Laura Bell Bundy Admits to Depression After Being Dropped From Label
Laura Bell Bundy is back and better than ever after signing a new record deal with Big Machine Label Group and releasing a new single. But the singer and actress admits that she faced a rough patch when her first contract went sour.
In 2010, Bundy made her big entrance into country music when she released the first single, 'Giddy on Up,' from her major label debut 'Achin' and Shakin'.' The tune landed at No. 60 on the Billboard chart, but subsequent releases from the record didn't fare so well. Eventually, Bundy lost her first major record deal, and she took a break from country music.
“I kinda went through a semi-depression. Honestly. Like, I lost myself,” she admits. “And actually, getting dropped ended up being a relief to me and it was very freeing to me ‘cause I could go, ‘Okay. I’m not attached. There’s nobody telling me what I should be doing. What do I really want to do?’”
Fortunately, Bundy doesn't seem to have have terrible vices to turn to when she's feeling down. In fact, the actress and singer has admitted that her biggest addiction is sugar-free Red Bull.
"If I don't have it, like, I get skittish. I'm also addicted to Lay's potato chips, and I have to have chocolate every day. And I really enjoy bourbon. I'm a Kentucky girl, so I like my bourbon -- basically, everything I have a weakness to is food or drink," she shared during an interview.
As a former Broadway and television actress, Bundy used her time away from music to figure out what she wanted to do with her career. The multi-talented singer kept up with her recurring role on 'Hart of Dixie,' but acting didn't fill the void she felt when she walked away from music.
“I tried to focus on my acting. I really did," Bundy reveals. "I was like, ‘You know what? I’m gonna go and I’m really gonna focus on it. Maybe I’ll do a TV show or maybe … (and I realized) I didn’t want to. All I did was go back into the studio.”
Free from her former label, Bundy felt completely uninhibited when she stepped back into the recording studio. "I became totally obsessed because I also felt free, finally, to just create. And I realized this is what I want to do," she shares. "And I realized in that moment the light went off like, ‘You know what? I would rather fail being me having fun doing this than have some mediocre success playing pretend.’”
Bundy's new single, 'Two Step,' was recorded with Colt Ford, and it reflects this free and easy period in her musical career. She plans to release a full-length record with the help of her new label. No details about the record have been revealed yet.