Lauren Bannon, 28, wowed the judges on The Voice in 2018, and has since gone onto have a growing singing career after recently wrapping up her European tour. However, the singing sensation has spoken out about the challenges she’s faced following her Voice debut. Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Lauren admitted her “mental health” is something which she constantly deals with experiencing “extreme highs and lows”. She said: “I mean [mental health] it’s something that I struggle with. I wouldn’t say it’s a past tense thing. Mental health is something a lot of people have to work on. As a creative, it’s part and parcel.
“You experience extreme highs and extreme lows and sometimes that’s what helps to make art a little bit more meaningful because you can create something people can connect with.”
She continued: “And you can do it an authentic way because you’ve experienced it. But for me, it’s something I have to work on a lot. I’m generally quite a happy person but with the great highs, come great lows.”
Lauren explained being on the ITV series felt like “a bubble” and it was “a shock” when she was no longer performing on the series every weekend.
She divulged: “I think that as much as I was prepared for it, its a crazy thing because you’re in a bubble. Your doing something constantly, all hours of the day. You go out and perform and you do what is your dream. And then when it stops its kind of a shell-shocking moment. That’s it, there’s no more.”
“And then you’ve got the kind of weight of expectation,” she said. “People around you are like ‘So what’s happening now?’
“I think a lot of people think when you’ve been on a TV show that’s it. You’re either a celebrity or your not.”
She continued: “It’s not how it works. It [The Voice] is a platform. A good one, but its still hard work and I think everyone else’s expectations of you can be the hardest. I know my expectations but they don’t always match the people around you.”
Speaking about her time on The Voice, the star credited the show as a “great platform” which heavily supported the contestants throughout the series.
Lauren said: “I would say that I’m a strong person and I was prepared for [The Voice] to be a platform but I do think even if you are prepared it can still be a bit of shock to just have everything and then nothing.”
The Weymouth-born singer also opened up about the sexism she has faced in the music industry after she left the ITV show.
She explained: “It’s one of those things people don’t really talk about.
“One of the reasons I kind of want to talk about it is because there are a lot of young people out there with a dream. When you have a dream you can be vulnerable. Anybody can take advantage of that. It’s very easy to be manipulated basically and taken advantage of.”
Lauren finished: “It takes for people to find out what is going on to move forward and change. It can be quite a sexist industry unfortunately.”
The British singer wowed the judges when she featured on The Voice and was snapped up by Olly Murs to join his team.
She reached the finals of the competition but lost out being crowned champion by 18-year-old Ruti Olajugbagbe.
Meanwhile, the singer who uses the stage-name Lløren, launched her first single ‘Into The Fire’ last month which highlighted getting through her mental health battle.
The electro-popstar is due to release her first EP later this year.