casey Brown, Lydia Vaughan, Parker Welling) *
“Never Been In Love (feat. Kane Brown)" (Lauren Alaina, Ashley Gorley, Ben Johnson) ^
“Boots On The Ground” (Lauren Alaina, Adam James, Madison Kozak, Mikey Reaves) #
“Little Things” (Lauren Alaina, Ross Copperman, Seth Ennis, Emily Falvey) *
“Heaven Sent” (Lauren Alaina, Michael Hardy, Ben Johnson) *

Produced by Joey Moi *

Produced by Ben Johnson ^

Co-produced by Jacob Durrett +

Produced by Mikey Reaves and Adam James #

“My first stage was a hot pink and lime green bedroom, frogs everywhere, a hairbrush microphone, and a little girl dreaming bigger than those four walls. This stage is shaped by my parents' love, my brother, our family's highs and lows, and the small-town I'll always love…Rossville, Georgia,” Alaina said in a statement. “From singing in restaurants (shoutout Magoo's), talent shows and chorus at Lakeview Middle School, Sunday mornings at River of Life, to the stage that changed everything: American Idol. A little girl with a dream. That girl was me.

“Stage Two is the growing up no one prepares you for. I packed my bags, moved to Nashville, and spent my twenties figuring out who I was and who I wasn't,” Alaina continued. "It was heartbreak and healing, first loves and last calls, career highs and personal lows, Broadway, Red Door, and people who weren't meant to stay but were meant to shape me. It was messy, beautiful, necessary, and ultimately led me to the love I was always meant to find.

“Stage Three is where I stand now. A wife. A mother. A dreamer. A woman still learning and still growing, just in different ways,” Alaina said. “A woman who has everything I've ever dreamed of. I am balancing my dreams in my career and my dreams at home with my family. This stage holds the deepest joy I've ever known and the deepest loss. Losing my dad has changed me, and I'm still learning how to carry both love and grief at the same time. This stage is about holding tight to what matters and letting go of the little things.”

Stages follows Wildflower (2011), Road Less Traveled (2017), and Sitting Pretty on Top of the World (2021). Next month, Alaina kicks off “The Stages Tour” with Shane Profitt, Ashley Kutcher and Hannah Harper, who became the first female country artist to win American Idol since Carrie Underwood’s career-launching win in 2005. Alaina previously said this run of shows “feels like my most personal yet.”

See the dates below, and find the full conversation of The Bobby Bones Show here.

Idina Menzel

July 15th, 2017 | CMAC

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