Junior Devon Lawrence slips easily into a smile like a familiar, perfectly fitting jacket. Unlike many of her peers, Lawrence exudes a lighthearted air during a stressful semester. “I do like life,” she confirmed with a bright laugh.
But even an optimist like Lawrence couldn’t help feeling nervous when, as a sophomore, she was scheduled to perform a song at the homecoming rally in Mead Theater for the whole student body.
“I had never performed in front of so many of my peers; it’s a really different experience than performing for people you don’t know,” she said. “I was really scared that I would mess up, and then I wouldn’t be able to live it down.”
Lawrence’s performance at the rally was widely popular among the student body. She performed “Someone Like You” by Adele, and had most of the student body swaying and singing along within only a verse or two.
“I remember looking out across Mead Theater and just seeing so many people really happy, and I was like, ‘They’re not judging me,’ and it was a really good feeling,” she said.
Lawrence has been singing for six years, and her musical tastes reflect her growth. “Right now, I’m obsessed with singing ‘Benny and the Jets,’ by Elton John,” she said. “But I’ve also had… different phases where different songs more accurately sum up my life.”
Lawrence’s evolving sense of self is reflected in the music she writes. She started writing music in eighth grade, and her songs have since become standards by which she measures herself. “It’s really interesting; I can see my growth [by] looking at how my songs have changed,” she said.
Songwriting also serves as an emotional outlet for Lawrence. “[My songs are] almost always about people in my life, how [they] influence how I feel, because that’s what I usually feel the strongest about and don’t necessarily know how to communicate,” she said. “Actual songwriting usually [happens] when I’m feeling so frustrated that words aren’t enough, that I feel like I need to put it in music.”
Lawrence’s love of songwriting compelled her to go to Grammy Camp in L.A. last summer. The camp initially scared Lawrence. “I got there and we had open mic night the first night, and I just was so in shock. I was like ‘Why am I here, I am not even on the same level as these people,’’’ she said.
Despite her early doubts, Lawrence described the camp as one of the happiest times of her life. “As the camp went on, I was doing the work just like everyone else… it made me realize, ‘Of course I deserve to be here.’ It was just worth it.”
Grammy Camp also gave Lawrence the chance to leave her hometown. But she doesn’t resent Mill Valley; in fact, the opposite is true. “It’s incredible where we live, and I’m realizing that more and more every day,” she said.
The beauty of Marin inspired Lawrence’s second-choice dream job, becoming a biologist; her first-choice career is to become a musician, though she’s still unsure if she’ll pursue it.
“I’ve been deciding that for a long time,” she said. “Ideally, that would be my dream, to go out and make a living as a musician, but I know that that’s not realistic, necessarily. Maybe I can do that for a little bit and then have to find a real job, which makes me really sad,” she added while laughing. “It’s a sad thought… it’s stressful.”
Nevertheless, Lawrence was not afraid to elaborate on her dream life. “I’d be doing really well music-wise… in the way that I’m reaching a lot of people, like a lot of people know me and are touched by my music,” she said. “That’s ideal.”
Lawrence believes in the power of music’s influence. “Because I write about truthful circumstances that have actually happened to me, the audience can relate to those circumstances because they happen to real people.”