Charlie Puth Turns On the Charm With ‘Light Switch’ Performance on ‘Ellen’

Charlie Puth appeared on The Ellen Show to perform his recent single, “Light Switch” — and the viral sensation also shared how criticism from Elton John impacted his music.

Puth told host Ellen DeGeneres that he learned over time that it’s important to “tell the truth” when writing a song. “I wasn’t really doing that in 2019,” he recalled. “And the person who kind of awoken my senses was none other than Elton John. I met him at Craig’s, the restaurant, and he came up to me and said, you know, ‘Hi, how are you?’ I’m like, ‘You’re Elton John.’ ‘Yes, I am. You know, your music sucked in 2019, it wasn’t good.’”

The singer described the experience as a “gut punch,” but admitted he had been thinking the same thing. “It was kind of a wake up call, a little bit,” he told DeGeneres.

Puth released “Light Switch” back in January. The upbeat pop song, which sees Puth crooning about his attraction to a love interest, was produced by Puth and co-written with longtime collaborator JKash, as well as Jake Torrey.

The single is the first new song to be released from Puth’s upcoming album, Charlie, out later this year via Atlantic Records. The LP marks the singer’s first full-length release since the Grammy-nominated Voicenotes in 2018.

Last fall, Puth teamed up with John for “After All,” from John’s album of collaborations, The Lockdown Sessions. After the pair met at Craig’s in early March 2020 and discovered they lived near each other, they began collaborating. “After All” was the first song either artist completed during lockdown.