Chapter 1: What personal realizations did Charlie Puth have about happiness?
I can buy this car. That's going to make me happy. It didn't make me happy. I can buy this house. That's going to make me happy. That didn't make me happy. And I remember being like crying at my 30th birthday party and realizing that I really didn't have anyone that close to me.
Please welcome Charlie Puth. Charlie Puth. Charlie Puth.
we've had like eight multi-platinum hits there's over a hundred million streams all the people who said you'd never make it and then you have a number one song i was terrified to sing in front of people and i knew to be an artist i had to sing in front of people so you came up with what you thought everyone wanted to hear i started out on the internet i think i was one of the first to make a youtube account in 2005. like do you talk to her anymore and he was like no we don't talk anymore and i just was like we don't talk anymore like trying to make a parody song again
Oh, I feel like I have that voice, that original voice note somewhere, if that's of any interest. That's of a lot of interest.
You're a very good interviewer, by the way. Why do you say that?
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Chapter 2: How did Charlie Puth start his career in music?
Because before you hear a brand new song, you know it's going to be good. Like, I know this is going to be good. I can tell. When I wrote See You Again, it was meant to be for another artist.
You didn't think you'd be on the song?
Oh, they didn't want me on the song. I used to not know myself, which is why I would dye my hair blonde. And I thought I was supposed to be what people expected me to be. I worry that I'm not gonna be understood and that to me feels like a failure. My goal with this album is to be understood and if no one understands me after that then I don't know where I went wrong.
Do you feel like you've been understood before?
No.
So excited to officially be here with Charlie Puth, one of the artists that has been a part of our childhood and now adulthood, at least my childhood and my adulthood. I'm sure so many others out there.
When did you first hear one of my songs?
See You Again, 100%.
That was my first introduction. 2014, 2015. Oh, my God. 11 years. That's officially a long time ago. That's crazy.
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Chapter 3: What is Charlie Puth's creative process for songwriting?
People just wanted to listen to my music just to listen to my music. I always thought that there needed to be a reason for them to want to go to my music, like some interesting story or whatever. That's their power drilling something back there. I don't know how annoying that's going to be.
So you came up with what you thought everyone wanted to hear back then versus now, like just how real the power drilling is. Like you are becoming like more real as an artist and like being more authentic of who you are in a way.
Yeah, absolutely. And I guess that's a... Is a good symbol of a... What note is that? That would be an A flat below middle C. That's the thing.
I'm really excited to get in to see you again, I think. Okay, so I... Behind the Wall was started to shine a light on the people and stories behind music, movies, and media, but also to inspire the next generation. And originally, it was also to inspire every underdog to go for it.
And what I really loved about your story is that moment with See You Again feels like an underdog story because it feels like you never thought you would be an artist after everything that happened. And I'm excited to get into that. But before we do that, the question I ask every artist before we start is, for anyone who doesn't know who you are, what are some of the songs they know you from?
You might know me from See You Again. Slice, it's been a long day. I've seen them before. You might know me from Attention. You might know me from We Don't Talk Anymore. You might know me from Cheating On You. You might know me from One Call Away. You might know me from Marvin Gaye. It kind of rhymes. You might know me from Done For Me. You might know me from the very COVID...
TikTok era light switch song. You might know me from the Left and Right song with Jungkook. Kind of musically all over the place, but in a very controlled box.
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Chapter 4: How does Charlie Puth feel about being understood as an artist?
And now people might know you from Changes.
Yeah, Changes beat yourself up. My goal is to get people to actually know me now. I feel like they've known my songs and for the first time I'm kind of letting everybody in to know me.
If you're watching this, there's a good chance you want to put out music, you already put out music, or know someone who puts out music. And what most people don't know, it was almost impossible to do that back in the day. In fact, Queen had to sell their van just to record their first album.
It was impossible to put out music back in the day, and when I wanted to first put out music around six years ago, It felt so complicated and expensive, and I didn't know where to start. Well, that was until I found DistroKid. DistroKid is the actual music distribution platform that I've been using for years now.
It is seamless, it is easy, it allows me to post my music to every single streaming platform at an annual flat rate. Prices don't change, you don't pay per release, it's just one price that you pay for the year, and you can upload as many songs as you want. There's no gatekeeping. It's just upload and go. And if you're collaborating with other artists, DistroKid makes the process so easy.
No more awkward convos. You just split it up based on percentage and it automatically distributes royalties directly. But here's one of the most important things. Unlike other distribution platforms, DistroKid takes no percentage of your royalties. So you as an independent artist get to keep 100% of your music royalties.
royalty so if and when you're ready to share your music with the world check out distro kids had my back for over six years now head to the description now to check it out for yourself at a discount and now let's go behind the wall once again yeah i uh I had the privilege of being able to hear the album early.
Oh, wow. So you've heard... Wow, that's great. You got the link. Okay.
And I have to say, a lot of the songs in there felt very, very personal compared to the music that came beforehand.
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Chapter 5: What challenges did Charlie face while writing his songs?
You're ready to let people in, but also you're ready to be more of yourself and be very vulnerable in these songs. Absolutely. How? How did you get over that? Because I think that's a fear a lot of people have to show off who they really are in a public setting in this way.
I think I just, self-realization, I just woke up one day and thought, wow, am I really going to be like putting up a front for the rest of my life. Like how am I going to have a successful life outside of music? Not that I've always,
necessarily put up a complete front there's just i just feel like there's been a brick wall between me and and casual listeners of me where it turns out that we might actually have a lot in common people around the world do you feel like the real fans got to know you too though because you just said that brick wall between you and the casual listeners what about like the like the diehard charlie fans
The diehard fans, which I'm very lucky to even say that I have, they got to know me, but they forced their way in because I didn't always make it easy for them.
And you put up the wall and now we're going behind the wall.
Yeah.
Right now.
Yeah. I named my album after you.
Isn't it?
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Chapter 6: How did Charlie Puth create the song 'See You Again'?
Which is a very like fun title because it kind of plays on the fact of like being real. Like instead of trying to make an album title that everyone, that you think everyone would like, you made an album title that connects with you.
That's very nice of you. That's exactly why I called it that. I actually don't even consider, I mean, you've heard the songs. I don't really even consider them to be too clever. There's no sound effects in them that are the title of the songs. They're more real. And I think by me naming the album Whatever's Clever, it's kind of me putting that into a little bottle and throwing it into the...
nearby ocean kind of waving goodbye to that former way of thinking not to get too woo woo with it but I needed to get here and now I am here definitely and in order to get to where you are in the story I feel like it would help a lot of creatives to go back in time to a lot of the older songs to understand we have to go back in time
So one of the questions I was like asking is how many songs did you write until you got your first hit?
You're a very good interviewer, by the way. Why do you say that? Because you come prepared. You keep it flowing. You just get a good... Before you hear a brand new song and you know it's going to be good, like I know this is going to be good. I can tell.
I love it.
It wasn't for anything. That was just me telling you. I appreciate that.
Yeah.
What was the question?
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Chapter 7: What advice does Charlie Puth have for aspiring artists?
They had a group on YouTube called O2L, it was called Our Second Life. And I think, oh, and JC Katelyn. These were all really nice YouTubers that really supported me like early in my career. I started out on the internet. I think I was one of the first like people to sign up and make a YouTube account in 2005.
Was that around the time that there were like also parody songs you were making, like a lot more like comedic songs?
Not in 2005, but that's more like 2007, 2008 because I saw The Lonely Island and Andy Samberg. They're legends. And I was so inspired by that, that they were able to make a funny song because I love Weird Al Yankovic. I love parody music and I love it when it actually like sounds good too. Anywho, I made music for Ricky. I made music for Trevi. She would sing it. Ricky would sing it.
So they were singers, but I think I made a song for them. the group once and it's kind of for me hearing myself like sing rap is a bit cringy but again we're going you know behind the wall we're going to back where we started and I remember going to Digifest somewhere in upstate New York I think it was at the time in 2014 And I was so proud because there were like 40,000 kids that showed up.
This is way before Musical.ly or TikTok even. And the crowd was going crazy with this song that I made in my bedroom back in Jersey. So I went home that night and was like, okay, I'm going to still make music for YouTubers because I love the attention that I'm getting from YouTube all of a sudden. But let's try and make a song for like a Cody Simpson and Austin Mahone.
People signed to record labels. And this guy named Jeff Levin, who I ironically work with today at Atlantic Records, reached out and linked me up with this songwriter named Michael Keenan. And he would work a lot with Melanie Martinez and have all these super credible acts to come out.
And he... He reached out because of the YouTube songs?
No, he reached out because Jeff...
Jeff Levin linked us up together they're still to this day they're friends and I always wanted to integrate jazz my jazz piano into pop music and he was one of the first songwriters who came over to my house and told me that I could do that and also Rick Markowitz who I believe is a manager now still makes music but it's all of these I started to get to know people in the music world in the record label side of things which I don't know is super exciting to hear but
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Chapter 8: How does Charlie Puth view the role of AI in music today?
We filmed it on a flip camcorder. Do you even know what that is? It's a USB camcorder. You could only film for like 10 minutes. It was so bad. They don't even make them anymore. But that's what every YouTuber used because we didn't have cameras in our phones. We still had razors and LG chocolates and whatnot.
LG rumors. Yeah. So you... How did you learn to be a songwriter then? How did you pick it? Did you pick it up quickly? Was it easy for you?
I think I just, I have always loved how songs have made people feel. I remember going to school dances and hearing Goodies by Ciara. And it's produced by Lil Jon. The low 808. And the crispy clap that it's all that clap is crazy sound like that sounds really good yeah it's a it's a one day i'll put a sample pack out with my snap and not good yeah and
Don't you do that a lot, though? Don't you beatbox in all your songs?
I just throw it because when I worked with Timbaland one time, he did it on every song.
Have you interviewed him before?
Not yet. Hopefully one day. That'll be an interesting one.
But I hear a lot about Timbaland from everyone, and everyone says that he beatboxes on everything.
He'll make sounds from slamming garbage cans together, and it'll turn into a kick drum. Because I didn't do it for a while and then I worked with him. Oh, bless you. Sorry. See, I could take that or Timberland could take that. I'm kidding. But here's a fun fact that you might not know.
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