Charlie Puth and his wife, Brooke Puth, just became first-time parents, so it’s a good thing Charlie’s new album is the perfect soundtrack for that.
The album, Whatever’s Clever!, arrives on Friday. He tells Vogue, “I’m really excited that my life has finally lined up musically to where I want to be. The music is directly parallel with that, which is why Whatever’s Clever! is all Yacht Rock 2026-style.”
Among the musical guests on the album are yacht rock icons Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins, as well as Kenny G and even Jeff Goldblum.
“With all respect to the artists that are featured on this album, it’s music I would listen to as a dad, if that makes sense. So I feel very aligned with it,” Charlie adds. “I think it’s very serendipitous and there’s meaning behind everything, and there might be a reason why this album is arriving in a similar timeframe.”
Charlie and Brooke welcomed their son Jude Crawford Puth on March 13.
He adds, “I’m gonna enter this really exciting stage of life and I feel like this is the perfect soundtrack to that. I feel like it’s a perfect time to get to write really specific songs about subjects that you might not have heard me sing about.”
Charlie describes the album’s first single, “Changes,” as sounding like “a Steve Winwood, happy-go-lucky, 1992-era, optimistic-sounding, big snare of a song.” The singer, who was born in 1991, notes, “I made this album for myself, and it’s full of music from the year I was born. It’s a passion project.”
“In the most humble way, I have nothing to prove anymore. That’s at least how I feel,” Charlie says.
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