Flonique Guimary

Charlie Puth opens up about how Taylor Swift inspired his new album 'Whatever's Clever!'

Article (news)

E. Kristhoff Cagape

Push Team

<p>Charlie Puth opened up about how a lyric in a Taylor Swift song inspired his new album<em> Whatever&#x27;s Clever!</em></p><p>It can be recalled that Charlie got an unexpected shoutout in Taylor&#x27;s track &quot;The Tortured Poets Department.&quot;</p><p>In the said song, Taylor sings the line: &quot;We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist.&quot;</p><p>&quot;That&#x27;s the lyric that inspired this album,&quot; Charlie revealed in an interview with <em>T</em><em>ODAY’s </em>Willie Geist.</p><p>Explaining how the lyric influenced his new record, he pointed out, &quot;&#x27;Bigger artist&#x27; means you have to open up. That&#x27;s why millions of people can relate to [Taylor]. And I always felt like I kind of put a cap on how many people could relate to me and that&#x27;s a scary thing to open that can of worms.&quot;</p><p>The singer added, &quot;It would be the advice that I would pass down to other artists, too. It&#x27;s a good push to hear that in a song.&quot;</p><div><br/></div><div><iframe class="instagram-media instagram-media-rendered" id="instagram-embed-3" src="https://www.instagram.com/p/DP6zAY6jxSG/embed/captioned/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=607&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com&amp;rp=%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A3%2C%22os%22%3A22115344.69999981%2C%22ls%22%3A3110239.1999998093%2C%22le%22%3A3110246.3000001907%7D" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="871" data-instgrm-payload-id="instagram-media-payload-3" scrolling="no" style="background:white;max-width:540px;width:calc(100% - 2px);border-radius:3px;border:1px solid rgb(219, 219, 219);box-shadow:none;display:block;margin:0px 0px 12px;min-width:326px;padding:0px"></iframe></div><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><div><br/></div><p>Meanwhile, in a previous interview with <em>Rolling Stone</em>, Charlie shared his reaction when he heard his name referenced for the first time in &quot;The Tortured Poets Department.&quot;</p><p>&quot;It was pretty shocking. I don&#x27;t know if that was like the moment where I realized that I needed to write a certain kind of music, but it was definitely affirming that one of the biggest stars in the world knows me,&quot; he remarked.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/showbiz/music/2026/1/23/charlie-puth-reacts-to-unexpected-shoutout-from-taylor-swift-in-the-tortured-poets-department-song-1213" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Charlie Puth reacts to unexpected shoutout from Taylor Swift in &#x27;The Tortured Poets Department&#x27; song</strong></a></div><p>Reflecting further on the lyric, the singer-songwriter explained how he interpreted Taylor&#x27;s words. &quot;I understood exactly what she meant to be a &#x27;bigger artist.&#x27; I think you have to let people in a little bit more and maybe to your point, I hadn&#x27;t let people in as much as I should have in the beginnings of my career,&quot; he stated. </p><p><em>Whatever&#x27;s Clever!</em> is set to be released on March 27.</p><p>It&#x27;s lead single &quot;Changes&quot; was released on August 6, 2025. </p><p>Charlie announced that he was expecting his first child with his wife, Brooke Sansone, in the music video for &quot;Changes&quot; by showing the latter&#x27;s baby bump in a portion of the video.</p>

<p>Charlie Puth reveals how a lyric in Taylor Swift's 'The Tortured Poets Department' album inspired his new record. </p>

Charlie Puth reveals how a lyric in Taylor Swift's 'The Tortured Poets Department' album inspired his new record.