Who is to blame? Although Charlie Puth‘s music is always a topic of conversation for his fans, the performer admitted that he doesn’t mind the speculation.
“It’s my own fault. I would rather inspire them to — if they’re musicians — maybe they want to do the same thing,” Puth, 30, exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, February 1, while promoting his Frito-Lay Super Bowl spot for their “Unleash Your Flamin’ Hot” campaign. “Put some real-life feelings with melody on top of it.”
The singer, who released his latest single “Light Switch” late last month, has previously been linked to Selena Gomez, Bella Thorne, Halston Sage and Charlotte Lawrence.
Although Puth doesn’t mind when his supporters try to connect his music to his personal life, there have been some interactions that he was less prepared for. The New Jersey native recalled once receiving hair from a fan which he promptly “threw” away. He noted that he prefers “the nicer things” that he gets from fans such as personal notes.
“[My favorite notes mention] that my music has helped them through difficult times and that maybe taught them something musically, like, the whole point of me making a TikTok account was to not stunt on people musically. It was to inspire the musicians and not musicians alike,” he shared with Us. “If you’re not a musician and you’ll watch my videos on this platform, maybe it’ll inspire you to make a beat or [pick up] a piano and learn how to play it.”
Puth revealed that he hopes his upcoming album will continue to inspire his fans by showing a new side of him, saying, “I’m being the most authentic I’ve ever been and sonically as well. I produced this whole record for it to sound consistent. I wanted to push the limits. I wanted to push the tempos of things and I wanted to push the different sounds that I don’t think anyone’s used in the way. I’m calling it Charlie for that reason.”
The “Attention” singer has also branched out by appearing in the new Frito-Lay commercial as an animated beatboxing fox. For Puth, the process was “super fun” even though he was initially worried about his lack of an acting background.
“It was super easy for me to become the Fox because I had never done voiceover work before. I was a little nervous about that, but Frito-Lay told me that they just wanted me to be me, so I just imagined myself,” he detailed. “I did a couple of takes of when I was recording the beatbox and I kind of did a little bit of a high pitch thing, thinking about what a Fox would do. But they assured me that they just wanted me to become the Fox. It was really fun to see it all come together and create this musical part virtually. It ended up being a beautiful thing.”
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
