Puth sees the math behind hit songs
Singer-songwriter Charlie Puth was just another kid studying at Berklee College of Music in Boston and putting covers of hit songs on YouTube when he attracted the attention of Ellen DeGeneres. Puth signed to DeGeneres’ record label (he would leave and eventually sign to Atlantic, but there were no hard feelings), made his way to Los Angeles and landed his first hit single, “Marvin Gaye,” a retro R&B collaboration with Meghan Trainor, by the time he was 23.
In a recent phone interview, Puth talked about his freakish musical skills (he’s got perfect pitch, among other things) and his new, weird life as a celebrity. The following are edited excerpts from that conversation:
“I don’t like the ‘Fake it till you make it’ Hollywood mentality.” — Charlie Puth, singer-songwriter
On his late start
I only started singing in front of people when I was 22. I started singing when I was 18. I came really late into it, but I always was producing music and using my voice, just behind the scenes. On writing a hit song
I’m really interested in the mathematical side, (like) how many syllables you can fit in a verse without it becoming not memorable. You want one phrase to repeat itself as many times without becoming annoying; that’s always the trick. Not a lot of people will realize this who aren’t writing, who are just singing along, but it’s really important when you’re writing the record to make the key of the song manageable for guys and girls to sing it. You also don’t want (the songwriting rules) to become too rigid, because then it’s not going to be emotional, and emotion always rules over everything. On writing “Marvin Gaye” for someone else — Sam Smith, probably — to sing
I sat on it for like nine months and had someone else in mind for it, and my manager at the time was just like, “Why don’t you just sing it?” Everyone was like, “Wow, you sound the best on it.” I guess that’s because I wrote it. That’s not my style of music that I’m trying to put out. It’s R&B a little bit; it’s more like a throwback. I’m like, “I’m gonna come out with this song, and everyone’s gonna think I’m a throwback.” I never thought that would be the first song I put out. On the pitfalls of his newly minted celebrity
When I get followed by paparazzi, whenever I go out to eat and all these girls want to meet up with me, to climb whatever they think is a social ladder, I just think about New Jersey. I’m New Jersey to the core. I don’t like the “Fake it till you make it” Hollywood mentality; it’s not my thing. If I just stick to my ground, I’ll make it. I’ll be fine.