Charlie Puth Details ‘Surreal Experience’ of Working With Elton John (Exclusive)

Grammy Nominated artist Charlie Puth had the chance to work with Elton John on a song for the music icon’s most recent album, The Lockdown Sessions. Puth says the opportunity was a “surreal experience” he was most humbled by. The 30-year-old recently sat down for an interview with PopCulture.com, exclusively telling us about the mentor role John has played in his career. But first, Puth clarifies that when the “Rocketman” singer and songwriter came to his studio to work, “he didn’t make it seem like he was Elton John,” stating he “humanizes himself a lot.”

Puth went on to say how John was also very kind to his parents and spent time talking with them about some of his iconic music. “He kind of just sits down, and he invited my parents to come in and he started talking about how he wrote ‘Tiny Dancer,” Puth said adding how his parents were stunned the “entire time” they spoke. “It was a surreal experience. But I felt like I was talking to just another fellow musician. Not intimidating in the least.”

Sharing how he wrote “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” with Bernie Taupin, Puth shares how John was given the lyrics as a poem and was able to miraculously just “see the music come out of the words.” Praising John for his “incredible genius attribute,” Puth gushes while gesturing to PopCulture a very significant item in his life now thanks to the icon. “He showcased that when he sat down on the keyboard, this keyboard that I have over here, he just sat down and started playing. And I got to be the Bernie [Taupin] in this case.”

Additionally, the “See You Again” singer spoke candidly about writing an album in 2019 that he felt “wasn’t very good” despite earning fan acclaim and said John put things into perspective for him through not criticism, but kindness. “I kind of lost the plot a little bit, and I kind of scrapped that and I got to meet Elton John, who was the only other person other than myself that said that [the] music that I was working on wasn’t good enough and it kind of just reaffirmed to me [how] I have to truly be myself.”

Speaking on his upcoming new album Puth said he will be naming it Charlie, as “cliche” as it sounds. “I had been not really true to myself, so this is my perfect chance and Elton kind of drove that point home for me as well, especially when we made the first record for his album, which is out now, the record that started off his album.” Puth later revealed how the two most serendipitously discovered they were next-door neighbors, which he states is a “nice little extra bonus.”

While Puth’s new album is still some time away, fans can still hear his unmistakable voice in the new Flamin’ Hot Super Bowl ad from Frito-Lay, playing a super cool beatboxing fox. “We’re good friends now I’m calling them Frito for short,” he joked, going on to share this was his first major gig in the VO world. “When they asked me had I ever done voiceover acting, I was a little bit nervous because I hadn’t. But they assured me that they just wanted me to be the beatboxing fox. Fans can get a peek at the new ad here!