Charlie Puth has been belting out tunes as a radio staple for over 10 years now. The “Light Switch” singer got his start after posting covers on YouTube with his friend Emily Luther. He was soon discovered by Ellen DeGeneres, who signed him to her record label, eleveneleven in 2011. It sounds like a fairytale story, but the label was fraught with problems, and would be considered defunct in 2012, only a few years after its inception. Now, Charlie Puth is speaking out about his experience at the label, and his treatment there during the early days of his career.
Puth was recently a guest on the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, where he talked about getting his start in the music industry, and how DeGeneres played a part in this. Puth spoke candidly about the lack of support at the now defunct label, confessing,
Nobody was really present, certainly after the creation of my first demo EP. I didn't really hear from anybody after that. Not putting any blame just on one person, but from a collective, all the people that were in that room, they just disappeared.
Puth shared that he doesn't "talk shit on anybody" and that what happened in his career has never come up when he's been in the same space with Ellen DeGeneres. He also mentioned seeing her, feeling like little time had passed and that it should be "onward and upward."
Meanwhile, he talked about how the pandemic helped him to reset where he was at, but it took some work and self-reflection, as he noted he had lost two people that he thought he needed in order to move forward and really make it in a music career, including the business relationship.
One romantic the other one in a business way, someone I had started my career with was suddenly out of my life. But I felt that they were less in my life as the years progressed after attention. It was a loss at one time of two relationships that I thought I needed to succeed. And two people that I thought I needed to succeed with. Sorry, it’s slight trauma. I realized I’m capable of a lot of things.
This comes shortly after Greyson Chance, who was also signed to the label, spoke about the total abandonment he felt at eleveneleven, and blamed DeGeneres for being opportunistic. The label dropped Chance when he started to underperform. Chance was one of the first artists the former talk show host signed to her record label, also after discovering him on YouTube. While Puth clearly agrees with Chance that he felt abandonment at eleveneleven, he also added that his situation was different, adding:
We both have different experiences, me versus Greyson.
The criticism towards the environment at DeGeneres’s record label comes after controversy around the working environment at her famed daytime talk show was highly publicized. Many former staff members blamed producers of the show for a toxic workplace culture, and said DeGeneres herself was rude to staff.
Following a slew of accusations and controversies, the comedian announced she would be ending her show in 2022, after 19 years of being on air. The accusations of DeGeneres’ behavior led to decreased ratings and the show went out with more of a whimper than a bang. Kelly Clarkson’s daytime show filled the longtime host's time slot.
Charlie Puth has since moved on from his rocky experiences at eleveneleven, becoming a top recording artist with four Grammy nominations. He is no longer signed with Ellen Degeneres, and is now signed to Artist Partner Group. His fourth studio album titled Charlie! was released on October 7th, which was preceded by 5 hit singles.
You can currently stream Charlie! On Apple Music and Spotify. Puth has also composed several soundtracks for major films like Fast and Furious 7, which is currently streaming with a Peacock subscription. Despite the aforementioned allegations, Ellen DeGeneres is still active in the industry and acts as the executive producer of several TV projects like Little Funny and Couple Time, which will both be airing sometime in the near future. Check out CinemaBlend's TV release schedule for more information on what’s coming to the small screen soon.
