Ravinia 2023 Issue 1

PITCH PERFECT Charlie Puth is a current pop hero and musical old soul BY JAMES TURANO IF CHARLIE PUTH WERE MY piano teacher back when I was years old, I probably wouldn’t have quit my lessons a er just four months. Puth’s passion for all things musical and sonic is infectious. He claims to have a constant “hum” in his head that o en leads to a mental melody that might distract him from a conversation. He’s consumed by a tune. He reg- ularly references terms like a “minor seventh,” keys, scales, and tempos with a con dent casualness that inspires ddling around with them on any nearby instrument—whether you know how to play it or not. Puth, a -year-old prodigy with perfect pitch, is more than a human repository of musical knowledge. Watching him perform or compose, he exudes an almost genetic passion for music’s roots. To hear him talk about progressive chord structures and melodic passages reminds one of an insightful, revelatory master class on musical theory. But this should be no surprise—his mother was a music teacher. Puth told CBS News, “I would wake up with her playing piano every day. at was the alarm clock, her playing. I think my brain would be musically awake before I even had breakfast.” Presently, Puth is one of pop’s primary practitioners. He’s written and recorded hordes of hook- lled songs (“See You Again,” “One Call Away,” “Marvin Gaye,” “We Don’t Talk Anymore,” “Attention,” “How Long”) for himself and with a diverse cast of collaborators (Elton John, Wiz Khalifa, Meghan Trainor, Lil Wayne, Selena Gomez, James Taylor, Jung- kook of BTS). He’s also had a selection of his songs recorded by others that have found similar, soaring success (Justin Bieber), and he’s sat behind the recording board as an in-demand producer. He’s doing it all. His latest album of originals, Charlie , was released in late and boasts a slew of groove-grinding, heartfelt tracks, including “Light Switch,” “ at’s Hilarious,” “Le And Right,” “Loser,” and “Smells Like Me.” is summer, Puth takes these new tunes and his impressive bloc of blockbusters on the road with “ e ‘Charlie’ Live Experience” tour, and that timely traversal includes a highly anticipated, rst-ever performance at Ravinia Festival on June . Puth’s musical pedigree is a fortu- itous recipe of heredity, natural talent, and formal training. Raised in Rum- son, NJ (where Bruce Springsteen once lived), he was playing piano by age , could play Carole King’s classic album Tapestry in its entirety by age , and, in a moment of moxie, once gave a perfect impromptu ll-in performance at a local church when the regular organist was a no-show. Such apparent and inherent musical mastery led to a full scholarship at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, where his serendipitous break into the big time unfolded like an unlikely dream come true. A er launching an online chan- nel to feature homemade music and comedy videos, Puth entered a competition by online gossip gabber Perez Hilton, submitting a version of “Someone Like You” by Adele. e clip led to a performance on Ellen DeGeneres’s national chat show and new opportunities to release his own music and collaborate on projects and songs with others, including a co-writ- ing credit on Pitbull’s “Celebrate.” In , Puth lived up to his talent on the big stage. He signed with a ma- jor record label and released the single “Marvin Gaye,” but it was the runaway success of his next song that paved the path ahead: he co-wrote, co-pro- duced, and was featured on “See You Again,” the tribute song to the late actor Paul Walker of the Fast and Fu- rious movie franchise. It held the top of the US charts for straight weeks and was nominated for three Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year, and also snagged a Golden Globe nomination. Puth nally released his full debut album, Nine Track Mind , in with the hit “One Call Away” and never looked back. Its fol- low-up, Voicenotes , became a top- ve album, and Puth quickly became one of music’s busiest writers, producers, and featured performers on a host of songs and albums, dipping into a wide variety of styles. RAVINIA MAGAZINE • JUNE 6 – JULY 2, 2023