Getty "American Idol" winner Laine Hardy
Laine Hardy was crowned the champion of ABC’s “American Idol” in 2019 over runner-up and fan-favorite contestant Alejandro Aranda. Hardy is now set to release an all-new album.
Hardy announced that he’d be releasing his debut album, which is titled “Here’s to Anyone” and features his hit song “Memorize You” on September 17, 2021.
He previously teased the new music during an interview with Sounds Like Nashville, and he said that he wrote some of the songs on the upcoming album.
“It’s kind of refreshing being able to put out original stuff, even though some of it’s like not something I’ve written,” he shared. “It’s just the music in general, it’s really cool and being able to record and sing lyrics that other people wrote is pretty cool too.”
Hardy Offers an Interactive Sneak Peek at “Here’s to Anyone”
On his website, Hardy offers an interactive map that serves as a sneak peek to the upcoming album.
The website opens to a map with many features on it, and some of those features can be selected, which opens another window with the music videos for the songs that correspond with the features.
The horn near the south of the map, representing New Orleans, for example, can be clicked on, and it opens the video to “Memorize You.” The crawfish represents Krotz Springs and opens the song “Authentic.”
“Here’s to Anyone” will be released on September 17, 2021, and it will be available to stream on all major streaming platforms.
Hardy is the writer of two of the songs on his new album, the two titled “One of Those” and “The Other LA.” The rest of the songs on the album, according to Taste of Country, were written by David Lee Murphy, Jordan Reynolds, Josh Thompson, Busbee and Steve Moakler.
Hardy Celebrated His Birthday With a Hurricane Relief Livestream
Hardy hosted a Birthday Bash Livestream for his 21st birthday with all proceeds going to Volunteer Louisina nad the New Orleans Jazz Museum.
“He could have celebrated the release of his first album anywhere, but chose to celebrate at the New Orleans Jazz Museum because of his love of this state, the people and our unique culture,” Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser said in a statement, per USA Today. “His desire to help his fellow Louisianans and bring awareness to the recovery efforts following Hurricane Ida truly shows the outstanding character of this young man, and further exemplifies why we are fortunate to have him represent our state.”
Hardy grew up in Livingston, Louisiana, which was hit hard by Hurricane Ida in July 2021. He wanted to help out in any way he could, which included the live stream to celebrate his birthday and new album.
“Hurricane Ida hit hard in my home state,” Hardy told USA Today. “So many people have been impacted and we wanted to find a way to help. I can’t think of a better way to spend my birthday than playing a show for everyone.”
Here’s the tracklist for “Here’s to Anyone”:
- “Authentic” (Jessi Alexander, Matt Jenkins, David Lee Murphy)
- “For a Girl” (Wendell Mobley, Neil Thrasher, Tony Martin, Johnny Dailey)
- “Here’s to Anyone” (Jacob Rice, John King, Derrick Southerland)
- “Memorize You” (Michael Tyler, Eric Arjes, Steven Dale Jones)
- “One of Those” (Laine Hardy, Jordan Reynolds, Laura Veltz)
- “Comin’ Down” (Justin Weaver, Josh Miller, Josh Mirenda)
- “Ground I Grew Up On” (Josh Thompson, Brett Beavers, Brandon Kinney)
- “California Won’t” (Mike Busbee, Andrew Dorff, Jon Nite)
- “Tiny Town” (Tyler)
- “The Other LA” (Hardy, Erik Dylan, Andy Sheridan, Dan Isbell)
- “Let There Be Country” (Jason Afable, Steve Moakler, Tim Nicholas)
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