Charlie Puth joins Zane Lowe on New Music Daily on Apple Music 1 to discuss his new single “Light Switch”, embracing TikTok to stay creative and connected with fans, celebrating his "dorkiness", finishing his forthcoming album ‘Charlie’, and his goal for the project.
Charlie Puth Tells Apple Music About Resetting His Approach To Music and Embracing TikTok…
I didn't really like any of the music that I put out in 2019, and I didn't want to make an album of that. Didn't feel very authentic. I felt like I was kind of pretending to be a cool guy. So, I scrapped that, and then, 2020, of course, happened. It was kind of a year of reset, but I was happy of that year of reset, because I really got to build up the TikTok thing, and everybody kind of made fun of me at first for focusing so much on TikTok.
Charlie Puth Tells Apple Music Why He Loves TikTok…
It is a safe place, and what I fell in love with originally is that people are being quirky and vulnerable. Even recently there, as I do browsing late at night, I saw a kid who was crying because he didn't get into Juilliard. I'm thinking to myself, I didn't get into Juilliard either. I wonder if I should let them know that sometimes things end up the way that they're supposed to like they did for me. And I did. I think it made them feel better. It was almost like a blanket statement for everybody that sometimes rejection can be a beautiful thing, where it leads you down a path that you didn't even know existed.
Charlie Puth Tells Apple Music About 'Embracing His Dorkiness'…
for anybody that's currently not with the right crowd, your true self is not going to shine out. I was almost putting a cap on it. I thought that, I mean, who would've known that the highest point of my career would be when I'm off cycle and showing people how I make a song. I never thought people would be interested knowing how I produce a record. I thought that was just for a close group of people, and then, I just had to be the artist when the song came out and wear sunglasses. I'm a dork. I'm finally, in six years into my career, embracing my dorkiness, which is why I'm so excited about "Light Switch", because it's kind of a quirky song. It has a literal light switch sound effect, and it's weird.
Charlie Puth Tells Apple Music About His Process…
Whenever I come out with a new song, I try, and when I'm producing the record, try and include sonic elements, but I'm always listening to other pieces of music and thinking about what's lacking in the music sphere right now. In my opinion, what's lacking is dissonant chords. Of course, you have the regular F minor, C minor, E flat major, B flat major pop chords, but if there was just a couple of rubby notes, little jazzier notes. The type of chords that H.E.R... the artist H.E.R uses in her music. What if that had more tempo? Here I go saying, "What if?" I feel like I'm making a TikTok with you right now, but that's what... I feel like there's going to be a lot more complex musical arrangements, just like there are, all of a sudden, longer pieces of music going atop the charts.
Charlie Puth Tells Apple Music About Finishing His New Album ‘Charlie’…
I'm going to call the album, 'Charlie'. It's done. I've made most of it on TikTok. My goal for this album is for everybody to know every song title before it comes out. I love the fact that "Light Switch" has been teased for months, and people are making bootlegs of it. Some producers have even taken, run it through Isotope, and taken the acapellas, and made their own versions of "Light Switch". I love that. I think music should be twisted and pulled in many different directions. That was just the goal for this album, and I'm really excited for people to hear it.