From Charlie Puth’s strong falsetto, to his perfect pitch, to his strange Instagram and TikTok presence, he’s making a mark in many ways.
Puth’s latest hit, “Light Switch,” released on Jan. 20, highlights his most recent step in a quest to find a niche and a distinctive style.
The singer got his foot in the door on Wiz Khalifa’s track, “See You Again” back in 2015. Puth went on to work with Meghan Trainor on the song “Marvin Gaye,” Selena Gomez on “We Don’t Talk Anymore,” and G-Eazy on “Sober.”
His first 2016 studio album, “Nine-Track Mind,” peaked at number four on iTunes, but Puth later came out and agreed with the negative reviews on his first album. His second album, “Voicenotes,” did much better and he had much more control as he produced it in his home in L.A. However, even after that success, the artist remained set on venturing into new territory with his third studio album.
In preparation for this, Puth wiped his Instagram of all pictures and videos predating March 2021—all for the release of his single, “Light Switch.”
“Light Switch” was teased on TikTok and blew up, amassing 15.8 million likes and over 119 million views. Building off the popularity of this video, he began to post sequel videos that shared snippets of other songs, saying that “this album is going to be my best yet.”
Puth took over TikTok, not only with his upcoming single, but with different TikTok trends. One of the trends poked fun at the creation of “Light Switch” by imagining different real-life scenarios in which Puth would use the voice memos app and record a sound to use later in a song.
Puth then released the acoustic version of “Light Switch” on Feb. 18. The song has over 73 million streams on Spotify.
Though Puth is swimming in fame, “Light Switch” soon became the singer’s entire focus, and it got weird. He posted a picture in his underwear for his 30th birthday with the caption “Light Switch is coming!!” The following month he posted a picture of him seductively eating a banana.
Puth has been riding high on his viral TikTok fame for a while in building anticipation for his new album. The anticipation and slight controversy Puth has built up would lead one to believe the album is going to be an entirely new sound and style, but “Light Switch” is very recognizably Charlie Puth in both respects.
I would predict the album won’t sound too much different from his old stuff, which I enjoyed. Either way, “Light Switch” is a promising single, even if Puth himself is a little unhinged.