light switch

Album

Charlie

Label

Atlantic Records

Genre

-Pop

Duration

5:00

Composer(s)

Charlie Puth;Jacob Kasher Hindlin;Jake Torrey

Entered Chart

Feb 5, 2022

Peak Date

Mar 19, 2022

Released

January 20, 2022

Recorded

Unknown

Catalog #

Atlantic Records

This song finds Charlie Puth crooning about an attractive love interest. Though the girl is totally wrong for him, she's got him in "a tight grip." Every time Puth tries to walk away, he gets turned on by her, like a light switch. The song started out as a gloomy, slow ballad. In an interview with Audacy, Puth said it was originally about him wishing he could "turn his brain off" as easily as we turn lights off with a light switch. Sticking to the light switch motif, he twisted it round to a funky, uptempo track about "being turned on" by a hot girl. Puth wrote "Light Switch" with his regular writing partner J Kash, and with Jake Torrey (BTS' "The Truth Untold," Justin Bieber's "Off My Face"). Puth is the lone credited producer. Puth first shared "Light Switch" on his TikTok on September 16, 2021, documenting him producing the song. The video went viral on the platform and he continued to tease the song in various TikTok videos throughout the rest of 2021. He eventually released it as the lead single from his third studio album, Charlie, on January 20, 2022. Christian Breslauer directed the music video, which begins with an out-of-shape Puth after a breakup. An aerobics instructor (Billy Blanks) gets him fitter and trimmer only for the singer to find his ex has a new, out-of-shape boyfriend. "The way the song came about was so unexpected, that I had to do a video that was also unexpected. I can't just look nice on camera and sing the song," Puth told Audacy. "It needs to be me getting in shape and becoming what I think is the best version of myself... unbeknownst to me that the version that I was before was just fine."

Yeah, uh

Why you callin' at 11:30
When you only wanna do me dirty? (Uh)
But I hit right back
'Cause you got that-that, yeah, uh
Why you always wanna act like lovers?
But you never wanna be each others' (uh)
I say, "Don't look back"
But I go right back and

All the sudden, I'm hypnotized
You're the one that I can't deny
Every time that I say
I'm gonna walk away

You turn me on like a light switch
When you're movin' your body around and around
Now, I don't wanna fight this (no)
You know how to just make me want
You turn me on like a light switch
When you're movin' your body around and around
You got me in a tight grip (yeah)
You know how to just make me want you, baby

Do you love it when you keep me guessin'? (Me guessin')
When you leave and then you leave me stressin' (me stressin') (uh) (uh)
But I can't stay mad
When you walk like that, no, uh
Why you always wanna act like lovers?
But you never wanna be each others' (uh) (uh)
I say, "Don't look back"
But I go right back and

All the sudden, I'm hypnotized (hypnotized)
You're the one that I can't deny (can't deny)
Every time that I say
I'm gonna walk away (yeah)

You turn me on like a light switch
When you're movin' your body around and around
Now, I don't wanna fight this (no)
You know how to just make me want
You turn me on like a light switch (switch)
When you're movin' your body around and around
You got me in a tight grip (grip)
You know how to just make me want you, baby

Come on, come on, come on, come on
Come on and show me how you do (you do)
You want, you want, you want, you want
You wanna keep me wantin' you (me wantin' you, girl)
Come on, come on, come on, come on
Come on and show me how you do (how you do)
You want, you want, you want, you want
You wanna keep me wantin' you

You turn me on like a light switch
When you're movin' your body around and around
Now, I don't wanna fight this
You know how to just make me want to

You turn me on like a light switch
When you're movin' your body around and around
You got me in a tight grip
You know how to just make me want you, baby

Come on, come on, come on, come on
Come on and show me how you do (how you do)
You want, you want, you want, you want
You wanna keep me wantin' you (wanna keep me wantin' you, baby)
Come on, come on, come on, come on
Come on and show me how you do (you do)
You want, you want, you want, you want
You wanna keep me wantin' you