Charlie Puth seemingly came to Taylor Swift’s defense over accusations via social media that she copied melodies on her new album, The Life of a Showgirl.
A few of the tracks on Swift’s 12th studio album have been scrutinized by fans and critics, including her raunchy song “Wood,” which drew comparisons to The Jackson 5’s 1969 hit “I Want You Back.” Elsewhere, some fans have accused The Life of a Showgirl’s title track of borrowing its melody from the Jonas Brothers’ “Cool,” while “Actually Romantic” has been likened to a mix between Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind” and Weezer’s “Beverly Hills.”
Puth, 33, did not directly name Swift, 35, in the latest episode of his TikTok series “Professor Pluth,” in which he breaks down music theory and trends for his 22.5 million followers. However, the timing of his video had many fans guessing that he was coming to Swift’s defense.
“Lately there has been a lot of discussion about when two songs have similar melodies,” Puth told viewers. “There’s only 12 notes in a scale … so when you’re writing a new song, there are bound to be similarities to an older song.”
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The “Light Switch” singer explained that each song has a “four-note threshold,” where original work can only copy the same four notes of an older track before it gets into “interpolation territory.”
“If I can just take a moment and say this: Sometimes artists will accidentally interpolate each other,” he pointed out. “It’s almost never done maliciously. We have to really stop demonizing this when it happens.”
Puth concluded, “Interpolations and sampling, this stuff has been going on for a really long time, and some great music has come about because of it.”
He also dropped a Showgirl-related hint in the video description: “12 notes. TWELVE.” (The Life of a Showgirl is Swift’s 12th studio album and features 12 tracks.)
Fans suspected the timing of his latest TikTok video was no coincidence, with one follower asking: “IS HE LOWKEY DEFENDING TAYLOR?”
“Taylor was right WE AGREE CHARLIE PUTH SHOULD BE A BIGGER ARTIST,” another chimed in, with a third noting: “An undercover swiftie at its finest.”
Much has been made about The Life of a Showgirl’s “Father Figure,” which interpolates the late George Michael’s 1987 song of the same name. Michael is credited as a songwriter along with Swift and her producers Max Martin and Shellback, but there are no similar credits to older artists on Life of a Showgirl’s “Wood” or “Actually Romantic.”
Puth and Swift have some history, as she shouted out that he “should be a bigger artist” on 2024’s “The Tortured Poets Department.” Puth credited the salute from Swift with inspiring him to release new song “Hero” in May 2024.
“I’m very excited to share my next album with you, especially this song because it’s a great representation of what’s to come,” he announced at the time. “I’ve never put out a song like this before — it’s very different for me, but I want to thank @taylorswift for letting me know musically that I just couldn’t keep this on my hard drive any longer.”
Meanwhile, Swift responded to mixed reviews and social media critiques of The Life of a Showgirl during an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe on Tuesday, October 7.
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“I welcome the chaos,” she joked. “The rule of show business is, if it’s the first week of my album release and you are saying either my name or my album title, you’re helping.”
Swift declared that she wasn’t “the art police,” so she is accepting of a wide range of reactions to The Life of a Showgirl.
“It’s, like, everybody is allowed to feel exactly how they want, and what our goal is as entertainers is to be a mirror,” she added.
Despite the decidedly mixed reviews, The Life of a Showgirl has been a massive financial success for Swift, as it sold 2.7 million copies in its first day of release and set a new record for first-week vinyl sales with 1.2 million physical LPs sold in just 24 hours, according to dating tracking firm Luminate.
