Kids with perfect pitch are having a moment. A week after Jay-Z casually dropped into conversation that his daughter, Blue Ivy, has it, Jennifer Hudson has been speaking to viral 8-year-old musician Lake Anthony about his note identification talent.
In fact, it seems that Lake is something of a musical prodigy. Inspired by Charlie Puth – more on him in a moment – he’s been entertaining social media users with his guide to making a beat using chopped up samples from the phrase ‘water please’ (among many other videos), and he’s been playing drums since the age of 4 and singing since he was 5.
Lake also has synesthesia, which means he’s able to ‘hear’ colours – Pharrell Williams is also blessed with this gift – but it’s his perfect pitching that Hudson was most interested in when she had him on her chat show. “I can identify any note,” Lake told her. “Like, somebody can play a note. I'll say what it is or you can ask me what a note is and I'll sing it.”
Which brings us to Charlie Puth, who also has perfect pitch. So, what would little Lake ask him if he met him?
“I would probably say, I would do a perfect pitch battle with you,” he said. “And then I would also say, ‘If I win that perfect pitch battle, I get to open for you and if you win, you get to open for me.’” The lad’s got some confidence, for sure.
You can probably guess what happened next. Yep, out came Charlie Puth to take up the challenge. First up, he played a selection of chords on the piano, all of which Lake identified correctly. Next, the roles were reversed, and Puth was able to name all the chords that Lake played.
So, who won? It felt like an honourable draw, but we’re guessing that Puth would be happy to give the flowers to his young challenger in this case. Expect to see him opening a Puth show soon, and then ruling the musical world in about 10 years time.
Puth is in the midst of promoting his new album, Whatever’s Clever!, which features the combined talents of yacht rock legends Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins on one song. He also talked to Hudson about his popular YouTube channel, which serves as a useful education resource for anyone who wants to learn more about music and production.
“I want to inspire people to open up their phone and open up GarageBand and make that song that they have in their head that they're being told that they can't make,” says Puth.
