If it wasn’t for being a Grammy Award nominated pop-star and producer, Charlie Puth would have been a teacher.
It was a former ambition he reflected on during the pandemic, as the US artist spent most of his time indoors.
"I just have so much respect for teachers and enamoured by how they process and give information," he said during his session at Culture Summit Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. "I hope that I am able enough to do something like that with a feasible piece of art, which is an album."
Speaking with Berklee College of Music president Roger H Brown, the Attention singer explained his creative process and how the viral hit See You Again with Wiz Khalifa, which currently has five billion YouTube streams, gave him an insight into the universal power of songs.
Here are five takeaways from his session.
1. The importance of melody
Puth realised he had global smash hit on his hands when seeing the reaction to See You Again on his travels across China and Europe. The way people responded to the song, he recalled, became instructive in how he approached his future works.
“I heard fans singing my song outside the hotel room, in China. Now they were getting the melody absolutely perfect but messing up on the some of the lyrics because English is not the first language," he says.
"The same thing happened in Denmark where they also got the melody right and only some of the lyrics, it dawned on me then that melody is the most important thing for non-English speaking fans.
“From that point on, melody was the focal point of everything I do.”
2. He goes with the flow
Travel remains Puth’s primary source of inspiration.
A life on the move, he says, naturally unlocks certain qualities nearly all creatives share.
“It no coincidence I wrote all of my hits abroad because I am inspired by different cultures and watching how people carry themselves in comparison to where I come from,” he says.
“If you want to be a songwriter then you are usually an empathetic person. We are very good at reading the room. I would go to a restaurant and a melody would pop in my head just from the way my fork felt. I always let my brain flow freely.”
3. Keep chasing greatness
One of the best career advice Puth received was from Jimmy Iovine.
Puth recalled meeting the music executive and producer while briefly signed to record label Interscope Records. Upon meeting the burgeoning artist, Iovine told him to aim bigger than the charts.
“He would tell me to 'chase great'. I also feel that if you are excited to play your song to your friend, then it will translate to the rest of the world,” Puth said.
“If the song is no good and you post it on TikTok or Spotify and you feel that you have something better up your sleeve, make sure you show the better stuff. You have to be passionate about it.”
4. He wants to make a classic album
While known for his modern approach to pop music, Puth aims to step back and explore the sounds of the past.
After this record that I am working on, which is pop, I just want to do something like Rod Stewart's The Great American Songbook albums," he said. "I mean, this was how I came to learn about all these great classic songs.
5. His next album will be his best
Participating in the conference from his home studio, Puth reveals he is close to completing his yet-to-be-titled third album.
Not only could it be a career defining work, but Puth hopes it can nab his first ever Grammy Award.
“I want to win the Best Pop Album in the Grammys. I had many nominations but now I just want to win,” he said.
“We don't make music to win Grammys but it is just a personal goal of mine. I just want to make the best album ever and one that people coming out of this pandemic can be inspired by.”
Culture Summit Abu Dhabi concludes on Wednesday at 9pm. Attendance is free and open to the public. Registration is live on the website.
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The flights
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The hotels
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Britain's travel restrictions
- A negative test 2 days before flying
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Company%20profile
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MATCH INFO
What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)
Profile of Hala Insurance
Date Started: September 2018
Founders: Walid and Karim Dib
Based: Abu Dhabi
Employees: Nine
Amount raised: $1.2 million
Funders: Oman Technology Fund, AB Accelerator, 500 Startups, private backers
Asia Cup Qualifier
Venue: Kuala Lumpur
Result: Winners play at Asia Cup in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in September
Fixtures:
Wed Aug 29: Malaysia v Hong Kong, Nepal v Oman, UAE v Singapore
Thu Aug 30: UAE v Nepal, Hong Kong v Singapore, Malaysia v Oman
Sat Sep 1: UAE v Hong Kong, Oman v Singapore, Malaysia v Nepal
Sun Sep 2: Hong Kong v Oman, Malaysia v UAE, Nepal v Singapore
Tue Sep 4: Malaysia v Singapore, UAE v Oman, Nepal v Hong Kong
Thu Sep 6: Final
Asia Cup
Venue: Dubai and Abu Dhabi
Schedule: Sep 15-28
Teams: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, plus the winner of the Qualifier
Cry Macho
Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Clint Eastwood, Dwight Yoakam
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How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
