Charlie Puth has been on a tear lately. Ahead of his third album CHARLIE, he began promotions by releasing Light Switch, Left and Right (featuring JungKook of BTS), That’s Hilarious, and the latest Smells Like Me. In a tweet last year, he made it known how the hectic schedule that success with his releases brought, made it very difficult for him to prepare the music he truly wanted to put out. Charting singles would be accompanied by heavy promotions, and follow-up singles would be recorded in the middle of it all without really providing Charlie with the time to sit down and work on his music. Moving forward he wanted to approach the fans with something more than a single track, instead “the whole vision” as he would have it.

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— Charlie Puth (@charlieputh) June 17, 2021

More than a year later he returns with perhaps his most personal project yet. But maybe beyond the deepest thoughts and feelings he has decided to incorporate into this from the time he finally has to himself, it’s also the most personal in the sense of how we are able to view him as an artist. As a singer, songwriter, and producer, Charlie has always been open about his creative process. He has countless videos of him going over something he released and sharing the story behind it, how he discovered a certain sound, how the recording went, or how he thought of a certain phrase for the track. However, through TikTok, he has managed to go to the next level by documenting not how he worked on a project after it’s been released, but by taking us along with him for the ride.

Through this newfound approach, we are no longer just viewers of the finished product, instead, we are his collaborators who see how a song idea grows into a hit we all love. We see how a track changes from a past TikTok to a new update that he posts. We are able to comment our thoughts on things he can maybe do to improve his work. We are now active participants in an area we only typically appreciate from afar. It is a brand new level of authenticity that we see from him. Charlie Puth is no longer larger than life, rather he is a relatable person that goes through the same creative highs and lows as us.