“New directions are happening,” Charlie Puth sang Thursday night in the excellent new song “Changes,” and he wasn’t kidding. In the first show of a four-night residency at New York’s Blue Note Jazz Club, he debuted sleek songs from an-as-yet-unannounced new album, and unveiled stripped-down, jazzed-up versions of hits from his back catalog, including “See You Again” and “We Don’t Talk Anymore.” Along the way, one of Puth’s idols, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, popped onstage to duet on his own songs.
“These are how the songs were originally meant to be played,” said Puth, who was backed by a virtuosic band and, for the first time in his career, a crew of backup singers., “And then you get advice from record label head number one, two, and three, and then you dye your hair and suddenly you’re a completely different person. This is truly just me tonight. It took ten years to figure it out, but everyone has their own journey.” Puth and the band stretched out nearly every song with jams, breakdowns, and solos, with the star occasionally scatting along with his harmonically adventurous keyboard excursions.
“Changes” sounded like a potential hit single, with a throwback feel that lands somewhere between Eighties Steve Winwood and Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature.” Another new song, “Beat Yourself Up” — which he described as “a message to myself” — is a more uptempo pep talk driven by a funk bassline. “Please don’t beat yourself up,” he sings. “You’ve made some mistakes.”
Towards the end of the show, Edmonds — in a black suit that amusingly contrasted with Puth’s Elastica t-shirt — stepped onstage, and surprised his host by offering some praise before they started singing together. “ I’m here because he loves music and he is music,” Edmonds said. “I’m here because I’ve been a fan of his.” They went on to duet on Babyface’s “Whip Appeal” and the Babyface-penned Boyz II Men smash “I’ll Make Love to You.” Puth had to take a deep breath before they began: “It’s hard singing one of my favorite songs with one of my favorite songwriters.”
Aysia Marotta*
Early on, Puth thanked a longtime fan he spotted in the audience for following him along the “journey” of his career. “ I think this is gonna be the best time,” he promised.
