{"id":237375,"date":"2026-03-26T10:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T10:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/237375\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T10:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T10:39:11","slug":"charlie-puth-on-fatherhood-taylor-swift-and-whatevers-clever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/237375\/","title":{"rendered":"Charlie Puth on fatherhood, Taylor Swift and ‘Whatever’s Clever!’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On a recent Friday morning, Charlie Puth sat in a green room at Spotify\u2019s Los Angeles headquarters, sipping a can of La Croix as he pondered which was more likely to drop first: his new record or his first child.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite possible it could be the same week,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Turns out the kid beat the music.<\/p>\n

Puth announced<\/a> on social media Monday that his wife, Brooke Sansone, had given birth to a baby boy, Jude, on March 13 \u2014 which made it a good thing that the 34-year-old pop singer had driven down from the couple\u2019s home in Santa Barbara early this month for a busy day of album promo before activating Dad Mode for a while.<\/p>\n

Due Friday, \u201cWhatever\u2019s Clever!\u201d is Puth\u2019s fourth LP since he broke out in 2015 with \u201cSee You Again,\u201d his 14-times-platinum collaboration with the rapper Wiz Khalifa from the \u201cFast and Furious\u201d movie franchise. Yet he says it\u2019s the first one \u201cwhere things are lining up musically in my life \u2014 like I\u2019m living what the album is about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

In \u201cChanges,\u201d the album\u2019s opener, Puth anticipates the arrival of \u201cnew directions and lessons,\u201d while \u201cHome\u201d rhymes \u201crose-colored lenses\u201d with \u201cwhite picket fences\u201d; other tracks contemplate his relationships with his dad and his younger brother and look back to his upbringing in suburban New Jersey.<\/p>\n

When he was younger, Puth said, he believed an artist was supposed to separate his life from his career. \u201cPicture a hard drive,\u201d said the singer, a graduate of both the Manhattan School of Music and Berklee College of Music. \u201cOne partition is your life, and you keep that private. The other partition is your career \u2014 that\u2019s where you dye your hair a different color and you speak a little bit differently because you\u2019re an artist.\u201d He shook his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife was the person who told me, \u2018You just need to be you,\u2019\u201d he said, though he also credits Taylor Swift for changing his thinking when she shouted him out by name in the title track of 2024\u2019s \u201cThe Tortured Poets Department<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the glistening, crisply detailed sound of \u201cWhatever\u2019s Clever!,\u201d which the singer co-produced with BloodPop (known for his work with Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga), Puth took inspiration from vintage yacht rock and blue-eyed soul; guests on the LP include Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald<\/a> and Kenny G, the last of whom accompanied the singer as he performed the national anthem at last month\u2019s Super Bowl LX.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an amazingly talented guy,\u201d McDonald says of Puth, whom the Doobie Brothers frontman had been eager to write with since a mutual friend suggested it a while back. \u201cBut I didn\u2019t want to cold-call him out of the blue in case he wasn\u2019t into it. So when Kenny [Loggins] called me about this situation, I jumped at the chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Together the three came up with \u201cLove in Exile,\u201d a buoyant, falsetto-filled number with welcome echoes of the Doobies\u2019 \u201cWhat a Fool Believes,\u201d which McDonald and Loggins<\/a> co-wrote half a century ago.<\/p>\n

Coco Jones<\/a>, who also appears on the album \u2014 the two sing a slinky duet called \u201cSideways\u201d \u2014 says Puth impressed her with his deep knowledge of R&B history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were some references where I was like, \u2018What even is that?\u2019\u201d she recalls with a laugh.<\/p>\n

Puth put his chops on display late last year with a series of intimate gigs at the Blue Note jazz clubs in New York and L.A., where he tastily retooled his own material and did covers like \u201cAin\u2019t No Mountain High Enough\u201d and New Edition\u2019s \u201cCan You Stand the Rain.\u201d Next month he\u2019ll take \u201cWhatever\u2019s Clever!\u201d on the road for a world tour set to stop at Inglewood\u2019s Kia Forum on April 29.<\/p>\n

Said Puth in our interview as a video crew prepped for a shoot: \u201cThere\u2019s never been so many things happening all at once for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve enjoyed your look during this album rollout: the jeans, the sweaters, the penny loafers.
It reminds me of when I went to Catholic school and you\u2019d go shopping for school clothes at the Bass outlet and they\u2019d have walls and walls of penny loafers. I wanted the record to feel like when you\u2019d open up your textbook and find obscene drawings and things that kids wrote 10 years prior.<\/p>\n

Gimme some of the specific touchstones. You\u2019ve talked about Phil Collins and Philip Bailey<\/a>. I hear Fine Young Cannibals as well.
Absolutely.<\/p>\n

Time-wise, you were thinking, what, 1984 to 1989?
\u201989 to \u201990 \u2014 \u201992 maybe.<\/p>\n

I admire the specificity.
Looking back, it seems from a technological standpoint that we were in a really important transitional time going into the \u201990s. When you heard \u201cVogue\u201d by Madonna for the first time \u2014 the driving rhythm of the 909 [drum machine] \u2014 you weren\u2019t hearing that five years prior. Then you\u2019d hear the \u201cBodyguard\u201d soundtrack \u2014 \u201cI\u2019m Every Woman,\u201d Whitney Houston. Everything felt very dance-y. Chicago house was really starting to melt its way into pop. It wasn\u2019t so underground anymore, and that\u2019s all because the technology got better.<\/p>\n

\"Charlie <\/p>\n

Charlie Puth performs the national anthem with Kenny G during last month\u2019s Super Bowl LX at Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.<\/p>\n

(Focus On Sport \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The dialed-in-ness of the sounds reminds me of John Mayer\u2019s \u201cSob Rock<\/a>.\u201d
I\u2019ve never been a person to openly show everything \u2014 I need to hide behind the music. \u201cHides\u201d isn\u2019t the best word, but there needs to be some chords \u2014 maybe some happy chords \u2014 to offset the really serious topic in the background. That\u2019s a juxtaposition I\u2019ll sometimes hear in John\u2019s music as well. Listen to [my song] \u201cWashed Up.\u201d That\u2019s a song about a heavy topic \u2014 organizing an intervention for one of your best friends. But there\u2019s trumpets on the record that almost sound like the beginning of \u201cWheel of Fortune.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWashed Up\u201d made me think of \u201cStop<\/a>\u201d by the Spice Girls.
Same key. C major is a very happy key.<\/p>\n

Also super dialed: Justin Bieber\u2019s \u201cSwag<\/a>.\u201d
There\u2019s a record on there called \u201cAll I Can Take\u201d with the swingy Lisa Stansfield \u201cAll Around the World\u201d drums. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s what he and Dijon were listening to when they were making it, but I\u2019m just glad I\u2019m hearing that in a superstar\u2019s music.<\/p>\n

Tell me about featuring Kenny G on \u201cCry.\u201d Here\u2019s a guy with a lot of layered associations.
There\u2019s some comedy there.<\/p>\n

What did you want to say by bringing him in?
I wanted to not show the humorous side. Because he\u2019s so multifaceted, he can show up in an Andy Samberg video<\/a> or he can go onstage with the Jonas Brothers and perform \u201cMy Heart Will Go On,\u201d which is maybe a little bit on the nose. But I wanted to tap into the Kenny G that was introduced to the world in the late \u201980s before the holiday albums blew up.<\/p>\n

How\u2019d you approach him?
BloodPop and I found a song on one of his albums where it\u2019s just him playing the saxophone \u2014 no pads, no piano, just him \u2014 and we put it into Melodyne and made the melody that I wanted him to play on the solo. It didn\u2019t sound great \u2014 it sounded like a demo that you\u2019d give to a musician in hopes that they would beat it. And he did just that.<\/p>\n

I wondered whether you felt the need to let him know you weren\u2019t looking to have him as a joke.
I played him the album \u2014 I think he was able to tell it was a real thing just by hearing the warmth of the chords.<\/p>\n

Is the respect of a Kenny G or a Michael McDonald or a Kenny Loggins \u2014 of an elder, let\u2019s say \u2014 is that important to you?
It is because they\u2019re a huge reason why I even made this album. You can\u2019t make an album like this and not have the guys that invented it. I want to re-create an experience for kids who might not be familiar with their catalog \u2014 to feel how their parents felt when they heard \u201cWhat a Fool Believes.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a tension on the record, though, right? At the same time that you\u2019re embracing the OGs, you have a song called \u201cDon\u2019t Meet Your Heroes.\u201d Who\u2019s that song about?
I can\u2019t say.<\/p>\n

How do you resolve that contradiction?
These are heroes I\u2019m happy I met. When you write a song with Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins, you realize they\u2019re just like you \u2014 they\u2019re songwriters. They don\u2019t have an outdated approach. I\u2019m confident I could walk in the studio with them and write a song for an artist today \u2014 a song for Dua Lipa, a song for Zara Larsson<\/a>. Listen to Olivia Dean, \u201cMan I Need.\u201d She\u2019s not starting on just a D-flat-major chord. She\u2019s starting on a D-flat with an F.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re saying that\u2019s a modern song with those silky yacht rock chords.
I think silk is in.<\/p>\n

Your song with Coco Jones might be the silkiest thing you\u2019ve ever done.
I would agree with that. That piano is called the Dig EP from the Roland JV-1080 \u2014 the preset that Babyface used on the \u201cWaiting to Exhale\u201d soundtrack.<\/p>\n

You and Coco are really pushing each other vocally.
I don\u2019t try and out-sing the guest. Coco came in and had to be at the airport in two hours for a red-eye to New York. She knew the whole song like the back of her hand.<\/p>\n

Back to \u201cDon\u2019t Meet Your Heroes\u201d: How careful were you not to reveal who it\u2019s about?
I just didn\u2019t think that\u2019s what the song called for. It\u2019s a very specific experience that happened to me that actually might not be so specific. People have looked up to somebody in whatever space they\u2019re in and worked hard to meet that person. Then it turns out it\u2019s disappointing \u2014 you wish you could reverse time and glue to the spot where you didn\u2019t know them so well. It sucks because then when you listen to their music or you watch their movies, the experience is tainted. They might still be very talented, but it\u2019s just not what it was.<\/p>\n

The album closes with \u201cI Used to Be Cringe,\u201d and I hear what you\u2019re saying. But if I still love your old song \u201cBoy,\u201d does that mean I\u2019m cringe?
I don\u2019t think \u201cBoy\u201d is cringe. Maybe the example you\u2019re looking for is \u201cMarvin Gaye,\u201d from the first album.<\/p>\n

\"Charlie <\/p>\n

Charlie Puth and his wife, Brooke Sansone, at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2024.<\/p>\n

(Myung J. Chun \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

What does it mean for a fan when an artist looks back at their old stuff and says, \u201cI\u2019m not really rocking with this anymore\u201d?
I\u2019m going over the set list for this tour, and my [music director] said, \u201cAre we doing \u2018Marvin Gaye\u2019?\u201d I was like, \u201cI don\u2019t want to do it in the doo-wop kind of Motown way.\u201d I\u2019m not in the same place in 2026 \u2014 about to be a dad, blah-blah-blah \u2014 that I was when I wrote that song. I\u2019m not saying to my wife, \u201cLet\u2019s Marvin Gaye and get it on.\u201d But I think there\u2019s a way to make everybody happy musically, and it\u2019s all in the arrangement. I can take the key down, or I can not use that specific drum pattern. Maybe the challenge is: How do I play \u201cWashed Up\u201d and go into \u201cMarvin Gaye\u201d?<\/p>\n

Your Blue Note show made me think a bit about the racial politics of blue-eyed soul: the famous white guy singing R&B while backed by a band of skilled Black players. How do you think about the complicated history of this music?
I don\u2019t pretend I invented it. I\u2019m not walking around like, \u201cLook at me \u2014 I invented water.\u201d If we\u2019re gonna go really deep, I didn\u2019t even invent the music that I wrote \u2014 maybe it was written millions of years ago, and I\u2019m just tapping into something. That\u2019s probably a conversation for another time.<\/p>\n

Save it for Joe Rogan.
I don\u2019t think I\u2019m going on Joe Rogan. But that\u2019s a real thing, what you said. And I think it\u2019s really important to pay homage. I study music every night, and I have the privilege of calling someone like Babyface and just flat-out asking him, \u201cHow did you write \u2018Whip Appeal\u2019?\u201d He says, \u201cWell, I listened to El DeBarge, \u2018Time Will Reveal\u2019 \u2014 whatever that diminished C chord is \u2014 and that\u2019s where that inspiration came from.\u201d OK, well, what was El DeBarge listening to? And on and on and on. That way, if I\u2019m ever asked the question, I have all the facts. I love the facts.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve been something of a connoisseur\u2019s fave, I think it\u2019s fair to say, which is why the Taylor Swift lyric was such a delight: \u201cWe declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist.\u201d
I\u2019ve never spoken to her about it \u2014 one day I will \u2014 but she does such a good job of opening up in her music, and I do believe in some respect that was her telling me, \u201cThere\u2019s more things to talk about in music, Charlie \u2014 maybe you should dig a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

What were the things you kept talking about instead of digging?
Relationship songs about things that ended years ago. I\u2019m thankful for those songs \u2014 they\u2019re why I\u2019m here talking to you now. But I\u2019d never written about the relationship I have with my dad. I wrote \u201cCry\u201d a week prior to his mom passing. Seeing my dad in an emotional state that I hadn\u2019t seen him in so overtly in my 34 years of life \u2014 I wanted to comfort him, and there was a way to accomplish that musically. That had to be a song.<\/p>\n

If this record succeeds in moving you out of the realm of the true heads \u2014
That\u2019s very nice, by the way.<\/p>\n

What will that mean for Charlie Puth?
I guess I\u2019d like to be not quite as underrated \u2014 maybe even, dare I say, to be overrated.<\/p>\n