Singer-songwriter Charlie Puth visits WIRED to answer his most searched for questions on Google. What was Charlie Puth's first single? What famous songs has he written for other artists? How did Charlie Puth react to Taylor Swift's lyric referencing him? When is his birthday? Charlie Puth answers these questions and plenty more on the WIRED Autocomplete Interview.
Director: Justin Wolfson
Director of Photography: Charlie Jordan
Editor: Cory Stevens; Estan Esparza
Talent: Charlie Puth
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Brandon White
Production Manager: Peter Brunette
Production Coordinator: Rhyan Lark
Talent Booker: Paige Garbarini
Camera Operator: Lauren Pruitt
Sound Mixer: Sean Paulsen
Production Assistant: Sonia Butt
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Assistant Editor: Billy Ward
Director: Justin Wolfson
Director of Photography: Charlie Jordan
Editor: Cory Stevens; Estan Esparza
Talent: Charlie Puth
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Brandon White
Production Manager: Peter Brunette
Production Coordinator: Rhyan Lark
Talent Booker: Paige Garbarini
Camera Operator: Lauren Pruitt
Sound Mixer: Sean Paulsen
Production Assistant: Sonia Butt
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Assistant Editor: Billy Ward
Category
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TechTranscript
00:00I'm Charlie Puth, and this is the Wired Autocomplete Interview.
00:06There's not many people I would see and cry on the spot. If Britney walked in, I would. Gosh.
00:14Styrofoam reminds me of a Duncan cup. Does Charlie Puth have perfect pitch? No. I bet you don't hear
00:23it everywhere I go. It's become my personality. Yes, I do. It comes in handy with writing songs,
00:30I'd say, other than it being a neat little parlor trick. But I think what it does come in handy for
00:38is hearing the song before it's made, especially when you're working with an artist and you've
00:43written a demo or an idea and they're not rocking with the key, you can kind of change the key in
00:48your head and just get right to it. It kind of speeds things up a little bit, but you don't
00:53need it to make music. I'll say that. Does Charlie Puth use autotune? Yes, and so does everybody else.
01:01And if they say they don't, they're lying. Does Charlie Puth have a twin brother? I do not have
01:07a twin brother, although my brother does look a lot like me. He is actually twins with my sister,
01:14who is my manager. Thanks. Who is Charlie Puth to Taylor Swift? I don't know. You have to get her
01:22to sit down and do one of these. But I really enjoyed that compliment she gave me in that song.
01:29That was very nice. I heard a leak of it, and I thought it was a computer. I thought it was AI,
01:34which I thought was pretty funny. I thought someone was playing a joke on me. But then I
01:38heard it again. I thought it's just too clever to be a robot. And then I just won that day.
01:44Why is Charlie Puth so popular in Korea? I don't know, but I feel very lucky to be so popular
01:50in Korea. I've collaborated with some Korean artists. I love Korea. It has the energy of
01:55New York, where it's a lot of hustle and bustle and a lot of things getting done all at once.
02:02But it's not in New York. It's like on the complete other side of the planet.
02:06Charlie Puth keyboard. I'm assuming they're asking what keyboard I use a lot, and that would be
02:13a keyboard called the Triton by Korg. And I play a Steinway Baby Grand on tour. I think a good
02:21keyboard can bring out any singer's voice, especially a real one, especially with some
02:26good chords under it too. Can Charlie Puth dance? No. Just do a quick YouTube search of me trying to
02:34move around on tour. They once got me a movement coach. Just horrible, horrible mistake because
02:42I think I'm pretty intellectual and I tend to think things over many, many times, which works
02:48when making a song because you're not dancing, or at least I'm not dancing. But to dance, you kind
02:54of have to be free with your body, I'm told. And I mean, look at me. So no, Charlie Puth cannot
03:03dance, but I think that's a good thing. When is Charlie Puth birthday? Not grammatically correct,
03:10but that's okay. My birthday is December 2nd. Sagittarius. I share my birthday with the Queen
03:18Britney Spears. There's a reason why I make pop music. There's not many people I would see and
03:23cry on the spot. If Britney walked in, I wouldn't. Gosh. Is Charlie Puth still making music? Yes.
03:32I mean, well, I finished filming a TV show. Now I have a TV show because in 2020, when they said
03:38that live music was dead, I thought I wasn't going to be able to make music anymore. So I made a TV
03:43show. I started writing a TV show. And four years later, it's finally here. It's called The Charlie
03:49Puth Show. It's got my friends that I've known for 10 years and new friends like Will Ferrell and
03:56Courtney Cox. And it's basically about me being a multi hyphenate in the ever-changing music
04:03industry, the constant pressure of remaining in the zeitgeist. And I'm just making fun of myself
04:08the entire show. If you don't like me, you should watch the show because I'm literally making fun of
04:13myself the entire time. Charlie Puth duets. I've had some duets. My favorite duet is We Don't Talk
04:20Anymore with Selena Gomez. I remember where I was when I made the song. We started it in Miami and
04:27took it all the way to the Philippines. So sonically, it has an innate tropical-ness in it,
04:34I think, which was a thing in 2016. But I love that song. I just got back from Brazil last week,
04:40and I don't even have to sing it on stage. The audience sings it for me, which is a big pleasure.
04:45And the last one, Charlie Puth, Pitchfork. I think they just love me so much there and speak so
04:52highly of me. I think they have pictures of me on their office walls there. They just...
04:57Such lovely, nice things to say about me and my music. Oh my god, the compliments I get about my
05:03music from Pitchfork. It's funny because, like, I just... They're just so right. I am the best.
05:10What was Charlie Puth's... Nervous. First song. My first song, You Will Never Hear,
05:16it was uploaded to MySpace. And if you know how to use an internet archive machine, you can use it,
05:23but you won't be hearing it here.
05:29The first song of mine that gained any traction was See You Again. The biggest song. Totally
05:34the biggest song. Totally frightening for a brand new artist to be just projected into the media at
05:42the time. But I love that song, and I'll play it for the rest of my life. What songs has Charlie
05:49Puth written for others? Not too many songs for others. I actually started out as a songwriter
05:57for other artists. My first cut ever was a Pitbull song. I think it was called Celebrate.
06:04I don't know if it's the best of my work. Stay by The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber. I wrote
06:09Slow Motion for Trey Songz. I wrote Harley's in Hawaii by Katy Perry. Fan favorite. But it's all
06:18a blur. I don't really remember. What is See You Again by Charlie Puth about? See You Again is
06:26actually about my friend Vale, who passed in 2012 when we both attended Berklee College of Music.
06:33He always told me that I would write that song. He would describe it, but not musically describe
06:40it. He would just say that it was going to be a song that a lot of people were going to hear.
06:44And it was pretty surreal just two years later writing his song that he said that I would always
06:50write. What Charlie Puth song are you quiz? I don't know if that's grammatically correct.
06:59What does that mean? What Charlie Puth song are you quiz?
07:10I think all of my songs are obviously super personal. There has to be some sort of
07:15innate personality going into these songs with melody for them to sound like me. But I don't know
07:22if I'm as mean as the song Attention or How Long, even though I wrote them. But I guess all of
07:30songs just kind of thrown in a little bowl and mixed up with some Betty Crocker mix. Thank you.
07:36What are Charlie Puth fans called? Now I'm going to get endless shit for this, but I don't think
07:41there's a name for them. I'd like everybody to express themselves and their individuality
07:47separately, but maybe Charlie Puth fans. What songs Charlie Puth sing on tour? Well,
07:56we're actually going on tour later this year, not in the US, but in Asia. And I get to sing
08:02some songs off my second record Voice Notes, which I haven't sung in quite some time along
08:06with the new stuff. But I'm working on the next album now. So next year, you'll hear me sing
08:13all the songs that I'm singing now alone every day. What's with Charlie Puth's eyebrow? It's a
08:20scar. It's not shaved or anything. I can't believe I'm still answering that after all these years,
08:26but it's a scar. What is Charlie Puth's phone number? Obviously not doing that, but I've
08:33changed it a couple of times. So I've gotten that question recently, not on a whiteboard.
08:38Ken Charlie Puth beatbox. Yes. You know what's funny? I was thinking about this the other day.
08:43I didn't write this song. I claim no responsibility for its production or anything, but a good friend
08:48of mine, Johan, produced Dangerous Woman by Ariana Grande. And a couple of years after it came out,
08:54he pointed out that he had taken... When I smack my lips together, it makes a little pretend clap
09:00sound. Kick drum. And he took that, and you can hear it. It's very distinct, but you can hear it
09:07and very low in the mix. You can hear it in the very beginning of Dangerous Woman.
09:11So it's a pleasure spitting all over that song. Is Charlie Puth in a relationship? Yeah,
09:17I just got married. I have a beautiful wife named Brooke, who I've known my entire life. And
09:22what's really cool is that our parents have also known each other. And I've been married
09:28have also known each other for all their lives. So it's two families coming together.
09:34Final question, Charlie Puth playlist. I have a secret playlist, which I have no problem telling
09:41you about. It's called 12am in the back by the kitchen. It's on Spotify. And it's a collection
09:48of all my favorite New York based hip hop artists. And the reason why it's called 12am in the back
09:57by the kitchen is because I was on a date three years ago, and they were playing not great music,
10:02but the restaurant was so cool. And where we were sitting was so cool. And I thought it would be so
10:07great if they had this song, this song, this song, I'll let you check it out. Just Google
10:10that or search it. I don't know how you do that. I thought those were good questions. I'm humbled
10:15that people still want to know things about me, but I don't mind answering those questions.
10:19I it's part of the part of the gig, I guess.