Backstage with Charlie Puth

Here’s one reason why interviewing celebs and people who are interviewed often sometimes sucks: Their guards are especially heightened and they’re used to enduring awful “journalists” who ask mundane, unenthused, or worse, thirsty questions.Among my goals as a question-asker is to make interviews feel more like conversations. Comfort is key. But even more than that, understanding that the best way to get a good conversation with essentially anyone is to actually care about the subject’s being and craft—not who they’re penetrating or some click-bait-ey topic of the moment. Fortunately for me, I spend the bulk of my time talking with creatives.

Charlie Puth Has More Heart and Soul Than You Know

So when I sat down with pop singer Charlie Puth after watching him rock at the Staples Center here in Los Angeles, I asked him about what I had just witnessed: Here’s this guy who’s known for super poppy songs and hooks like the one here alongside Wiz Khalifa—the most YouTubed music video ever.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgKAFK5djSkBut throughout his set, he sounded super soulful. So I asked him about where that came from. It was a bit of a pleasant surprise. And from there came a great conversation. Give it a read. I wasn't a sucker journalist, maintained my integrity and you, the reader, get a good read. It's one of my favorite interviews from this year.