Heady times for Puth
Singer-songwriter Charlie Puth is having his best week ever. The 24-year-old earned three Grammy nominations Monday for his tribute song to Paul Walker, the No. 1 hit See You Again. And now it’s nominated for best original song at the Golden Globe Awards, announced Thursday.
Oh, and he just heard his new single, One Call Away, on the radio for the first time.
“Oh my God, make this song louder. This is my song. This is literally the best moment of my life right now,” an excited Puth said in an interview Thursday from inside a car in New York City. “Yeah, I’m like Santa Claus... in Disneyland right now!”
Life just keeps getting better for Puth, who also wrote See You Again about his friend who passed away around the same time as Walker. The song, which features rapper Wiz Khalifa and appears on the Furious 7 soundtrack, spent 12 weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
His Golden Globes competition includes Sam Smith’s Writing’s on the Wall, Brian Wilson’s One Kind of Love, David Lang’s Simple Song #3 as well as another pop smash, Ellie Goulding’s Love Me Like You Do from the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack.
“I’m in really good company... I never thought that I would be in company like that,” Puth said.
Since Goulding didn’t write Love Me Like You Do, she doesn’t earn a nomination. Instead, it goes to Savan Kotecha, Ilya Salmanzadeh, Ali Payami and producer extraordinaire Max Martin.
“We couldn’t be more excited to hear that Love Me Like You Do has been honoured with a Golden Globe nomination,” Martin and Kotecha said in a statement. “Also a big congratulations to the amazing Ellie Goulding whose voice brought our song to life!”
This week – and year – also marks a new high for Martin, who executive-produced Swift’s colossal 1989 album, worked with Adele on 25 and also crafted No. 1 hits for Katy Perry, Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson and others.
Martin earned six Grammy nominations Monday, including two for album of the year for his working on 1989 and the Weeknd’s Beauty Behind the Madness; two for record of the year for Swift’s Blank Space and the Weeknd’s Can’t Feel My Face; song of the year for Blank Space; and best song written or visual media for Love Me Like You Do.
Puth’s Grammy nods include song of the year, best song written for visual media and pop duo/ group performance for See You Again.
“I wanted to write the song for all of Paul’s fans that were so upset when he passed away. ... I wanted everybody to not feel like they left a funeral when they watched the end of the movie,” he said. “I wanted them to feel uplifted, sad, but like there’s hope. He’s on to better things now. He’s looking down. He broke a new artist’s career and has done so much for so many people.”
Puth will release his debut album, Nine Track Mind, on Jan. 29 – a couple weeks after the Golden Globes. It features songs with Selena Gomez and Meghan Trainor, who appears on the hit, Marvin Gaye.
The New Jersey native is performing at Madison Square Garden tonight as part of the Jingle Ball tour and says he will celebrate his nominations by relaxing.
“I’ve been around the world and I’m going home to New Jersey for one day... and hang out,” he said.
The Golden Globes Awards will be held on Jan. 10, and the Grammy Awards are on Feb. 15.