Sean & Soph Catchup Podcast - Charlie Puth Joins The Show.....

Episode Date: January 24, 2022

Charlie Puth Joins the show to chat writing for 'The Kid Laroi', Having perfect pitch, and his new track 'Light Switch'.

This is a podcast from Rover. It is the Edge Night. And I'm so excited to welcome from the other side of the world right now. He probably has the most anticipated song of 2022, in my opinion. Charlie Poe. You turn me on like a light switch when you're moving your by. Welcome, Charlie. I must say this internet connection is so clear.

Like New Zealand's got some crazy internet going on. I feel like I'm right there with you. Yeah, the thing, we only got internet in the last few months because we're a bit late to unlike the rest of the world. So they gave us the best stuff. Well, this is clear proof of that because this is really clear. Your new song Light Switch, it just dropped. Congratulations, by the way. Is this the most anticipated song you've ever had? Because for people who don't know, you've been teasing it on TikTok for like five months.

I have, I've been a real POS and teasing it for a long time, but I've never had a reaction to any of my songs like this one. They told me today we're about to hit 2 million streams. It hasn't even been like 10 hours. I'm not used to seeing numbers like this. I've also haven't put music out in a really long time, so maybe I forgot what this feels like. I was going to say, because you did have a string of hits, and then you decided to dedicate yourself to songwriting for other people and being a music producer. And people might not know, you wrote this song.

Beaver and the Kid Leroy, you put it up on your TikTok, how you even created the little synth pattern with it. So you wrote that. prepared. You produced that. You've also worked with Maroon 5, Katie Puri, Liam Payne, Derulo. There's way more if I list them all that I'll use up all my interview time. But what was your reason for stepping back and deciding to help other artists instead of pursuing Charlie Puth? The pandemic happened and I knew I wasn't going to put music out. And you referenced the kid LaRoy and Bieber. We weren't even supposed to write a song that day. I just walked into the studio in LaRoy, nice Australian kid. He came up to me and he said, you know, I know we're not

supposed to write anything today, but just play something. I just sat down. It was one of those moments. I just bump. Bam bum bum bum bum bum bum. And I was like, nothing's going to happen with this. So I put goofy drums on it, kind of like in light switching. And I remember him being a rapper, but he's actually a wonderful pop musician as well. And he just started singing, I do the same thing. I told you that I never would. He wrote all of that. And the only thing I suggested was, I need you to stay need you to stay like go obnoxiously high

something that I would do it was just match made in heaven wow that's so interesting to hear how that song came about because it sounds like now it was one of the biggest hits of last year is there any song that you've written that you've given away like stay for example

I know you say that the kidleroy actually wrote a lot of the lyrics but any song that you've written that you maybe had more of a hand and you gave it away and then it became really big and you were like man I really wish I kept that

like an example that comes to mind easier by five seconds of summer you help write that That was a monster hit down here in New Zealand, like so big. I forgot. I wrote that. Actually, I was going to say slow motion by Trey songs, which came out in 2015, but it was more of, I wasn't an R&B act.

I was singing, you know, Marvin Gaye and I'd see you again at the time. But I liked, God, that's a high song. Is it easy to stay? Is it a little to go? I can't even do it right now. That's like ridiculous. Good luck to anybody who tries to sing that live. But those guys killed it.

So have you got any other writing you're going to do this year? with big artists that you can talk about or does it kind of come quite fluidly where people will be like, hey, what are you doing next week, man? You're going to jump in studio? Literally, just as you said, I mean, I saw Elton John at a restaurant and he said we should write some time. We found that that we were next door neighbors, literally next door neighbors, no exaggeration. So he walked over and we made the first song for his album that he's currently out touring right now. That's so funny. How did you not know that Elton John was your neighbor? I have no idea, but I assume that he would be in this big gated community.

I live in a nice neighborhood in Los Angeles, but I think he has like, you know, guard dogs and fountains and it's just bloop right next door. That's amazing. Another thing that's quite, you know, people obviously talk about you a lot is your musical ability being a producer and a songwriter and your perfect pitch that if someone sings you are not, you can tell them exactly what they note is. Is that been something you've had your whole life? I've had it my whole life.

It's a tricky thing to talk about because it's not a thing. thing that you necessarily need for all the musicians listening to all the millions of people listening to it. Can I test you if I play you a note in our very clear internet connection? Do you tell me what it is? Okay, sure. That is a G. That is a G. What, that's so impressive. Wow. And that was a D chord that I just heard before the, the, the, the, the, that's amazing, man. Oh, wow, so talented. So your new song, Lights Switch, it came out. You turn me on like a light. As I said, one of the most anticipated songs. you've had millions and millions and millions of views on your TikToks leading up to how you wrote the song.

What if there was a song that started off like, boop-boop-boop-bo-bo-p bo-poo-poo-poo-p and the bass went like boon-to-bo-d-d- And all these people are duetting this. They're making fun of it. They're doing their own versions of it. How did that come about that you're like, I'm going to actually, I'm going to make this song, I'm going to make it a bit quirky and I'm going to film every single part. I've definitely sidebarred gotten fun of a lot. I've been taking some beatings. Well, I actually got the idea originally from Leroy because when we made stay, he's started filming us making the song and the chorus and gave it to all his fans. And I started like freaking out at the time like, no, don't give it all away. We need to like wait. I had a very kind of old school mentality of thinking. And then he was like, trust me, let's just give it to them early and then we'll get, you know, finish it. And then they'll live with it.

And they lived with it for a year. And I thought to myself, what can I do to, you know, in my own way? And that's to involve them in the songwriting process. Yeah. So you get them hooked. You get them invested in that hook, right? And then and then they're just waiting and waiting. and I know your fans have been messaging you and putting comments in and being like, Charlie, release it, release it. And people around the office today at our radio station that we work at, so many people came in so excited for Lights Switch because they've followed it and they've followed the journey of the song. I've always wanted something like that because I used to make bootlegs and people were making bootlegs of Light Switch. So it's kind of like the new way of teasing a song, I guess, but I was actually making the song in real time. I was getting the energy off the audience and finishing the song.

And I suppose as much as you like your music that you make, you don't know whether it's going to, interact or connect with the audience and doing this as a way to know. Like, you know light switch is going to work because leading up to it, the, like, the demand for it is so there. I had a feeling. I mean, I don't want, you know, everybody, if there's some wood in your studio, not gone right now because it's still, it's doing incredibly well right now. But, you know, we'll see.

But I like to be an optimist. You know, you feel like if people will hear the second course and be like, oh, I recognize that little bleep, blop, blop, blah, blah sound that he put in there because that he made a TikTok about it. Well, I'm going to go out and say it. I reckon this is going to be one of the biggest tunes of 2022. I'm going to call that right now. Hey, thank you so much for your time, Charlie.

I really, really appreciate it. Thank you so much. You're very good. You keep it moving. I like the questions. You're very good at what you do. This is, you make it easy. It's always painful, hard to do.

You're very good at what you do, my friend.