Having started out as a songwriter for hire, 24-year-old New Jersey native Charlie Puth got his big break with last year’s huge Wiz Khalifa collaboration, See You Again. His debut album aims for credible, vintage soul-pop but is hampered by a severe lack of personality. My Gospel and Left Right Left are basically crude Bruno Mars facsimiles, while in the inordinately embarrassing No 1 single Marvin Gaye, Puth casts himself as the male version of the song’s featured guest, Meghan Trainor. There are flashes of something special on Suffer, and the surprisingly sultry Selena Gomez collaboration We Don’t Talk Anymore, but in general, Puth’s anonymity is infuriating.
