YouTube’s Undiscovered – Charlie Puth

YouTube’s Undiscovered – Charlie Puth

Ever heard of Charlie Puth? Nope? Well neither had I, but enough YouTube viewers have ‘liked’ his videos to create a considerable following for the young aspiring singer. Joining YouTube in 2009, Charlie began uploading videos of song covers such as Justin Bieber ‘Baby’ as well as many song parodies and comedy sketches. These covers display his musical talent on a variety of instruments including the piano and guitar, as well his voice. The song accompaniments (occasionally recorded live alongside the vocals) contain colourful chords and acoustic reworking of the original songs whilst his voice floats over in a ballad style, softly and poignantly.

Charlie has also uploaded some of his own compositions, songs which again show off his instrumental skills and display his vocal quality, not to mention his melodious songwriting. Particular highlights from his earliest output are ‘I Wrote This Song Last Night’ and ‘I Don’t Wanna Hurt You Baby’, the latter of which also includes good use of mixing and layering technology. Continuing to upload new original songs and covers, Charlie’s efforts were made worthwhile when he was discovered by Ellen DeGeneres (the famous American television show host) due to a recent cover duet of Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’ with Emily Luther for a cover competition hosted by Perez Hilton. Ellen was so impressed that she even signed the duo to her record label after viewing their videos and listening to live performances!

Having never thought that his videos would receive such great acclaim and lead to a potentially very successful music career, Charlie is still uploading his own music (though needless to say, he now swaps his home recording system for a professional studio!) to his YouTube channel. His and Emily’s ‘Someone Like You’ cover has now garnered over 13 million views and his recent single ‘Spend the Night’ is available to download on iTunes. Charlie studies at Berklee College of Music where his talents are without doubt well received and yet his frequent song uploads suggest that he never strays too far from the place which slowly but surely began his musically bright future.

YouTube’s concept of uploading videos has helped many aspiring artists on their paths to being discovered. Charlie is one of the lucky ones, as are the likes of his predecessor Justin Bieber, who have been discovered, enjoyed and signed by record labels. However, there are still many other solo singers and groups who rely heavily on public support for that first step of ‘discovery’ and it is both the successful and those ‘on their way’ who we all will continue to follow with great interest.

James Rhodes