Lauren Jauregui knows it can be hard to move on from a relationship and into the next.
On Friday, the 26-year-old singer-songwriter released her new single "Trust Issues," written about her struggle to enter a new relationship shortly after her 2019 breakup from rapper Ty Dolla $ign, alongside a vulnerable music video depicting its creative process.
"'Trust Issues' is really just an exploration of having trust issues," Jauregui tells PEOPLE with a laugh. "It's pretty straightforward. I'm talking to a potential lover, somebody who's trying to connect with me in a relationship way, but this is fresh off a breakup."
Crafted during a writing retreat in Bali, during which she also wrote her previous single "Always Love," the new song finds the Fifth Harmony alum resisting a new romantic partner despite feeling interested.
"I've got trust issues and I know we all do / But I think I'm too wounded to dive in, and that ain't fair to you," she sings on the downtempo track. "Tired of bein' used and maybe that ain't you / But I can't take a chance when I'm damaged."
"I felt like exploring the fact that all of us have trust issues, and we be getting into things that we don't need to be in yet," explains Jauregui. "So, this is me processing that and being like, 'Hey, I have trust issues, and I know everybody does, but I don't think it's fair for me to try to engage with you because I'm unhealed right now.'"
The song's music video opens with the musician on set of her "Always Love" live performance, released at the end of January, before walking away from the glamorous shoot and into the studio to write and record "Trust Issues." She explains that it's meant to depict "moving from the apparent glitz and glam that is the music industry into the behind-the-scenes of it, which is just this raw writing process."
"It's just me chilling with my guitarist and my engineer, creating a song," says Jauregui. "It's inspired by Mariah Carey and Boys II Men's 'One Sweet Day' video of this behind-the-scenes, raw, authentic, straightforward vibes, 'cause I feel like that's what the song gives."
Shortly before releasing the new song and music video, the "Lento" performer, who's now in a relationship with dancer Sasha Mallory, wrapped a sold-out arena tour of Latin America. Marking her second time headlining concerts as a solo artist, she felt the experience was "mind-blowing and beautiful."
"I felt very grateful and very blessed," Jauregui recalls. "On my way to Argentina, which was the first show, I had this whole moment with myself on the plane where I just cried and felt such deep gratitude."
She continues, "I had this flash of myself as a kid, choreographing dances in my room and performing them for my family. I just realized, 'Damn, I'm really doing this. I really get to do this myself, and people are showing up for these shows — thousands of people are coming to see me in countries that don't even natively speak English, but feel connected to me.'"
