Charlie Puth says he had a “wake-up call” after Elton John gave his painfully honest opinions on Puth’s music. (Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic/Phillip Faraone/Getty for iHeartMedia)
Charlie Puth has said that Elton John’s painfully honest opinion about his music was the “wake-up call” he needed.
The “Light Switch” singer revisited the confronting moment with Elton during an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Charlie Puth said the “most important” thing a songwriter can do is “tell the truth” through their work, and admitted that he “wasn’t really doing that in 2019”.
The person who got him out of that rut and “awoke [his] senses was none other than Elton John,” Puth told DeGeneres.
He explained how Elton saw him at a Los Angeles restaurant and quickly got real with him.
“He came up to me and said, ‘How are you? Hi… You know, your music sucked in 2019. It wasn’t good’,” Puth recalled.
“It was like a gut punch, but I had been thinking that as well.”
Charlie Puth explained that he had gone through a “messy break-up” at the time, which contributed to his mindset.
Elton John’s frank opinion was “kind of a wake-up call” for him, he said, as he was “in denial a little bit”.
As the pandemic hit, Puth decided to create a “new way of making music”.
“[I] decided I would never put out a song again if it weren’t the truth,” he said.
Charlie Puth has spoken about Elton John’s brutal honesty before. He told Kelly Clarkson that he was visiting the legend’s house when the he him about the state of his music in 2019.
“He just basically said that I can make a lot better music, and he said that I should just make it myself like I always do,” Puth said. “And I was like, ‘Wow, you’re the first that’s ever said that to me’.”
He continued: “But I was thinking the exact same thing when he said that.”
Puth added that he didn’t know the two were was neighbours until the “Rocket Man” singer said that he wanted to work with him.
He said Elton’s house is “so amazing” because there is a “lot of Gucci”, and there were “two real Picassos on either side” when he entered the home.
“It’s exactly how you’d imagine Elton John’s house to be,” Puth said.