Charlie Puth has revealed that Elton John told him the music he released in 2019 “sucked”.
Puth was discussing his collaboration with John on ‘The Lockdown Sessions’ while appearing on The Kelly Clarkson Show on Monday (February 7). During the interview, Puth opened up about the “brutally honest” criticism the pop icon gave him right before they started working together. Watch the video clip from the interview below.
“Elton texted me his address when he first expressed that he wanted to work with me, which was great,” Puth said. “He was brutally honest with me. He told me my 2019 music sucked, and I agree with him. It was not good.”
The singer went on to say that he wasn’t offended by John’s opinion.
“He basically said I could make a lot better music, and he said that I should just make it myself, like I always do,” he said. “I was like, ‘Wow, you’re the first person that ever said that to me,’ but I was thinking the exact same thing when he said that.”
He collaborated with John on the track ‘After All’ from ‘The Lockdown Sessions’ which was released as the album’s second single and peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard 200.
In a three-star review of ‘The Lockdown Sessions’, NME called John’s collaboration with Puth, a “Disney-style power ballad which could have been from his Lion King soundtrack.”
Puth recently announced that the self-titled follow-up to his 2018 album ‘Voicenotes‘ is finished and that he made “most of it on TikTok.” He added, “My goal for this album is for everybody to know every song title before it comes out. I love the fact that ‘Light Switch’ has been teased for months, and people are making bootlegs of it.”
Meanwhile, John has shared a glowing endorsement for the band Yard Act. Speaking to them on his Rocket Hour radio show in January, he told the group he would “love to catch up” with them in person. He also praised the Leeds outfit during an interview with NME last October, describing their musical style as “a different ballgame”. He added: “I can’t do it but I love it and I wonder how they do it.”
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