You're a fantastic guest. I love when you're on the show.
I really am a fan.
Every time you come on, we do something silly
or we get in some game or talk or do something.
But the last time you were on,
we did the Musical Genre Challenge.
-Ah, yes. -And we actually --
It inspired a song
that you wrote and became a giant hit.
-If you don't know, I sang like this --
♪ We don't talk anymore ♪ And you guys played with me.
-Yeah, you were doing Michael McDonald.
♪ We don't talk anymore ♪
-♪ Like we used to do ♪
♪ He had a place in... ♪
Michael McDonald just yawns when he sings.
And I was working with Calvin Harris
a couple of months ago.
And he wanted to write a song with me,
and I sang it with my normal voice
that you hear on the radio and whatnot.
And it just didn't feel as good,
so I just sang it in the Michael McDonald impression,
and the dude's like -- It's the first single on the album.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-I loved it. I love hearing that story.
It really made me happy, and I'm so happy
if I had anything to do inspire you
for the next hit -- generations to come.
You worked with a bunch of famous people that we love,
and I just figured I'd run down a couple stories quickly
just to see if you remember any of these stories.
Adam Sandler was here a few months ago
and told us that you and Halsey
performed for his daughter's sweet 16.
-Yeah, and I don't do that too often,
but when Adam Sandler calls --
I drove myself. [ Laughter ]
-"I'm there, Adam." Yeah. -I live ten minutes away
from the country club that it was at,
and I never do that but for Adam Sandler.
It's crazy to have Adam Sandler FaceTime you, by the way.
[ Laughter ] -Yeah.
-Because he does it in his Billy Madison voice. "Charlie!"
[ Laughter ]
Pink glasses on. He's such a cool guy.
-He's the greatest guy, yeah.
And he's just like...
[as Sandler] "Why don't you do this?"
[ Laughter ] -That's better.
-"Come on." -That's better.
-I'll do anything for Adam Sandler. Come on. Greatest.
He said you crushed it.
There's a story about running into Harry Styles
at a restaurant... -Oh, man.
-...and you accidentally blowing up his spot.
-Yeah. It was 2014.
I had just signed my first record contract.
And I had never been to a fancy L.A. sushi restaurant.
There's this place called Sushi Park in West Hollywood.
And I was eating,
and then Jeff and Harry walked in --
his manager, Jeff. -Oh, yeah.
-I didn't know him at the time, but I was just --
I don't get, like, smitten with anybody.
At the time, I was just, like -- had whole-body chills.
I was like, "I can't bel--" He he had a hat on.
[ Laughter ]
-So you just go like, "Wow. Cool."
-It was very 2014 One Direction era.
[ Laughter ] -Yeah.
-And I, for whatever reason, took out my phone
and I was like, "You're not gonna believe this.
What a week in L.A.
I sign a record contract.
And who walks in? None other than Harry Styles."
And then 15 paparazzi are out front in like five minutes.
-Everyone in the world knows that he's in that restaurant.
-He looks at me, and he just does a nod and follows me.
I don't know if that was a good follow.
[ Laughter ]
And that's it.
-Yeah, and you haven't heard from him since.
-No, haven't heard from him since.
I don't think he likes me very much.
-Yeah, he does. Yeah, he does. He's a nice guy.
He loves you.
There's a --
There's a scene in your video for "Light Switch,"
which, by the way, over 113 million views.
Not too shabby, bud.
-Yeah, not that I was -- Not that we were checking.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-But in the video, you're painting a red fence.
Now, I'm just saying,
a lot of Taylor Swift fans came out and said, "Ooh."
Maybe a possibility
you're hinting about something, an Easter egg.
Charlie. Char-- [ Cheers and applause ]
Charlie. Charlie and Taylor?!
No. What are you saying?
-No, I think we've spoken once.
[ Laughter ]
But that would be great.
-Okay. Alright. Alright. That's good.
So you can confirm that --
-We know each other one time.
-Okay. Perfect. That's good.
Congrats on the album.
This is -- "Charlie" is the name of the album.
-Thank you. -Yeah. It's a big hit.
A lot of people are calling this your ugly-cry album.
[ Laughter ] -Yeah, sure.
I mean, I was -- Maybe the reason why they say that
is because I was going through a lot of good things
and bad things at the same time.
-Nothing like a good ugly cry.
-It was like a black-and-white cookie,
which is probably why this is black-and-white.
And me being the sound guy, I'm thinking,
"Well, what is the feeling happy and sad coming together
at the same time sound like?"
Well, I had 12 tracks in my mind,
and on one track you have really pretty roads.
That represents the happy time in my life.
And the really ugly bass like -- Pbhbhbhbhbht-pbbhthtt --
playing at the same time as the happy roads.
And you do that 12 times, and you have a happy and sad --
Because I made this -- I produced this record myself.
Due to the pandemic, I couldn't be around a lot of songwriters.
-I was following you on all the socials, on TikTok,
and you were doing that -- I know, right?
I'm not stalking you. I'm not stalking you.
But you're a good follow. So I was --
But you were doing this thing for "Left and Right."
You're like, "Hey, I think I might invent this song."
Where it is just -- comes out of the left speaker.
-Right, right, because I was listening to "Yellow Submarine"
by the Beatles -- and "Lady Madonna."
And if you don't know, due to the limitations of the recording
that they had at the time,
you had 8 tracks recording off an 8-track.
And sometimes Paul's voice would end up on the left side
of the speaker with a hi-hat.
And if you had a busted speaker system
and it was just monophonic,
you'd only hear the instrumental.
And I thought, well, why has no one ever taken advantage of that
and written a song that has lyrics like that,
where you're singing on the left-hand side of the speaker?
What if you're in your car
and I'm on your left-hand side of your brain
and then on you're right-hand side of your brain?
-No, seriously.
But you walked us through this writing process,
and you made a giant song, by the way.
-Yeah, well, I mean, my whole thing on TikTok
is to prove that anything,
anything in this world can be made into music.
Like, everything has tonality to it.
-I wanted to test this tonight, if you don't mind.
We have stuff here.
Like, what could we do tonight?
-Well, what has sound to it?
Wait. Let me see that cup.
-This cup? -Is there anything in it?
-Yeah, there's water. -Do you have anything I can tap?
-That has tea in it. That's for you. I have cups.
I have extra cups. Do you want a cup?
-Wait. This is -- Yeah, give me a spoon
because I'm sure you have spoons somewhere.
Take another "Tonight Show" cup.
Yeah. I've marked up your table.
So, okay. I hope this works. But every --
[ Laughter ] Bear with me.
Everything has tonality to it.
So if I were to --
[ Rhythmic tapping ]
[ Humming tone ]
Here we go.
So that's kind of like a -- ♪ Ooh ♪
If I had a way to record something,
I would, like, make a whole song out of this cup right now.
-I have a way to record right now.
-Wait.
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ] -No.
[ Laughs ] -We got a setup.
-No. -Oh, yeah, oh, yeah.
This is -- -Wait. Hold this.
-I'll hold that.
Charlie, we're always ready for you here at "The Tonight Show."
That's why we love when you come back.
-Okay. -You're just making art.
-What is this? This is Pro Tools, so...
-I don't know how to do Pro Tools.
-I thought your producer was joking when he said that he --
-If you even mention an idea, we're going to make it happen.
If it makes it on the air or not, we don't know, but...
-Okay, so, everyone bear with us for a second.
I'm gonna -- Okay. So I'm gonna record --
This is what I do on TikTok.
I'm gonna do it on the show that started it all.
You record a little -- [ Tapping ]
That's it. Wait. Hold on.
[ Tapping ] There. Ooh.
[ Tapping ]
I like the little -- Okay. Here. Take that.
You can put that down. -You just got that.
-Okay. So... -♪ Dee-dee, dee-dee ♪
-Here it is. Can we get sound?
[ Tapping ] Ooh.
That's -- Here. Play that again.
This is -- There we go.
So I can put it --
[ Tapping ]
There's the sound of the glass.
But if you pitch it down...
[ Tapping sound played as descending scale ]
♪♪
So that's just one note.
I feel like I'm teaching all of a sudden.
-This is like a master class! I love this.
[ Vocalizing ]
♪♪
So, this is what that sounds like here.
[ Tapping echoing ]
Ooh. We got reverb.
Ugh.
[ Tapping booms ]
Too much. Wait.
So I can -- Okay. So, that's one layer.
And I can add a little rhythm to it.
Again, that's the cup sound.
♪♪
Okay. And then we need, like, a bass or something.
♪♪
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Oh, I'm not done.
Okay, so that's looping.
Again, these are all just cup sounds pitched down.
If I put a kick drum, then you have a completed...
[ Kick drum thumping ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
-What?! -Wow.
And there you go. That's a whole song.
-That's how you do it right there! Come on!
[ Cheers and applause ]
Charlie Puth. That is amazing!
"Charlie" is available right now,
and he's performing for us later in the show.
We'll be right back with Kate del Castillo.
Stick around, everybody! -♪ Let's get it ♪
♪♪