Author of I'll Have What She's Having: How Nora Ephron's Three Iconic Films Saved the Romantic Comedy, Erin Carlson has covered the arts and entertainment industry at the Hollywood Reporter and the Associated Press in New York City. Her work has appeared in Vanity Fair, Glamour, Fortune, the Los Angeles Times, and The Daily Beast. She lives in San Francisco.

The musician is a cad, an attention-seeker, a Twitter star—and an earnest singer-songwriter. Erin Carlson examines how Mayer’s bemused persona plays out in public.