Lauren Béa’s music spotlights finding identity in Christ

Lauren Béa’s music spotlights finding identity in Christ

Christian singer and songwriter Lauren Béa didn’t have to dig very deep for inspiration for her debut album, “Wildflower,” produced by Otto Price.

Béa simply looked back to her time in middle school, when her family moved from Phoenix to Dallas. Béa, who is biracial, was bullied four straight years. 

In Christ

Béa co-wrote most of the songs on the album, which features music with a mixture of pop and R&B. It also includes a rendition of “What a Beautiful Name.” 

“I was picked on a lot at school for being biracial,” Béa said. “I never felt like I was beautiful or I was enough for anybody. I was always trying to mold myself into who I thought those kids wanted me to be.” 

Béa’s feelings of inadequacy extended to adulthood, when she worried if she was a “good enough” singer and if she would be accepted.

“It came to a point where I realized it stems from childhood and wanting to be loved and being accepted,” she said. “… I went through a process of letting go of what happened in my past and accepting and embracing what God says about me instead of what people say about me. And so that really has been the inspiration for the album — just identity and loving and accepting yourself and who you are in Christ.”

That message is spotlighted in the album’s title track, “Wildflower,” which is addressed to women who struggle with feelings of inadequacy: “You wonder if you’re lost / Feeling like a fraud / Surrounded by the thoughts / That you’re not good enough.” The chorus answers, “Cause you know you’re a wild, a wildflower/ You don’t have to change the way you are / You know you’re a wild, a wildflower / You’re beautiful just the way you are.”

‘Beautiful blessing’

The song and the album come at a time when many teens are trying to find their worth on Instagram and through other forms of social media.  

Béa said the song’s message is this: “What’s so beautiful about you is who you are naturally in your unique self because God created you for a specific purpose … And if you’re not living in that purpose and if you’re trying to be someone else, you’re missing out on that beautiful blessing.”

Visit LaurenBeaMusic.com for information about her album and tour.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Michael Foust covers the intersection of faith and entertainment as a media reviewer for The Alabama Baptist. He also is the husband of an amazing wife and the father of four young children.