Change
by Charlie Puth (featuring James Taylor)

Album: Voicenotes (2018)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This folksy track features James Taylor. Puth recalled to Billboard how he had to calm the "Fire and Rain" singer before he recorded his contribution. "He was texting me, like, 'This is a really high song. How am I going to be able to sing this?'" recalled Puth. "I was like, 'Number 1, you're James Taylor. Number 2, I have it in my head exactly how you're going to sing it; I can just hear it.' Lo and behold, that's how it happened. We didn't even have to change keys."
  • The socially progressive track finds Puth and Taylor questioning why we're a society that cannot love one another openly.

    Why can't we just get along?
    If loving one another's wrong
    Then how are we supposed to
    Get close to each other?
    We gotta make that change, yeah
    Why can't we just get along?


    Puth dedicated the song to the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, following the mass shooting there on February 14, 2018, which left 17 dead and many injured.
  • The song's official video was filmed on March 24, 2018 when Puth debuted "Change" at the Los Angeles leg of the March For Our Lives gun control demonstration.
  • Puth told Entertainment Weekly that though he wrote the song prior to the Parkland high school shooting, "I would watch the news and these brave kids from Parkland and these mindless politicians hiding behind their words... I called my manager and said, 'We have to get this song out. The world is calling for it.'"

Comments: 1

  • Edward Cullen from Okfek Fe Nkvchoir worthy
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Meshell Ndegeocello

Meshell NdegeocelloSongwriter Interviews

Meshell Ndegeocello talks about recording "Wild Night" with John Mellencamp, and explains why she shied away from the spotlight.

Elton John

Elton JohnFact or Fiction

Does he have beef with Gaga? Is he Sean Lennon's godfather? See if you can tell fact from fiction in the Elton John edition.

Joe Ely

Joe ElySongwriter Interviews

The renown Texas songwriter has been at it for 40 years, with tales to tell about The Flatlanders and The Clash - that's Joe's Tex-Mex on "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"

Laura Nyro

Laura NyroSongwriting Legends

Laura Nyro talks about her complex, emotionally rich songwriting and how she supports women's culture through her art.

Classic Metal

Classic MetalFact or Fiction

Ozzy, Guns N' Roses, Judas Priest and even Michael Bolton show up in this Classic Metal quiz.

Ian Astbury of The Cult

Ian Astbury of The CultSongwriter Interviews

The Cult frontman tells who the "Fire Woman" is, and talks about performing with the new version of The Doors.