Vanities / Opening ActRaised on sitcoms and surfing, Charlotte
Lawrence grew up listening to the sounds of
Hollywood. Now the 19-year-old singer
writes her own music, eschewing teen pop
confection for emotionally raw songs.
After her 2018 hit EP, Young, she plans to
debut her first full-length album this year
and contributes to the soundtracks for
Birds of Prey, the latest film in the DC Comics
universe, and the Netflix series 13 Reasons
Why. Here, some insights gleaned from a day
on the ski slopes with a bold new voice.SHE WAS RAISED between the L.A. enclaves
of Brentwood and Malibu by TV titan
parents: Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence and
actor Christa Miller.
HER MOM hosted Sunday jam sessions for
the family’s Grammy-winning friends. “At
13, I played for my music idols and worked
hard until I was confident that this wasn’t
just a hobby.”SHE INSISTS she was “a very shy child. I’m still
not good with speaking about real, emotional,
darker stuff. I like to box that up for my music.”
SHE REVEALS she’s “in love” but is no
longer dating fellow musician Charlie Puth,
who produced some of her songs. “I never
regret any of my ex-boyfriends. He opened
my eyes to a whole different side of music.”
SHE WILL TOUR with Lauv this summer and is
particularly excited to perform at Red Rocks
Park and Amphitheatre in Colorado. “It’s my
dream venue for the acoustics.”
SHE COLLECTS vintage band T-shirts and
keeps them in “little mini closets everywhere,”
from duffel bags in her car to storage units.
HER STYLE ICONS are Jonah Hill and Shia
LaBeouf.
A FORMER MODEL, she remains friends with
Kendall Jenner and Kaia Gerber, whom she
calls “my sister until I die.”
SHE SEARCHES for meaning in modern chaos
with “God Must Be Doing Cocaine,” her
provocative single. “I find a higher power in a
lot of things: a sunset, how a song flows out
of me. But we’re not doing the best with our
world, and if he’s not helping us, he must just
be doing drugs,” she says. “It’s blasphemous,
but I didn’t want to speak for anybody
but myself.” —britt hennemuthTrue BLUE
CHARLOTTE LAWRENCE
delivers an edgy pop sound
steeped in California coolArt (Sort Of)
While techies go a mile deep
and an inch wide when it comes
to their business, they tend to
skimp on culture. As such, Banksy
is their artist of choice.The World’s Oldest
Sourdough Starter
Silicon Valley nerds value the
challenges of bread baking.
The older your starter—
the rumored record is 4,500
years—the higher you sit
in the pecking order of cool.Gulfstream G650ER
For a private jet, or “PJ,”
the G650ER is modestly priced
at a mere $66.5 million—and a
range of 7,500 miles still
gets you across the Pacific after
a hard day of coding.Third, Fourth, and
Fifth Homes
Owning two homes? No big deal.
Owning two homes in the
same city? Now that’s baller. For
privacy, buy up a neighborhood
à la Mark Zuckerberg.After Facebook went public, its
first 250 employees started
a secret message board called
TNR250—The Nouveau
Riche—where they swapped
links to potential post-stock-sale
purchases. Since then, dozens
of other start-up cash-outs have
narrowed their wish lists to
a handful of Instagram-worthy
commodities. —Nick BiltonClothing by
Givenchy; rings
by Repossi.
Dispatch From
Silicon Valley