We Declared Charlie Puth Should Be A Bigger Artist

You might know him as Professor Puth, the nickname Charlie has adopted over on his TikTok and Instagram for his music-making explainer videos. You may have recently been introduced to him through his rendition of the US National Anthem at the 2026 Super Bowl. Or, you probably know him from his hit song and emotional ballad “See You Again” with Wiz Khalifa from 2015 or “We Don’t Talk Anymore” with Selena Gomez. But how well do you really know him?

Often in pop music, artists are criticised for their lack of musicality, for not playing many instruments, for not being involved in production, or for working with many songwriters. I don’t always agree with this criticism; it might be controversial, but I don’t think every artist needs to know everything there is to know about music if what they put out is meaningful.

Yet, here comes Charlie Puth: a pop artist professionally trained at Berklee College of Music, widely said to have perfect pitch, can play countless different instruments, produces and writes a lot of his own music, not to mention co-writing and producing for many other artists too. He seems to know everything there is to know about music; he has all the building blocks to being the biggest artist on the planet, but he’s not.

However, when Taylor Swift dropped The Tortured Poets Department in 2024 and name-dropped Charlie with the line, “We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist”, everyone asked the same question.

Why isn’t he a bigger artist?

Album by Album

To figure that one out, I’ve gone back through his discography, revisiting his three albums from start to finish.  

Charlie’s debut album, Nine Track Mind, dropped back in 2015 and was largely a huge commercial success, featuring some of his biggest and most recognisable songs. From “One Call Away” and “Marvin Gaye (feat. Meghan Trainor)” to “We Don’t Talk Anymore (feat. Selena Gomez)” and the aforementioned “See You Again”, it is full of chart-topping hits. OverallFor the most part, this is a solid pop record and an impressive debut.

His follow-up album Voicenotes, features fewer hits, with only the lead single “Attention” achieving a top 5 chart position, but was critically appreciated for the maturity and progression since his debut. Not only that, but he earned himself a Grammy nomination for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. Critics and the public alike agree that it is not hard to deny that Charlie’s music is always well produced; it is what he does best.

By his third self-titled album, CHARLIE, interest from the wider public had mostly faded away. His dedicated following still remained, but aside from one track featuring Jung Kook (BTS), it didn’t reach as far. There’s no real reason why - again, it’s well produced and is not that different from his other records.

Outside of these three albums, Charlie has produced and co-written songs for the likes of Justin Bieber and Tate McRae. He has sung alongside many major artists, like Dan + Shay and Sabrina Carpenter on “That’s Not How This Works” or Elton John on “After All”. In many ways, he is living the ideal pop musician lifestyle; he’s incredibly well connected and has achieved huge commercial success from songs that still get played consistently today.

Nevertheless, I still wonder why fans aren’t investing in him.

Polished Production but Lacking Heart

One thing that I think we’ve learnt from some of today’s biggest artists is that pop music fans value storytelling or an emotional theme. Take the two biggest artists on the planet right now, Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny. Swift has made her career from being a talented songwriter, revealing aspects of her life in various formats, whether through the poetic style on Folklore or tongue-in-cheek lines on her most recent album, The Life of a Showgirl. Bad Bunny, on the other hand, may not put as much emphasis on clever word choices, but people can recognise a clear theme in his music, tying back to his culture and roots. When artists have such a strong emotional motive behind their music, this is what keeps fans around.

As mentioned, Charlie’s music always features sleek production, and luscious melodies. It’s the reason he has managed such big hits in the past, but the issue with this kind of music is that it is fun for a particular occasion. It’s fun for a summer, to hear on the radio, to play at a party. However, it lacks some of the heart that brings people to want to see the artist themselves perform it.

Lyrically, he has always played it somewhat safe and surface-level. He often sings about failed relationships, but never really gets that deep with them. Other times, he sings about crushing on someone, but leaves it so vague that it doesn’t feel heartfelt. The word “girl” is thrown in so much throughout a lot of his tracks that it becomes redundant and repetitive.

I’m not suggesting that every artist needs to divulge their innermost secrets and personal life into their lyrics, but reusing the same themes tends to get a little tiring. To give Charlie his flowers, there are some lesser-known tracks of his that do have a little more to offer in this area.

“Through It All” is the piano ballad that closes out Voicenotes, with Charlie singing, “You won't see me crying if tomorrow never comes / God only knows, I've been through it all”, offering up a heartfelt, quiet moment in what is a very musically rich album. Also on the record is “Change” with James Taylor, a song that encourages people to love and accept each other. He debuted the song at the Los Angeles March For Our Lives demonstration in 2018, labelling the song as “the right song to perform right now." It’s a poignant song that many can relate to, and an example of meaningful storytelling that doesn’t have to dive into the artist’s private life.

If Charlie combined his incredible production and instrumental abilities with some of these more emotive themes, I think he’d have something truly special.

A New Era

As luck may have it, it seems that those wishes are about to be answered. Back in October, Charlie announced his fourth studio album, Whatever’s Clever!, due for release on March 27^th, and has, so far, dropped three singles. These few tracks have signified a remarkable change in both his sound and songwriting. Just from the track list alone, this album sounds far more interesting than some of his previous work.

“Changes”, “Beat Yourself Up” and “Cry” represent the type of music I have been craving to hear from Charlie. They are fun, instrumentally rich, with his usual sleek production, and show off his vocal ability. Plus, they’re meaningful. On “Changes”, he documents growing older and experiencing shifts in his life, whether that be friend breakups or settling down. “Beat Yourself Up” tells the listener not to be so hard on themselves over small mistakes and inspires them to keep going.

Elsewhere on the album, it looks like Charlie is sonically shifting. With features like Ravyn Lenae and Coco Jones, will this record lean into a more soulful sound? With Jeff Goldblum featuring on track number 11, and “Cry” already including a captivating saxophone section from the incomparable Kenny G, is Charlie finally pushing jazz to the forefront in his music?

Speaking to ABC News, Charlie said that he usually figures “out what the sound is going to be first”, leaving the lyrics to an afterthought.

“This fourth album is the first time where I’m putting life first and letting the melody follow.”

It’s a shift that you can hear in this new music. Suddenly, it doesn’t feel as lyrically shallow. In fact, it feels warm and comforting. Charlie is pulling from his own life, sharing what he’s learnt and, as a result, has created something special.

It’s the kind of fun and musical sound that radiates through the work of artists like Lawrence, who have, coincidentally, just been announced as a support act for select dates on his upcoming Whatever’s Clever! World Tour. A perfect choice, if you ask me.

There are still tickets left for his shows across North America and Europe, and from this new album so far, I think this has the potential to be a great show. I can imagine (and am hoping) that it will feature an impressive live band, and maybe even a live chorus to bring his tracks to life.

With the album out at the end of this month, I can’t wait to see Charlie become the ‘bigger’ artist that he should’ve been all along.

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