Charlie Puth always handwrites his lyrics with a Bic pen because it helps him see his songs in colour.
The 33-year-old pop star has revealed he never types out words to his tracks on a cell phone or a computer because he prefers to use a colourful biro to highlight certain words or passages and give them meaning.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he explained: “I handwrite lyrics. I never type lyrics on my phone or a computer. It just feels like the song isn’t a song if I type it in – it needs my personality.
“It’s just something mental. Bic produces a product that I literally use every day of my life to make music: the 4-Color Pen. The different colors will trigger different parts of my musical mind.
“So I take it on tour. I take it on airplanes. I take it everywhere I go. If I don’t like a lyric, I’m going to use the color red to scratch it out.
“Red’s bad. Green’s my favorite color. Green means go. That’s usually a good lyric.”
He went on to add that he always travels with a pen and notebooks as well as a keyboard – which he uses to help with social situations as well as writing tunes.
Charlie added: “[I always travel with] several notebooks and pens. I have to have a little keyboard backstage as well because I feel like sometimes I can’t talk.
“And if I have to meet a couple of people before I go on stage, I’ll just sit behind the little keyboard and play stuff as I’m talking and I feel like the words will come out easier. It actually helps me converse better. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
Charlie concluded by revealing he’s been busy working on new material and is planning to release new music “soon”.
He said: “I’m excited about music in general. I can’t share when, but I do plan on putting music out soon. And when it does come out, I feel like a lot of question marks are going to be answered.
“[There will be] a lot of things that I haven’t sung about. Life for me is much different than it was 10 years ago when One Call Away or See You Again came out, so there’s some things to say.
“And I am constantly inspired by my surroundings, both musically and otherworldly, and I just, I hope I get to do this for the rest of my life.”