If you've ever seen a video of Charlie Puth breaking down his songwriting process, you know the 32-year-old singer is a mad scientist when it comes to meticulously crafting his songs in the studio. As he works on the 2022 sequel Charles album – which reached No. 10 on the Billboard 200 chart – Puth once again turns to Taylor Swift for inspiration.
In a conversation with album-and-what-taylor-swift-nudged-him-to-do-on-it-exclusive-8690959″ target=”_blank”>People magazine, Puth said that as he works on his upcoming fourth studio full-length, he's considering switching things up thanks to some helpful advice from his fellow pop star. “You can expect what you always expect from me, which is chords and key changes and what I think are interesting kind of beats from a production standpoint,” he told the magazine. “I always think about what I've been missing every time I start a new project, and one thing I'd like to improve even more is the storytelling. And maybe that's in the lyrics and makes the lyrics a little less A, B, C, D.”
In his quest to reinvent his lyrics in a more personal way, Puth leans into Swift's intricate, intimate lyrical style. “Taylor Swift kind of pushed me to do that too,” he said. “And I think that's how she approaches her songwriting and that's how I'll approach the next album.” For now, Puth said he plans to work on “the whole” by himself, a tactic that has made things more difficult as he sometimes spends his days “waiting[ing] to bring out the melody… but it's really, really worth it when it all comes together.”
In May, Puth released the single 'Hero', which he described at the time as “when you see someone you love hurting themselves, destroying the things in their life that are good, but you can't save them… I'm so excited that I will share with you my next album, especially this song because it is a great representation of what is to come.”
Puth added that he decided to release the song after Swift famously called her out on the title track. Department of Tormented Poets album when he sang: “We said Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist.” A few weeks after this unexpected pop star praise, Puth teased “Hero” on TikTok.
“I've never put out a song like this before,” he wrote of Swift's influence on “Hero.” “It's very different for me but I want to thank @taylorswift for letting me know musically that I couldn't keep it on my hard drive anymore.” He added, “Sometimes I get nervous about being too honest in my music, so it sat on my hard drive for a while. But I think someone out there was giving me a sign that I needed to release it.”
“Hero” comes on the heels of Puth's other recent singles, “Lose My Breath” featuring Stray Kids, “Lipstick” and “That's Not How This Works” featuring Dan + Shay and Sabrina Carpenter. Puth also said People that while “Hero” won't be on the upcoming untitled album, the LP will “make a lot of sense” once you hear it in its entirety. “I want them to listen [the album] and go, 'Oh, I know what she was talking about,'” he says of Swift's praise-filled verse.
“I'm perfectly happy with the level I'm at, but if being a bigger artist means I inspire more people to want to do what I'm doing, then that's great.”
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/charlie-puth-taylor-swift-nudged-more-storytelling-personal-lyrics-1235749221/
