Charlie Puth has done an excellent job of shaking off his boy wonder reputation. Puth, reputed to have had perfect pitch at an early age, is unafraid to be flirty and risqué in his relations with the press and his social media posts. Lately, if he’s not actually naked, he’s talking about being naked, musing about writing songs while naked or for being naked, or recalling taking a pause during a romantic interlude (ostensibly while naked) to record a voice note for a song idea.
As Miley Cyrus twerked away her Hannah Montana history, so is Puth creating an image that obscures his origin as a child prodigy. His mother began piano instruction when the New Jersey native was old enough to sit up on a piano bench and, by 2009, he was posting cover songs to YouTube. He was introduced to the public by Ellen DeGeneres, but after a deal with DeGeneres’ record label fell through he went back to studying and attended New England Music Camp, Manhattan School of Music and Berklee College of Music.
Seasoned in all aspects of recording and possessing a distinct upper range, Puth hit Hollywood and established himself. By 2015, he had a No. 1 hit with Wiz Khalifa, “See You Again,” and followed up with “Marvin Gaye,” featuring Meghan Trainor, and “One Call Away.” He’d break into the Top 10 again with Selena Gomez on “We Don’t Talk Anymore” and in 2017 with “Attention.”
He’s playing his hits now on The Charlie Live Experience Tour, with his next album currently a work in progress. Puth had shown a flair for the dramatic in his videos, most notably for his latest collaboration (with Dan + Shay) “That’s Not How This Works.” It should not be surprising if he is cast as a romantic lead in a future box office hit, which means now is the time to catch him live while he’s as focused on how he sounds as on how he looks.
The Cosmopolitan, 8 p.m. July 8, starting at $45 plus tax and fee. ticketmaster.com
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