Singers with Unique Voices: Lauren-Michael Sellers (The Unique Voices Club #29)

Every Friday, I write a post about singers with unique voices not commonly heard in mainstream music in an effort to educate emerging artists and music lovers and inspire them to embrace their own quirks. This week I'm writing on Lauren-Michael Sellers.

Photo by Casey Durbin for NBC

Lauren-Michael Sellers first came to my attention when she sang the crap out of a cover of the popular contemporary worship song "Oceans." Truly, I felt like I was at a worship service. Even Snoop Dogg said he felt the "Gangster Holy Ghost" as she performed. I was hoping to throw a couple church shoes while watching this current season of The Voice, but we'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, I'm digging through my playlist of unique voices to inspire you this week.

It's not just the fact that Lauren-Michael's creative journey, like mine, started off with writing that inspires this post. Or that we probably clothing shop from the same places and sport red hair (I don't anymore; I was a redhead in college though). Or that she worked in special ed like my poet sibling-in-law. A culmination of all of these things, most inspired by a strong faith, demonstrates a commitment to developing the exceptionalities of her students and also the power of art. She's also gone through a lot, including her mother losing custody when she was young and other traumas. While writing this I was thinking, "Why did she hide this gift from the national public until she was 36?!" But she told AL.com that she wouldn't have been able to do something intense and demanding like The Voice if she was in her 20s because she didn't have the endurance to withstand public critique that comes with being seen on national TV then. Makes sense. I worry about all the young teenagers that do this.

Lauren-Michael has performed around Birmingham and Nashville on the way up to that point though. Her raw emotionality presents something like a singer-songwriter voice: being from the South, she naturally sings country music as well and has the slight yodel sound to her voice, but her storytelling delivery and phrasing have some sort of rock-tinged, expressive effect to it. Kind of like Alanis Morissette, letting her voice do what it will. Or a much younger Taylor Swift's debut album and plethora of unreleased songs from that era. She can be soft and poetic, or give a soaring belty vibrato-filled note filled with country breaks. She doesn't want to categorize herself in terms of genre though. Inspired by Jelly Roll (I still can't hear his name without thinking about Jelly Roll Morton) who's a believer and preaches his testimony in music that has a bit of hip-hop too, she thinks she can toe line of being a "country singer who has a story to tell."

Listening to her catalog though, I don't think she's strictly country either. Besides her covers from her time on TV, she has a few singles too. "The Shelf" has a bit of a pop-rock edge, and "Take Me Back" was a collaboration with pop music production company Song House, which I can see myself bopping to in a bar. I mean, she also covered "You Will Be Found," the best musical theatre song to listen to when you're having a crappy day. And her other originals have a more singer-songwriter vibe than country. So really you can't squish her into a box. My momager and I don't really like how most country artists sound the same so it can be pretty hard to find a way to stand out. If you're an aspiring artist reading this and country music (or it mishmashed with your own flavor) is your lane, go listen to and support Lauren-Michael Sellers and other singers with unique voices like her.

And that is all for this week on the Unique Voices Club! Don't forget that you can have your own voice heard too when you subscribe to my Patreon, because at the top tier you can suggest artists to me to cover in the future! You don't want to miss out on the opportunity.

Stay educated,

Alexia