Charlie Pittman is embracing the nostalgic sounds of the early 2000s with his latest single, glued, a collaboration with New Zealand singer-songwriter and producer Paige. Blending shimmering melodies with vulnerable storytelling, the release explores the exhausting thought loop of missing an ex — with the pair creating the track remotely after Charlie discovered Paige’s music online. We caught up with Charlie to chat about glued, working with Paige, the support it’s receiving from triple j, and what’s next as he prepares to hit the road with Henry Moody.
Futuremag Music: Congratulations on the new single, Glued. It’s such a fun tune, and it’s recently been added to full rotation on triple j. How does it feel to have them supporting your music so much?
Charlie Pittman: Yeah, it feels amazing. They’ve been great. I’ve had a couple of plays here and there, but to have something fully backed with rotation is awesome. They’re the backbone of the Aussie music industry, so to have that support from them is awesome. I’m super grateful.
Futuremag Music: Your fans have also been getting behind the song. How important has that support been?
Charlie Pittman: Definitely, and I think a lot of that comes from my fans as well. When I do get these opportunities of having first plays and stuff, there are so many of them texting in and singing my praises. It wouldn’t have happened without those guys either.
Futuremag Music: Glued incorporates some elements that feel a little outside your usual sonic realm, while still having that classic Charlie Pittman feel. What was the inspiration behind the track?
Charlie Pittman: I think with a lot of the songs I’m releasing at the moment, because I’m not releasing an EP, I’m kind of doing a few singles here and there. I’ve taken the pressure off of, “Oh, it needs to fit into this box or this cohesiveness.” It’s kind of just been like, let’s write the song, explore different sounds and see where it lands.
I wrote the song in London last year, and I’ve been listening to a lot of music by this band called Junior Varsity, who just make this really fun music. It really inspired the writing of the song.
I’ve talked about it before, but it’s tying in my childhood with my music a little bit more and leaning on those early-2000s references. I would like to think that the song would be a perfect song for a coming-of-age movie intro, like credits to the kind of movie vibe. It’s just leaning back into what I enjoyed as a kid and having a bit more fun with it.
Futuremag Music: You collaborated with Paige on this song. Can you tell us a bit about how that partnership came to fruition?
Charlie Pittman: When I wrote the song, I kind of always envisioned it being a duet. I had a second verse written for it, but I always just knew having a different perspective on the same topic, and having two voices on it, would really suit the song. It was just about finding the right voice for that.
I came across Paige online and saw a video of her doing a live performance of one of her songs. I was just so captivated by her voice and her tone and her storytelling as well. I thought, “If I ask her to write a verse on this, she’s gonna absolutely nail it.”
We asked her and a week later she came back with the verse and it was amazing. We had no notes, so we just got her to record her verse, send it back to us and the song was pretty much done from there.
I’ve never actually met Paige in person. We’ve got loads of mutual friends, but hopefully one day we’ll get to. We keep saying to each other, “How fun would it be to do this live one day?” So fingers crossed, I’m sure it will happen.
Futuremag Music: It’s recently been announced that you’re supporting Henry Moody on tour, which is super exciting. What does this opportunity mean to you?
Charlie Pittman: It’s massive. I’ve been super, super fortunate this year with the opportunities that I’ve had through supporting artists. We did Fly by Midnight earlier in the year and Sydney Rose and the Ryans doing some regional touring, and it was nice to go from doing my own regional tour to then having another support opportunity.
Henry coming over and doing those shows to a thousand people again is just an amazing opportunity, and I’m super grateful to Henry for having an Aussie opener on these tours. He could have easily just had an English opener or another international opener. So it’s an amazing opportunity for me before I then head back on the road, hopefully towards the end of the year, and sort of maybe make some new fans from that and engage with some people who might not know who I am.
Futuremag Music: How did the Henry Moody support slot come about?
Charlie Pittman: Henry and I had followed each other for like a year or so. One of my good mates back home, Ben Ellis, had opened for Henry across Europe, and I had come across Henry’s music a couple of years ago. We DM’d a little bit about each other’s stuff and then he did a story saying, “Australia news.”
I was like, “If you need an Australian opener…” and he was like, “Oh yeah, definitely. What’s your manager’s email?” I was like, “Oh sure, okay, great!”
I haven’t met him before, but I’m super excited to do the East Coast run with him.
Futuremag Music: I love that you just shot your shot and it worked out. You’ve got to ask, right?
Charlie Pittman: Absolutely. I did the same with Sydney as well, and I think that came about in a similar sort of way. It’s just like, yeah, you’ve got to — don’t ask, don’t get.
Futuremag Music: You’ve released the two singles Glued and Chew, and now you’re touring with Henry Moody. What’s next on the agenda?
Charlie Pittman: There’s definitely more to come this year. We’ve got at least two more songs towards the end of this year, and we are planning an East Coast tour. Those dates will be announced at some point soon in the future.
We’ll be coming back to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane again and doing some, hopefully, more all-ages shows as well. So everyone can be involved, as we tried to do with the last tour as well.
It’s just getting out and meeting more people and, yeah, more music.