Lauren Alaina Had Vocal Surgery in August

If it seems that Lauren Alaina has been out of the public eye for a while, she has, but it's for a good reason. The songstress reveals she had vocal cord surgery in August, choosing to do it when she was off the road to avoid potentially canceling dates in the future.

"I just started singing again, and I can still do that, so that's great news," she tells ABC News Radio. "'Cause I was scared to death, but I'm gonna start recording here in the next couple months and try to get everything out."

The former 'American Idol' contestant spent much of the last several weeks learning to be quiet, which she says was not an easy task. She had to be completely silent for eight days, before slowly relearning how to speak again.

"Eight days after that, I could talk for five minutes a day, which, you might as well just not talk at that point," she recalls. "I mean, what are you going to say in five minutes?"

But now she's back, better than ever, and ready to work on a new album, which will be her first record since 'Wildflowers' was released in 2011.

"It's a more mature feel for sure," she tells Nashville's Tennessean about the upcoming project. "I'm excited about it."