What does Charlie Puth think makes a song interpolation versus just sounding similar?

Charlie Puth shared a new video explaining the difference between song interpolation and songs just sounding similar. In the eighth episode of his Professor Puth videos on TikTok, shared on Tuesday, October 7, 2025, where he teaches things about music and sound, Puth explained that there are only 12 notes in a scale. He said:

"When you're writing a new song, there is bound to be similarities to an older song, but what you have is what I like to call the four-note threshold."

Charlie Puth explained that if a new song has the same four notes as an older song, it's not considered interpolation. However, if a new song goes beyond that four-note threshold and has the same five or more consecutive notes of an older song, then it's considered interpolation.

However, according to the singer-songwriter, there is nothing wrong about interpolating old music, and people should stop demonizing it, saying:

"Sometimes artists will accidentally interpolate each other, and it's almost never done maliciously. We really have to stop demonizing this one. It happens."

He added that interpolating and sampling songs has been going on for a really long time and that some "really great music" has come about because of them.

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Charlie Puth recently previewed songs from his unannounced new album

Charlie Puth kicked off his mini residency at the Blue Note Jazz Club recently, starting with the New York location from September 25 to 28, 2025. He will continue the limited residency in Los Angeles with another four-night intimate show on October 16 to 19.

Charlie Puth at Cannes Lions 2025 (Image via Dave Benett/Getty Images)

On his first night in New York, on September 25, he debuted several new songs from a new album he has yet to officially announce and jazzed-up versions of some of his hits like We Don't Talk Anymore. Two of the new songs he previewed include Changes, which reportedly has a throwback, 80s feel, and the funky Beat Yourself Up, which Puth described as a message to himself, with lyrics like:

"Please don't beat yourself up / You've made some mistakes."

Besides surprising fans with new music, Charlie Puth also put on a performance with Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, one of Puth's "favorite songwriters," singing together some of Babyface's hits like Whip Appeal. Talking about his Blue Note Jazz Club mini residency, the singer-songwriter said at one point during the show:

"These are how the songs were originally meant to be played... This is truly just me tonight. It took 10 years to figure it out, but everyone has their own journey."

Days before debuting new music at his Blue Note Jazz Club show in New York, Charlie Puth teased that he's working on new music. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, published on September 23, 2025, the four-time Grammy-nominated singer said that he plans to put music out "soon."

He also teased that when his new music is out, it would feel like "a lot of question marks are going to be answered." There will also be a lot of things that he hasn't sung about.

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Stay tuned for more news and updates on Charlie Puth's and other artists' new music as the year progresses.

Edited by Kinette Sumadia