I didn't grow up wealthy. We couldn't even afford spaghetti sauce when I was first born, but my mom and dad worked really hard and came from the bottom up.
— Charlie Puth
He's the reason why I write music. If he's reading this - James Taylor, I'd love to work with you! My mom would put headphones on her belly before I was born, so I've been listening to him literally all of my life. When my dad played me 'Walking Man,' I heard those chord changes and that melody, it completely blew me away.
I was bit by a dog when I was two years old, and it almost mauled my face. It almost killed and/or blinded me. I was this close to dying at two, which is terrible. I survived it, and there was no head trauma or anything like that. Honestly, it was a miracle.
I'm a homebody times ten.
I used to be opposed to collaboration, and that's probably why the music in the past wasn't as good. Writing with other people, especially the great writers that I've had the privilege to write with, it activates something in your mind that you wouldn't use alone.
I've gone through many phases in music in my life. Before I was signed, I was making completely different music, and my fan base has followed me. They continue to follow me as the music progresses and as I grow as an artist. As long as I stay true and don't pretend to be someone I'm not, I hope they'll come along with it.
Everyone's gone through a breakup, and I've dated girls in the past where... I've never had a messy breakup, thankfully, but I'm never the one to end it. I'm always caught off guard as to why things ended because I guess I'm oblivious in a way.
Shy Carter helped me write 'One Call Away.' He is a brand new artist. I really want to help jumpstart his career because I think he's super-talented.
The fact that people are actually shaving their eyebrows is very flattering. But it's crazy that people are singing songs I wrote in my bedroom.
I skipped class a lot.
I'm in L.A., I'm in my early 20s, and I'm like, 'There are so many pretty girls here! Let's Marvin Gaye and get it on!'
My first date ever, I was kind of nervous, so I was like, 'I'm going to bring Brady to this walk on the beach with this girl,' and she was like, 'Oh my gosh, I have a King Charles Cavalier, too.' I'm like, 'Money, perfect, amazing.'
I actually get a lot of messages with people saying, 'What's a Marvin Gaye?' and, I mean... Oh, wow. I must be getting old, because someone who was born in 2004 just asked me what a Marvin Gaye was.
I started piano when I was four. My mom taught me. And then I went to Manhattan School of Music during high school, like every Saturday. And then I went to Berklee for college, in Boston.
Marvin Gaye is an inspiration to me. He was one of the first Motown musicians that my mom and dad introduced me to, and I always thought it would be a good idea if I was ever an artist, and now I am, to make a record called 'Marvin Gaye.'
I'm down to act a little bit - go on a couple auditions or make one of those three-second cameos with one line.
On YouTube, when you have a big viral success with a song that isn't your own, the natural inclination for most YouTubers is to keep doing that. What you really should do is show people that you actually have substance and can write your own music.
I've always weaseled my way into Grammy parties to network and everything, but now I have a legitimate reason to be there - it's so cool.
When Marvin Gaye made his music, he evoked this feeling that would reach everybody.
I went on Ellen once, and even then, I was just a bad performer. It was nerve-racking at first playing in front of all her fans who really wanted to see her. Her fans are so young and accepting to new people, and it helped that they knew 'Marvin Gaye,' too.
If a girl sings a sexy song, I actually become even more attracted to them.
I'm a huge Marvin Gaye fan.
The only thing that my fans expect out of me is for it to be natural and not forced. They know me really well, and the moment I start to force something and pretend to be something I'm not, they're gonna pick up on it. They'll literally call me out on Twitter, like, 'Charlie, this is not you.'
I've worked with Lil Wayne and Wiz, but I'd like to work with Snoop next. I love 'Paid tha Cost to Be da Boss' and 'Doggystyle' and pretty much anything he puts out. And Ice Cube - like, all the legends.
I was raised in a Catholic school, and I would always go to church on Sunday, and I would hear the same music over and over and over and over again, same gospels, hymns, everything.
When I get high anxiety, I vomit. My mom was so stressed out. Then I found out I was staying in John Mayer's old dorm room, and I had a nice roommate. That completely brought me down. I was completely comfortable at Berklee.
The scar on my eye is a result of the doctor's sewing up my face. It was 450 stitches and plastic surgery.
I would be a giraffe because I just want to experience what a sore throat and being a giraffe feels like. It would be really uncomfortable walking around in the Sahara and being like, 'I really need, like, 15 lozenges for my giraffe body.'
I came out to L.A. to be a songwriter and not an artist, and I'm so excited because I always secretly wanted to be an artist.
It's crazy because I have a scar on my right eyebrow, but people who don't know me very well think that I just intentionally shave that part of it.
What's cool about the beatboxing is I was so afraid to sing in front of my peers, my parents, anybody. I just wouldn't do it. So in sixth grade, I would turn to beatboxing because it made me feel better. Like, I can beatbox 'Drop It Like It's Hot.' Doing that a bunch of times eventually gave me the confidence to sing in front of people.
I started making remixes for every specific girl I wanted to date. That's how I learned how to use Pro Tools, and then I started making my own music.
If I was on a 'Modern Family' kind of show, and they said, 'You have to say that the burger is $5.55; Have a good day!'... I could do that!
It's very easy for people to put out music.
When I wrote 'Marvin Gaye,' my whole intention was to make a record that people would put on a record player... and just instantly make out with each other.
I think it was at 16 when I forced myself because my dad had nagged me for an entire year. Like, 'Come on, sing for people. You have a nice voice,' and I just wouldn't do it. One evening, I just decided, 'Screw it, I'll do it.' I remember it was really bad. But I did it. So that was good.
Taylor was named after James Taylor and claims that she knows all the James Taylor songs, and I'm a huge fan of James Taylor and know all his songs, too. My dad told me that if I ever met Taylor Swift, I had to tell her that I know every James Taylor song. We started naming albums, and we were both shouting them out.
I write about love, but it's me wanting to be in love. I've never been in love. I love my mom, my dad. I want to be in love. I think I have to allow myself to get there. I'm just so in love with music. It's weird. I'm at a crossroads because I want to be in love.
'Marvin Gaye' came about my first day in L.A. It was kind of crazy that that's my first song that I wrote and it blew up that much. What's crazy is the next day I wrote 'See You Again,' so that's pretty interesting. I was trying to prove myself as a songwriter.
I think with me and the type of music that I'm trying to make, it's always going be soulful because I grew up listening to different types and variations of soulful melodies and jazz, but experimenting with different types of stylistic souls.
I don't love the whole Hollywood mentality, but I do love the weather and how motivated everyone is around here. It motivates me to make fun music. I'm an East Coaster - I'm from New Jersey, so I'll probably feel like that forever.
When we used to go to the car-wash where people would wipe the windows, my dad would go out and help them and then tip them as well, so I learned my empathy from my dad, and my mum is very empathetic too, but in a very stern way; she will always check my ego.
A lot of people don't know, but New Jersey has, like, 700,000 acres of farmland.
I didn't start singing until I was 16. I was afraid to sing in front of people.
I had three toy buckets, and I would put hot water in them because we weren't allowed to sit in the jacuzzi - we weren't old enough - so I would charge people $1, and everyone would line up, and everyone would sit in this disgusting hot water-sand-filled thing, and I would get $1 and go to the snack bar and get an Oreo.
I was carrying my friend in his casket to put him in the hearse, and I was thinking, 'I need to write a song for this guy, because he always told me I would have a No. 1 song.'
The first person that I ever heard sing a song I wrote was Jason Derulo. I was in the studio when he was doing it, and I mean, I've heard that guy's voice my whole life. When he was singing words I wrote, I started kind of choking up, but I tried to be all manly and puff my chest up and be all, 'Yeah, it's not a big deal.'
I've always made weird sounds with my mouth. I've always been fascinated by the sound design, what you can do with your mouth. I was the kid dancing around in third grade on the basketball court. While everyone would be playing sports, I would be jumping around.
I downloaded ProTools - legally, of course... and I wanted to impress girls by making remixes of songs.
One of my goals is to find an unsigned YouTube artist and feature them on my album. That's what I wished someone would've done for me.
