Charlie Puth says queer people ‘dancing to Madonna at a gay club’ inspired him to make better music

Charlie Puth, topless, with his arms above his head

Charlie Puth said a gay club blasting Madonna inspired a song from his new album.

Puth recently dropped “Loser”, from his album CHARLIE, a song he’s revealed was inspired by the gay clubs of West Hollywood.

He’d told GQ been working on the track, but was only “half-happy” with it, when he drove past iconic gay clubs Pump and The Abbey, “and everybody was out dancing to something that’s not being played on the radio”.

“I think LGBTQ+ culture is so ahead of its time, culturally, sonically, musically, everything-ly, that when I had a less than perfect song at the studio and I was by myself and I saw everybody having a great time, I literally heard a different song in my head.

“I rearranged the whole thing, I drove back to the studio, I was so inspired.”

The musician appeared on SiriusXM’s TikTok Radio, where he was asked about the story.

Expanding, he explained how he saw people dancing to “unreleased Madonna” outside of Pump, and realised “this song that I just made is not gonna make anybody here dance”.

“It’s 1AM at this point, I went back and got inspired by the LGBTQ+ community and just how they are so ahead of everything culturally, musically.

“I went back, made that beat a lot better and I am literally so thankful that I just passed by that restaurant.”

 

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It was also in his GQ interview that Charlie Puth hit back against claims that he queerbaits by posting thirst traps.

Viewers had started accusing him of only posting to gain a gay male audience, with intense discourse starting across Twitter and TikTok.

It follows queerbaiting accusations against Harry Styles and Billie Eilish.

 

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While some have said he is simply posting what he wants to, others have said he is clearly taking advantage of the LGBTQ+ community.

But he denies these claims. “I am very horny. All the time,” Charlie Puth said, and went on to clarify that he doesn’t post them “to antagonise anybody”.