Lauren O’Brien wears a lot of hats. The Pennsylvania native, an actress and model, is also a talented singer-songwriter, who just dropped the fiery new track, “Another Shot,” out now.

“‘Another Shot’ is probably the most fun song that I’ve written,” O’Brien boasts to Everything Nash. “It’s a country-pop song. It’s just one of those songs that put you in a really good mood. It’s about seeing your ex at a bar and giving them another shot,”

O’Brien admits that “Another Shot” was born of a real-life experience, but quickly realized that, her personal life aside, “Another Shot” was also a relatable song idea that she was eager to share with the world.

“I thought of the title, and I thought it was really fun, the double entendre of another shot being the drink, or giving someone another shot,” O’Brien says. “It was just perfect. I started writing the story, and then I brought it to my co-writer Ava [Suppelsa ], and she helped me craft it into the song that it is today. It definitely started out a little bit sadder and slower, and when I brought it to her, we were like, ‘No, we gotta make this way more fun.’ That’s kind of how it came out to be what it is now.”

“Another Shot” is from a forthcoming EP, still in progress, which O’Brien has been crafting as she continues to release music.

“I’ve been putting out singles, and I would like those singles to live on an EP together,” O’Brien shares. “And also a lot of these stories on these singles are from a certain point in my life, so I really would love to have that in one project. So that’s the plan. I’m not sure when it’s gonna happen, but sometime this year I think.”

O’Brien’s career has gone in a lot of different directions, with a lot of different creative outlets she is happy to pursue. Still, if she had to pick just one, the rising star says her focus would be on music.

“I think part of why I wanted to pursue music so much is because when you’re cast in a show, you don’t have a say over who you’re cast as, what your lines are, what the story is about,” she reflects. “So that’s kind of the opposite of writing my own music. I get to tell my own story, get to craft the sound, and how I want it to be. I think music is the most authentic thing. I still love acting and playing roles, but obviously, doing those roles, I’m being another character versus in my own music I get to be myself, which is really fun.”

O’Brien grew up idolizing Taylor Swift, and as a big fan of country music in general. But it wasn’t until COVID-19 shut much of the world — and her many jobs — down, that she realized she could pursue being a singer as well.

“When I was in the pandemic, I was still doing some acting and modeling stuff, but that had been shut down,” O’Brien explains. “So I did a lot of reflecting and I realized that I love country music. I love singing, so why am I not just pursuing this? It was a moment of reflection for me. Sometimes I think when you want something, you put it to the back of your head because you don’t think about it all the time. And I had a moment of reflection where I was like, ‘You know what? This is what I want, so I’m gonna go for it.’ And here we are now.”

Find “Another Shot” and all of O’Brien’s music at LaurenAlexisObrien.com.