-Welcome -- welcome back to our show.
We love having you here. -I love everyone here.
This is really -- [ Cheers and applause ]
-And happy holidays to you. -Happy holidays.
-'Cause it's the holiday season, and I -- you know,
I was doing a little digging. -Oh, God.
-And finding out stuff about you.
And your career got started
kind of during the holiday season.
[ Laughter ] -Oh, my God.
-You know what I'm -- -No.
-Do you know what I'm talking about?
-Uh, I think I do. -Your first --
-Did you talk to my mom? [ Laughter ]
-Not only did I talk to her... -My heart's racing.
-I got photos. -No!
-You -- This is your first album technically, I guess.
Right? -Yeah. Well, this is --
I made this album -- How did you get this?
[ Laughter ] I made this album in 2003.
I was in sixth grade. And the piano that I got
at the time had a CD burner in it.
And there was no piano that had a CD burner.
This when CDs were popping. And I made an entire album.
You have the album art?!
-This is the album art, here. This is "Very --"
[ cheers and applause ]
-[ Laughs ] -"A Very Charlie Christmas?"
-Yep, it was called, "Have A Very Charlie Christmas."
[ Laughter ]
-What I love about this is all the songs you're doing,
all the songs and you're saying who played piano
and who performed the vocals.
-Piano and vocal, Charlie Puth. Piano and vocal, Charlie Puth.
On every -- on every song. [ Laughter ]
"Yeah, we know. It's your album."
[ Cheers and applause ]
Well, it was such a big hit.
How many copies did you give out?
-I gave out a hundred copies. I sold them at this place
called Brooklyn Bagel in -- in Rumson, New Jersey.
And I would go door to door, kind of like a boy scout,
and just sell them these CDs.
-So, they are out there. They exist.
If anyone has one, it's probably worth a lot of money right now.
-Oh, someone has tremendous blackmail on me.
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
Well, I mean, it was such a giant hit,
you had to come out with a sequel record.
-You are joking! No!
You are kidding me! [ Drumroll ]
-Guys, this is "Have A Very Charlie Christmas 2 --
Volume 2." -No, no.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
-Dude, your mom was very good to us.
-Okay, so -- -You didn't --
So you didn't learn your lesson for the first one.
-So, at this point, I knew I wanted to be, like,
a really famous guy.
I really wanted to be famous at this point.
So, I took a picture of myself by the piano at my home.
And I kind of up the budget a little bit.
We upgraded to jewel cases I bought at Staples at the time.
[ Laughter ] -Wow!
-Look at this little design that --
-No, you did a great job there.
-That is so embarrassing. [ Laughter ]
-Again, sung by Charlie Puth.
Produced and recorded by Charlie Puth.
Produced by Charlie Puth. Arranged by Charlie Puth.
[ Laughter ] I just love that.
Well, dude, you grew up and -- So when did you realize
that you have perfect pitch? -Right.
-Do you know this? -Yeah.
-Do you know what that is, perfect pitch?
Like, less than 1% of us have this talent.
But basically -- -I think you might have it.
The Roots told me you might low-key have it.
-Oh, I don't think I have it. -It means you can like,
hear, like any note.
Like, if I were to tell you to play an F-sharp,
it would be ♪ Ah ♪
[ Piano plays F-sharp in unison ]
-Wow. -Or a G. ♪ Ah ♪
[ Piano plays G in unison ] -Or C-sharp. ♪ Ah ♪
[ Piano plays C-sharp in unison ]
What if I gave you, like, B-flat?
-♪ Ah ♪ [ Piano plays B-flat in unison ]
-Is that right? -So, it's almost like
I memorized the notes in my head and I could do it
from when I was like 4 years old.
It's like a weird -- It's a very odd thing.
-That's unbelievable. -Yeah.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Now, talk to me about the singles
that you're releasing now.
You've released three singles now.
-Yeah. -One is called
"I Warned Myself." -Yeah.
-The song you're performing tonight is "Mother."
-Yeah. -And you got another song
called "Cheating on You." -Yeah.
-They will not be on your new album, right?
-No, they're not. This is strictly just for the fans.
I had been working for, you know,
when "See You Again" came out,
I basically had to just jump into being an artist,
and I didn't really know how to do it.
So, I worked four years and figured it all out.
And it took some time, and I never got a chance to --
you know, I told myself,
"I want to put out a Christmas album out."
And then I told myself I wanted to one day do this,
just make music for the fans." -This is just for the fans?
-Yeah, this is just -- -Explain to me.
How do you write a song like "Mother"?
Like, how do you go about creating this song?
-Well, "Mother" was like -- and you'll hear it tonight.
It was the first time that I dreamt a melody.
And it's a complete mixolydian scale in F-sharp major,
and it goes -- [ Humming musical scale ]
Like, complete all the notes.
And I just remembered it in a dream.
And I had a dream I was in Scotland
and there were bagpipes. It was in 3/4 timing.
It went -- [ Humming melody ]
[ Laughter ] -And I woke up,
and I told my friends, "Oh, my God.
We're gonna make the first polka, waltzy, pop song."
And they were like, "We're really not doing that."
-No, no. But please don't do that.
[ Laughter ] -It was a terrible idea,
but I was listening to Tears for Fears.
[ Humming and drumming to the tune of
"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" ]
-"Everybody Wants to Rule the World." And it had --
-I can't believe you just did that right now.
It was bizarre. [ Cheers and applause ]
You just do drumming and singing?
-Yeah. That's how I come up with ideas,
because everybody was like, you know, making fun of me
for wanting to do a waltzy polka song.
So I was on the drive over to the studio,
and I was like -- [ Humming and drumming ]
-And I just -- That's how I produce records.
Like, when I made "Attention" -- [ Cheers and applause ]
Thank you.
When I made "Attention," I beatboxed it.
'Cause I don't play drums like you, Quest.
So, have to like, you know, beatbox it in my head.
[ Singing and beatboxing ]
And sometimes I'll even layer it into the actual production.
-Really? -Yeah.
-That is the most fun thing. That's fantastic.
Are you doing that song for us tonight?
-Yeah, I'm gonna do that for you, tonight.
-Charlie Puth, everybody! [ Cheers and applause ]
Come, on. How amazing is this guy?