When Taylor Swift sang “Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist” on The Tortured Poets Department, Charlie Puth took that to heart.
The singer tells Rolling Stone hearing Taylor name-drop him in that way lit a fire under him creatively.
“I don’t know if that was the moment where I realized that I needed to write a certain kind of music, but it was definitely affirming that one of the biggest stars in the world knows me,” he says. “It’s like, ‘I better write something good, ’cause maybe she, and some others, will hear it.’”
Charlie says part of becoming “a bigger artist” was deciding to “let people in a little bit more.” He adds that in the beginning of his career, “It was more about making sure that people were happy.”
He says the first song he wrote for his new album Whatever’s Clever! is called “I Used to Be Cringe,” which details the things he used to do when he was still figuring out what kind of artist he wanted to be. He says the whole song came to him during a 30-minute car ride.
“And it’s all just because Taylor had said something about me,” he said. “It gave me enough excitement to write another song in my head. And now we’re ending the album with that.”
Whatever’s Clever! comes out March 27.
Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.