Charlotte Lawrence Breaks Down Her New Single "Talk You Down"

Charlotte Lawrence is kicking off the new year with a brand new track, "Talk You Down" — an uplifting ode to talking out your feelings during difficult times.

The 20-year-old Los Angeles native has a talent for matching raw, emotional lyrics with catchy choruses and bouncy pop hooks. Her viral addition to the Birds of Prey soundtrack, "Joke's On You," for instance, features Lawrence's calling card of undeniable melody buoying up a darker mood. "Talk You Down" mixes a feathery light tropical house beat with honest lyrics about coping with hardship by opening up to your loved ones.

“Everyone deals with their emotions in different ways, and we’ve all been dealing with so many different types of emotions in the last year,” Lawrence said in a release. “I wanted to be a part of a song about anxiety and how I deal with it. Talking with someone about how you feel is a perfect way to get through any emotional experience.”

NYLON caught up with Lawrence to talk more about the inspiration behind "Talk You Down," how isolation has affected her creatively, and how social media keeps her connected to fans.

What was the inspiration behind "Talk You Down?" What does the song mean to you?

This song, in my eyes, paints the struggle of feeling anxious, hopeless, lost, crazy even, momentarily losing your sense of self, and calming down by either finding it within you or through a loved one. Being able to realize that you’re going to be okay and self soothe — or to trust and lean on a loved one to get to that same outcome. Although the song tells a story of the narrator calming down their significant other, I look at it as more of two sides of me conversing. One side is panicked, my shadow self, and the other side is talking me off the ledge and calming me down, my higher self.

It's been a strange year. We've all had to isolate or quarantine to different degrees, and you yourself were open about having COVID last spring. How have the events of the last year affected your artistic or songwriting process?

Quarantine deeply affected my songwriting, especially at the beginning. I am such a collaborative person and not being able to write with other people in person was difficult. I’m not the biggest fan of Zoom sessions to be honest, I think a part of the collaboration is feeling each other out and connecting and getting deep, not through a screen. My songwriting is also based on experience — I write from my own life and emotions and experiences, so when I’m having the same day over and over and over without leaving the house or seeing people or experiencing anything, it put a halt to my inspiration. But lucky for me, all the songs were written before quarantine, so I just had to focus on the creative visual side of things, which I had infinite inspiration for. A few months into quarantine I got my songwriting stride back, but I do miss writing with people in person.

How has social media helped you stay connected to your fans?

Social media, especially lately, has really connected me to my fans! They’re my friends, I trust them and love them and am so grateful for them. I feel my most connected to my fans when I’m touring, but obviously all artists have been and will have to be without that for a while. I’ve done some acoustic sessions on [Instagram] Live and I started a series called Charlotte’s Web on my YouTube — I’ve wanted to give the people that follow me some news content in any way I can. I’m in a group chat with a bunch of my fan pages on Instagram and we talk almost every single day. They’re the fucking best. I truthfully hate social media most of the time and that aspect of it is its saving grace.

What should fans expect from your new music? What's on the horizon?

Hmmm, I want to say dive in with zero expectations. But they can also expect honestly and vulnerability. Dance and cry at the same time.