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But Puth wasnt planning to release his own music until Swift made her unexpected shout-out.
The message is about a really heavy thing that I experienced.
So why not kind of take the piss out of it?
Then when you reach out to them, theyre like, I dont need your help.
I dont need someone to preach to me right now.
A.k.a., I dont need a hero.
I wanted it to feel like, I have to have an uncomfortable conversation with you.
But Im not going to say, I want to be there for you.
Its going to be, I want to stop by and play it cool.
And I was kind of unsure about it.Do people want to hear this from me?
I was inspired by that.
Though the song uses these hushed vocals, it has a really hooky chorus too.
Hearing you go up and down like that in your falsetto is fun.Its fun for me too.
Ever notice when you go to a Bruce Springsteen concert, not everybody there is a singer?
I dont know if you knew that [laughs].
When fans think of a Charlie Puth song, they often think of a piano, some jazzy harmonies.
But when Hero starts, we have a guitar playing.
Its not anything Ive ever done before, and Im not working with different producers.
I take pride in that, so I have to listen to how people are approaching music.
I think hes fantastic.
[Charlie starts singing mk.gees Candy.]
Or R&B in the 90s Lisa Stansfield, Janet, C&C Music Factory.
Why cant I make something like that that my fans and people will listen to?
Ooh, a guitar in a new Charlie song?
I dont even know how to play guitar.
What does not knowing how to play an instrument unlock for you?Just curiosity.
When I start a song, everyones like, Okay, so what key should we do?
Im like, I dont know.
I prefer starting a song with an instrument I dont know how to play or not even an instrument.
Thats why my whole shtick on theinternet about the bird tweeted a D-sharp.
Thats how I wrote See You Again.
I get to pull out a couple more bags of tricks they maybe havent used on their songs.
Sam Smith and I wrote a song one time.
It hasnt come out.
I was very nervous.
I was like, Oh, I got to make a good impression.
They came with nothing prepared.
They were like, Lets just play some chords and lets just see what happens.
But relaxing ended up making a better song.
Lets go back to Hero.
So we were rolling with it.
It sticks in your brain.
Like Thats that me, espresso.Exactly.
How many times have you heard a song and been like, Oh, I know what they mean.
Its how slang was invented.
Avril Lavigne wrote a song about that once, Complicated.
So I want to convey that emotion in the music.
Well, the real answer is that an album will happen and youll hear more.
Youll hear the actual B part of things stuff that Taylor does really, really, really well.
If it means I can reach ten more people, then I would like to be a bigger artist.
I dont want to be a bigger artist to inflate my own ego.
Im fine where its at.
Of course I want to play … well, I dont even know if I want to play stadiums.
I just want to inspire 80,000 people, maybe not have them see me in the stadium.
Do stadiums sound good when you play in them?
The acoustics are all over the place.
But, I mean, I wouldnt be opposed.
