Pop Music’s Boy Wonder Charlie Puth is Horny and Hungies

Charlie Puth is horny as hell, and he’s proud of it, babe. The New Jersey native, who rose to fame after appearing on Ellen as a little kid to cover “Someone Like You,” has matured from his adorable beginnings into a sexually liberated adult who frequently posts ass on main. “I have always loved being naked,” he told me. “I really do have kind of a nice butt.” He’s currently touring his most recent album, Charlie —“a lyrical self-correcting-of-bad-habits record,” as he describes it— with a theatrically-inclined show titled “The ‘Charlie’ Live Experience.” And while he’s grateful to have made art that helped him work through the grief of romantic dissappointments, his next record, he muses, will honor his horny side. “Now that I’ve grown as a person, the goal is to make the music that’s going to be playing in the background when I do look at myself in the mirror,” he says. Passing through Irving, Texas on the U.S. leg of his international tour, Puth got on Zoom to discuss his love of nudity, his sex playlist, new music, and my hickey.

———

HILTON DRESDEN: There he is. Hey.

CHARLIE PUTH: Hey.

DRESDEN: How are you?

PUTH: I’m good. Can you see me? I’m in Texas right now.

DRESDEN: Oh wow. For your tour?

PUTH: Yes, for my tour, and I’m outside right now because the air conditioning was too cold and I like a hot room.

DRESDEN: Well, I can hear you just fine. I’m Hilton, by the way.

PUTH: Nice to meet you. I like your name.

DRESDEN: It’s a family name. Is yours?

PUTH: Yeah, my dad is actually Charles Otto Puth. And I’m Charles Otto Puth, Jr.

DRESDEN: I had no idea.

PUTH: And in a chaotic move, I also named my dog Charlie.

DRESDEN: Does that get confusing?

PUTH: Oh, yeah. Wildly.

DRESDEN: How’s the tour going? Have you had any memorable moments with fans?

PUTH: We started off in Guadalajara for a festival and that was like 40,000 people. I was like, “Okay, I don’t expect every night to be like this,” but I’m always surprised that people show up. I guess it’s kind of ingrained in my mind to not be cocky because I remember not performing for talent shows in high school because I was afraid that people would make fun of me for singing. Being in band wasn’t really a thing in my football-based high school. But I remember seeing Hairspray for the first time in 2001 in Manhattan. I hadn’t seen a lot of Broadway shows, but I just remember being captivated. I had never heard performers and singers sing a song and then in the middle of the song interrupt themselves with dialogue. And then they’d somehow go back into the song. I always told myself if I ever had the guts to perform in front of people, that I would be slightly theatrical.

DRESDEN: I was a musical theater freak myself. And I guess I’m kind of surprised to hear that you have those nerves. You don’t get over that? You’ve been a superstar for a decade at least now, right?

PUTH: That’s so nice of you. I still don’t feel like that. I know that I’m not unpopular. I know that people will show up. But I’ll be backstage and I’ll hear people cheering my name and think to myself, “I just can’t believe that people spent money to be here.” And when I’m on stage, I get so lost in the music that all that neurosis goes away. I wish I was a little bit cockier, but I’m getting there.

DRESDEN: Well, you seem to have a little bit of a cockiness to you just based on your online presence, which I want to talk about. Tell me about your horniness online, your thirst traps.

PUTH: I remember I went to this thing called New England Music Camp, and it was in Sydney, Maine and it was 2007. And everyone had, “Hey There, Delilah” in their MySpace. But I remember just walking around because I still don’t think I’m the most attractive, good-looking person, but I know I’m not ugly, and I think that’s a good thing. Nobody’s ugly. Everyone’s beautiful in their own way.

DRESDEN: Everyone’s beautiful. You’re very cute.

PUTH: Thank you. You can write that. And I remember it’s July 2007 and I’m living with all guys and it’s sweaty and it’s hot. There’s no AC and the girls are in their own campgrounds. And we all meet in the cafeteria, and I’m kind of tan and the guys and girls are looking at me and it was the first time where I was kind of feeling myself a little bit. And I liked that. I had big puffy hair and, I don’t know, that never leaves you, being afraid to perform because you’re afraid of getting bullied. And I think that’s right around the age where you’re the spongiest of sponges.

DRESDEN: I relate so much. It is fun to show off your body if you feel comfortable in it. So what was the journey for you to get to the point of posting your ass on that swing for such a large audience of people?

PUTH: I really have always loved being naked, and I’m going to be careful how I choose my words because I don’t want people to take this the wrong way. Again, I’m not captivated by the way that I look, but I know that I’m not ugly. So sometimes I’d look at myself in the mirror and I’d be like, “I really do have kind of a nice butt.” And what’s wrong with liking your features? I have really long arms and abnormally large hands. That’s probably why I play piano. Even today, I woke up and it’s kind of fun to look at yourself naked and admire your body.

DRESDEN: Totally.

PUTH: I’m not going to ever be inappropriate and naked in front of people who don’t want to see me naked. But If I’m in my backyard, there’s a lot of trees back there and I know that no one’s looking in, I feel safe. You get a lot of vitamin D. Is that what the sun gives?

DRESDEN: Yeah, vitamin D.

PUTH: But there always could be a possibility that someone has binoculars. It’s just always in the corner of your mind that somebody could be looking, which is always kind of exciting.

DRESDEN: It’s kind of fun. Do you get good responses to these thirst traps that warm your heart?

PUTH: I’d be lying if I said I didn’t see them. But I don’t do it to force this narrative or anything like that. I’m just in constant mode of celebrating my body.

DRESDEN: Of course.

PUTH: I remember being on Tumblr in 2014 and seeing all these naked people and thinking to myself, “I wonder what they’re listening to as they took these beautiful pictures.” I don’t even… Is Tumblr still a thing?

DRESDEN: Well, they took the porn off of it, so it kind of died.

PUTH: Well, regardless, I’m always thinking, “What the fuck? If they weren’t listening to anything when they took these pictures, what could I create to make them take more of these pictures?” I’m always trying to make music for people’s moods. What kind of chords are they listening to? There’s chords for every mood, and I’m here to discover them.

DRESDEN: Well, what do you listen to when you’re celebrating your body? of your body? Are there songs on the most recent album, Charlie, that would fit that bill?

PUTH: I wouldn’t consider the album to be a sexy album. It’s kind of like a lyrical self-correcting-of-bad-habits record, where I had to force myself out of a bad habit in a not-great relationship and do a lot of self-reflecting and become a better person. I don’t know how hot that is to listen to in the bedroom, but I definitely had never made a project like that before. This next album, however, now that I’ve grown as a person, the goal is to make the music that’s going to be playing in the background when I do look at myself in the mirror. Because I’ve never made [music] for myself. I’ve always made it for other artists and I’ve always made it for other people.

DRESDEN: That sounds exciting and fun.

PUTH: Yeah. It is exciting and fun. I think the album will come out next year, but I definitely want to get songs out because it’s half-done right now.

DRESDEN: I really liked “Charlie Be Quiet!” on Charlie. I feel like that would be a fun one to get naked too.

PUTH: There’s always music to be intimate with and I’ve always been profoundly intrigued by music that isn’t sexy-sounding but the people involved or a person, solo session maybe, they make it so. It’s the people that make the music sexy. You know what I mean?

DRESDEN: What’s on your sex playlist, if I may?

PUTH: It’s usually Roy Ayers, Delegation’s “Oh Honey.” Sometimes it’s just “Blue in Green” by Miles Davis.

DRESDEN: Oh, I love that one.

PUTH: I have a place in New York and I always hope that it snows and/or rains while I’m having sex because I want to put that record on. I went to Manhattan School of Music in Harlem and would always listen to jazz on the ride up there. You think that I’d want to listen to something else after having played eight hours of jazz? But it’s always jazz for me in any scenario. Never hip-hop. That feels like, too on the nose, like having Drake playing in the background.

DRESDEN: I’ve tried that before and it feels too put on. Can we circle back to the album a little? Because I went through a breakup a year ago, so I’m really in tune with anything that’s about grief and heartbreak and unrequited love. This album definitely covers a lot of that territory. Like, “Marks On Your Neck.” I actually have a hickey on my neck.

PUTH: I noticed that. Good for you.

DRESDEN: Thanks.

PUTH: I wrote the song in the middle of the act, maybe I should have focused on the act a little bit more, but the melody just kind of popped into my head and I actually had stopped and recorded a little quick voice note and then had to get back into the act. But that’s where that melody came from. I was getting over somebody and what better way [to do that] than meet new people? It probably wasn’t going to work out with this person and that was what I was energetically picking up, which is okay. It’s all about the experience. And I remember waking up and looking at myself in the mirror, noticing these marks on my neck, and every day they’d heal and fade but so would the person who put them on me. And we went our separate ways. I’m thankful for the experience and maybe they are as well but I just thought it was interesting that a person can fade away at the same pace of the scars on your neck.

DRESDEN: Totally. Although some heartbreak takes even longer.

PUTH: Of course.

DRESDEN: You’re so open on TikTok about your music-making process. Is that something the label is pushing you to do, or do you just genuinely enjoy engaging with people online?

PUTH: I do. I mean, the old TikTok for me was making music in front of people I didn’t know in real life. He probably doesn’t remember this but Mike Will, the prolific record producer, when I first moved out to LA I asked him, “How do you know if a record’s going to do well?” He said he takes it to the strip club and they’ll rent a studio in Atlanta, go to Blue Flame, and play the song they’re working on. And if people aren’t dancing in the way that they had hoped, they’ll take it back to the studio and tweak it, and then go back to the strip club. I thought that was so ingenious and apparently it’s been done for years. And that’s originally where I got the idea, in a virtual sense, to take these half-baked songs and gauge my fans’ reactions. And if something doesn’t feel exciting or it’s not hitting enough, I’ll slightly alter it in the hopes of getting a different reaction. The label is definitely facilitating that as well. They’re encouraging me, I should say. So I’m excited to be around people who care about the whole body of work.

DRESDEN: Are the hits your favorites? Or do you have your own deep cuts that are your little babies?

PUTH: It wasn’t a hit record, it was just on my last album, it was called “Boy” and it was the first time in my career that the LGBTQ community and the music-head community joined forces. And I was getting kids from Berkeley and those who do drag making video responses on YouTube saying, “I didn’t really like this kid before, but I liked this song.” I didn’t even know that was possible, that the two communities could converge like that. But of course it’s possible, and it inspired me to make more music like that. That’s what the next album is. It’s music I can look at myself in the mirror and listen to, and hopefully others can celebrate their bodies by looking into the mirror.

DRESDEN: Well, that sounds fabulous. I can’t wait to hear it. I have to ask about, “I’m hungies.” I’m sure you get this all the time, but I’m just curious.

PUTH: I’m sure I said it in my subconscious and I just blurted it out. I think I was probably half-asleep. I remember seeing it and thinking, “Oh God, that does sound like some stupid crap I would say.” I don’t remember saying it, but it sounds like something I would say.

DRESDEN: Oh, you don’t remember saying it? I think it’s an inspiration. I’ve picked it up myself and incorporated it into my own vocabulary.

PUTH: It’s kind of like baby talk. It’s like what you’d say to a dog or something. When I meet a dog, I kind of allude to a baby tone like, “Oh my god, you’re such a cute little baby dog.” But maybe I just didn’t eat that day and I was on the way to lunch. “I’m so hungies.”

DRESDEN: I mean, it’s human.

PUTH: I’m not denying it.

DRESDEN: Wait, so it got leaked by your driver at the time?

PUTH: I guess I didn’t really have amazing representation like I do now with the lovely folks who set this call up, because I guess I had an interviewer sit in the car with me. That would never happen now. I believe it was a day-in-the-life piece for, I don’t even remember what magazine.

DRESDEN: Just to be crystal clear, I don’t think “I’m hungies” is anything to be ashamed of.

PUTH: I never expected it to reach so many people, but I’m glad that people know me for more than just that.

DRESDEN: So there are stupid, splashy headlines I feel compelled to ask you about. Meghan Trainor was saying you guys made out in your [studio] session. That sounds so hot and fun.

PUTH: It was. I had just moved to LA and yeah, I’m not denying that happened. That definitely did happen once in 2015. I also don’t think I’d ever had vodka before, Grey Goose vodka.

DRESDEN: Oh, that was your first Grey Goose.

PUTH: Yeah, I hadn’t drank fancy vodka like that. So it was an exciting time for me. I was living in fucking Disneyland. I mean, you can only imagine. Two months before, I was living at my parents’ house which wasn’t bad. But two months later, I’m living in Hollywood. And I have a song and a movie coming out and one of the biggest pop stars wants to do a song with me and I’m in this fancy recording studio where I didn’t know what a runner was. They said, “What do you want?” And I was like, “Oh, I’ll just call and I’ll pick up a pizza for myself.” They were like, “No, we’ll get it for you.” I felt like I was on top of the world. So sure, if Meghan wanted to kiss me, I was definitely down. I think Meghan’s one of the most brilliant songwriters still. I even love her new song.

DRESDEN: “Mother.”

PUTH: She’s just so good melodically and has such a classic approach to songwriting. That’s probably why we got along. We’re still friends to this day.

DRESDEN: She seems like a sweetheart. So, I saw that you have an unscripted comedy series coming out. What is that?

PUTH: It’s kind of like a hybrid scripted-unscripted reality show. I’m writing the episodes right now.

DRESDEN: Oh, wow. So you’re writing it.

PUTH: I’m not doing it all. I can’t take all the credit, but it’s just what you see on TikTok, it’s more of a formal show. Like a 28-minute episode, how music affects my life and vice versa. I don’t want to compare it to anything because I’d like to think that there’s nothing like it, but I’m really excited to partner with Roku. They’re so supportive and they’re the nicest people I’ve ever met. And I never thought that I would have a TV show one day. All the things that I told myself that I couldn’t do in high school, I’m doing right now. And that should be an inspirational thing for anybody reading this.

DRESDEN: Wow. I’m inspired. I mean, I want to go make a TV show now too.

PUTH: I’m painting my nails green like yours right after this.

DRESDEN: It’s like Olive Hunter Forest. You should definitely do it. Go to Beauty Bar. There was a great woman there. Well, I guess you’re in Texas so you can’t…

PUTH: I’m in Texas, but I’ll go to New York and go to Beauty Bar.

DRESDEN: Maybe I’ll see you there.

PUTH: Yeah, maybe we will see each other.

DRESDEN: I’ll let you go. It was a pleasure talking to you and good luck with the rest of the tour and everything.

PUTH: Thank you very much. Pleasure talking to you. I love talking about this stuff.

———

Grooming: Kumi Craig using La Mer at The Wall Group

Shot at: The Sherry-Netherland