Charlotte Lawrence Reveals What It’s Like Working with Grammy-Winning Boyfriend Andrew Watt on Music (Exclusive)

Lawrence opens up to PEOPLE about the inspiration behind her new song “Dog” and what to expect from her long-awaited upcoming debut album

Charlotte Lawrence is entering a new era.

The 24-year-old singer and actress released her new single, the melancholy, rock-laced “Dog,” on Feb. 28 as the latest offering from her long-awaited upcoming debut album, set for release later this year.

A full-length project has been a long time coming for Lawrence, who’s released many singles and two EPs since she debuted in 2017 at the young age of 16. At that point, however, creativity had already long been in her blood. She’s the child of actress Christa Miller and TV writer/producer Bill Lawrence, both of whom introduced her to the entertainment world as a child.

Since then, Charlotte’s accomplished quite a bit — and worked with heavy-hitters along the way. She’s toured with artists like Lauv and Madison Beer acted alongside Vince Vaughn in Apple TV+’s Bad Monkey and even pulled Paul McCartney on stage to perform with her and boyfriend Andrew Watt during a show last year.

Recently, she hopped on Zoom with PEOPLE to discuss the inspiration behind “Dog,” the experience touring with Beer, what it’s like dating a Grammy-winning music producer and her upcoming album.

What’s the inspiration behind your new single “Dog,” and how did it come together?

I feel like everybody and their f—ing mother has been in a situation before where they love somebody more than they’re loved. I have been in plenty — I fall for someone and think it’s real in some way or the other, but it turns out that it’s not at all. I’m just another girl, he doesn’t give a s—, and it just is what it is. I wrote this song thinking about how when you feel so entranced by somebody and you almost have rose-colored glasses on and don’t want to see any of the red flags, or it might not even be red flags. It might just be reality that this person just doesn’t like you back and doesn’t want to date you.

You can get into this pattern of just waiting around for change and expecting change when deep down you know it’s never going to happen. So I thought about how my dogs that I love so much, my sweet dogs, whenever I leave in the morning, instead of going and minding their own business or having fun or going and playing with toys or whatever it is, they just sit by the window, stare all day and wait for me to come home. I felt like that in this, I can’t even call it a relationship, situationship that I was in. It’s a song about desperation, confusion, love, heartbreak and all the things we all have to go through at least once in life.

In the music video, you’re walking around a house and putting on articles of clothing that are strung on pieces of furniture. What does that represent to you in relation to the song?

We really wanted to showcase this confusion and almost loss of identity. When you are so into somebody, especially if they don’t really like you back at the beginning and when you’re young, you’re more susceptible to changing yourself to fit whatever you think they would like and trying to form into the perfect person for this partner. With this video, I just keep putting on these clothes, and it does not work at all. I’m putting on a bra over a dress, all these layers. I keep trying to fit into something else, change and look cool, but it doesn’t look cool. I just wanted to portray this loss of identity that comes with falling in love — or lust — with somebody who doesn’t love you back. 

We also, very sneakily, at the end of the video when I’m in that room and the door closes, put a shadow of a man there to show that he was always around, but never actually there. Always in my mind and always able to be around, but you never actually see him. He was just a shadow and slowly disappeared, which I thought was a fun little drop, that probably nobody would notice but it was cool to us. 

What was your introduction to music? Did your parents play anything around the house that influenced your taste?

Neither of my parents can sing or play any instruments. They’re properly tone-deaf in a very sweet and endearing way. But both of them have otherworldly talents in the creative venues that they’ve chosen to go down in their jobs and passions. My dad is a writer, and that’s where I get my songwriting skills from, I believe. I think he’s the best writer of all time. My mom is an actress and so creative and so incredible and so talented. She also has the secret hidden talent of music supervision for all the shows that she acts on and all of my dad’s shows. She’s so f—ing good with it and has such an incredible ear.

I was only ever played the coolest of cool music, in my opinion. My mom grew up in Manhattan in the coolest time period, saw the Police at CBGB before they were huge and the Talking Heads in the park. She just had a bevy of amazing bands she introduced me to as a kid. I first fell in love with Joni Mitchell because of her. And Elliot Smith, she showed me when I was really young, and Bon Iver. I just fell in love with really prolific songwriters and really vulnerable, emotional, honest musicians.

I begged my parents to take piano lessons at age five. I came out of the womb singing and was like, “All I want to do is take piano lessons and sing.” And my parents were like, “Where the f— is this coming from? No one else sings. What do you mean, piano lessons?” I would bargain with the piano teacher that the first 30 minutes would be classical training and music theory. And then the last 30 minutes I get to choose a pop song of my choice or a song that I wanted to learn. That’s how I became a musician.

Fast forward to now, and you opened for Madison Beer on tour last year on the Silence Between Songs Tour. How was that experience, and did you learn anything from watching her shows?

Of course I did. She is such a powerhouse in so many ways. She is just phenomenal. Her voice is so magical, and she’s such an incredible entertainer. She is so good at commanding a crowd and showing deep emotion on stage, whether it’s a slow, sad, beautiful song or a fun dance song. She just knows how to touch your heart in the crowd and make you dance and sing and express yourself. When she performs, you stare at her, you remember it, and it touches you.

Every night I watched her and felt so grateful. She’s, first of all, one of my best friends and I love her so much. But secondly, I’m just such a huge fan of hers and her music and I really think that a lot of people would come to her shows and almost leave surprised, even if they were already fans of hers, like, “Holy f—. I didn’t know she was that amazing.” It was cool to see, and I felt that way. She inspired me. The way that she knows how to command a crowd was really inspiring. She’s a really good leader, so confident on stage, and she makes you feel like she’s talking directly to you, even in crowds of thousands of people. 

You’re in a relationship with Andrew Watt, a Grammy-winning producer who’s worked with everyone from Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga to Ozzy Osbourne and the Rolling Stones. How did you two meet, and what drew you to each other?

He’s a superstar. We made my Charlotte EP together and fell in love creatively before anything romantically. We just really connected. He really believed in me as an artist, and I believed in him as an artist, musician and producer. We made such incredible art together. Slowly, through the art that we were making, we just developed these really real feelings for each other. The rest is history. It’s been like five years now, and we’re more in love than ever. It’s so nice to have a partner that understands the world that you’re in. We’re able to collaborate, make music together and share this passion and love for all things music. Also, there’s no competition in any way. There’s no jealousy ever. It’s separate, but it’s also shared.

He’s the first and one of the only people I trust when it comes to my music because I know if he doesn’t like something, he’s going to be honest. And if he loves something, he’s going to be honest. He helps me with everything, and I really value his opinion and vice versa. It’s really fun to get to live this life with somebody who feels the same way about me on a romantic level, but also on a business and passion level. He’s awesome. He’s, I think, a true voice of our generation. As time will go on, people will listen to the music that he’s made forever and ever.

Is “Dog” going to be on an upcoming project? And will you work with Andrew on whatever that is?

It’s on my album, which will come out this year. I’m really excited about it. I’ll announce it soon. I love it. Andrew’s helped me with every single thing I ever do. We have a really good balance of helping each other and him really helping me take songs through the finish line or him playing guitar on songs, this or that, or giving me notes or whatever. But also being careful about not mixing business and personal too much so we can stay healthy and have a very freeing, loving relationship. But yes, he’s helped me with many of the songs, and it will be coming out soon. It’s been so f—ing long coming. Holy motherf—er. It’s taken me too long. There’s a million and a half excuses I could say. But the bottom line is I feel so tirelessly ready and eager to release this project, tour it and never stop — and then release another one.