Charlie Puth – Voicenotes

With his unusual voice, Charlie Puth has always managed to stick out from the reems of pop artists. That is kind of where his “innovative” side ends, though. He certainly does not reinvent the pop music wheel here. Much of the album you will struggle distinguishing where one track ends and the next begins as they all sound the same. On the positive side, there certainly is a “sound” here. He also seems willing to step away from that teenage oriented type stuff (especially lyrically) and has grown up a little on his sophomore album. While it still tends towards cliche laden stuff there are some bright moments. A highlight is the single “Attention” which features a bassline right out of the 80s. Funky! Another strong track is the Kehlani (love her!) duet on “Done for Me” which has a smooth old school R&B sound. He is still young and trying to figure out where his place in the music universe is, so give him time. What he certainly do is write a catchy chorus as shown on “The Way I Am”. So he is already one step ahead of many out there. What I would like him to do in the future with that natural crooner style voice is release a jazz leaning album. That would serve him.