Whatever's Clever!

Record Store Verified independent store

→

Whatever’s Clever! is Charlie Puth’s fourth studio album, released March 27, 2026 via Atlantic and co‑produced with BloodPop. Written in the years around his marriage, impending fa therhood, and a run of career milestones (including a Super Bowl appearance and Blue Note residencies), he’s framed it as his most personal record: a mix of nervous excitement about domestic life, reflections on past industry compromises, and gratitude for finally making the album he actually wanted to make. Sonically it leans into lush, ’80s‑ and early‑’90s‑inspired pop—Yamaha CP‑70 pianos, gated drums, slick bass, and soft‑rock harmonies—drawing explicitly on Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, and adult‑contemporary radio while keeping his meticulous, Berklee‑honed chord language and hook craft intact.Across its 12 tracks and 38 minutes, the album moves from bright, hooky singles into more reflective, narrative pieces. Opener “Changes” and follow‑up “Beat Yourself Up” set the tone with shiny, uptempo pop about life shifts and self‑recrimination, while “Cry” (with a Kenny G sax solo built from a re‑composed line he then re‑recorded) and “Washed Up” address burnout and vulnerability directly. Mid‑album cuts “New Jersey” (feat. Ravyn Lenae), “Don’t Meet Your Heroes,” and “Home” (feat. Hikaru Utada) weave in place, nostalgia, and uneasy gratitude; later songs like “Hey Brother,” “Sideways” (feat. Coco Jones), and the closing, spoken‑word‑tinged track with Jeff Goldblum turn toward family, grief, and looking at the future with a kid on his knee. Critics largely see Whatever’s Clever! as a mature step up: still glossy and easy‑listening on the surface, but more thematically focused and emotionally specific than his earlier work, with the BloodPop collaboration and intergenerational guest list (Kenny G, Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, Utada, Goldblum) helping him stake out a warm, adult pop space that feels like his own. Show more