Charlotte Lawrence loves a good, gut-wrenching, sad song. When she sits down with Rolling Stone at Lollapalooza, it’s just minutes after she wrapped up her set, which was complete with a number of her own songs that fall into that category.
“Ophelia,” the record Lawrence co-wrote with Gracie Abrams, didn’t make it into her set, but reflects that precise feeling. “She feels like family to me at this point,” says Lawrence, who has been friends with Abrams since they were children. “And besides the fact that she’s literally the nicest, kindest, coolest, funniest, really great, down-to-earth girl — she’s also a fucking force and a half and is such a massive talent.”
She adds, “When we wrote this song, it was so seamless and so easy. It was just like, back and forth, one line here, one line there. And we ended up finishing the song in like an hour. And then I brought it to Ben Gibbard, who I also die for and love so much. He made it what it is and helped write this great outro. I’m really proud of that song.”
Working with Abrams reminded Lawrence of an interview in which Paul McCartney similarly gushed about being able to work with John Lennon. “I am not comparing myself at all to the Beatles,” she clarifies, “but I was thinking about that. Gracie is my friend, and I’ve known her for so long, but I really do have feelings of like, oh my god, I got to write a song with Gracie Abrams. She’s so amazing. I can’t believe I have this small part of her big, massive, beautiful career. This is awesome.”
McCartney and Lennon have written their fair share of devastating records, as have Lawrence’s standout influences, Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens, and Elliott Smith. These musicians all have gold stars in Lawrence’s book, partially because of their work and also because they don’t fall into the category of the kind of men she can’t stand: the ones who vape.
“Vaping in itself is so nasty and so bad for you, and it hasn’t been around long enough for us to actually know the long-term effects — but I think it’s gonna kill everybody,” says Lawrence, who used to vape herself but has since quit and therefore has the authority to make this declaration. “But I think men who vape, you’re just a little bitch. Like, look at you sucking on your computer dick, just sucking on your pacifier that has a computer on the screen. Cigarettes are really fucking bad for you, but at least we know what’s in them, and at least they’re hot. Smoke a fucking cigarette versus trying to smoke your vape and blow Os that smell like cotton candy. Go suck a dick.”