Lauren Alaina Reflects On Losing Her Father In Heartfelt 'Open Letter'

Lauren Alaina opened up about grieving the loss of her father in a heartfelt unreleased ballad.

Alaina, 30, recently marked one year without her father. The singer-songwriter’s dad, J.J. Suddeth, died on July 23, 2024. Alaina wrote an emotional reflection of her first year without him in a post she shared on Instagram last week, which included the first sneak peek of her unreleased ballad, “Little Things.” She shared another clip of the song on Instagram on Sunday (July 27).

“I’ve learned that grief isn’t loud. It’s not always in the big moments. It’s in the little things,” Alaina wrote, in part, in her tribute to her late father last week. She thought about “the empty chair during a game, the first Alabama kickoff that I didn’t get a ‘ROLL TIDE’ text and not having someone to tell when I heard a new joke. It’s the call I didn't get to make when I found out I was pregnant. It’s the absence in the hospital when the grandparents came to meet my little girl. It’s not saying Happy birthday, happy Father’s Day, Merry Christmas. …I try to let go quicker. I laugh harder. I love more intentionally. I don’t flinch at the ‘little things’ anymore. A car cuts me off, and I just let it go. Because I know that time is not promised, and life is too short to waste on anything that doesn’t really matter.

“I can’t call my dad anymore,” Alaina wrote. “I can’t tell him about the things happening in my world right now, so I wrote him a song. It’s called ‘Little Things.’ It’s not just a song, it’s an open letter to him. A way of telling him how my heart and perspective have changed since he left us. I want him to know that his passing opened my eyes to so much. To prioritize my mental health. To call people back when I say I’m going to. To share if I’m struggling. To let go of things that don’t matter and focus on what does. To be quick to forgive. To be kinder. To be slow to anger. To love harder and deeper. I hope he would be proud.”