Charlie Puth Reveals Eminem, Sam Smith, and Lil Wayne Auditioned to be Featured on ‘See You Again’

Charlie Puth has many hit singles but “See You Again” with Wiz Khalifa is what put him on the map. However, Puth could have remained unknown after this song debuted because he initially wasn’t supposed to be featured on the track. The artist recently admitted that Eminem, Sam Smith, and a few other artists auditioned for “See You Again,” but it ultimately went to Puth. 

‘See You Again’ was the first worldwide hit for Charlie Puth

“See You Again” is a 2015 song by American singer and rapper Wiz Khalifa, featuring Charlie Puth. It was written by Wiz Khalifa, Puth, DJ Frank E, and Andrew Cedar. The song was featured in 2015’s Furious 7 and is a tribute to Paul Walker, who died in a 2013 car accident. Furious 7 ended up making over $1 billion at the box office, but “See You Again” was also a huge hit.

The song spent 12 weeks on top of the US Billboard Hot 100, tying Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” for the second-longest-running rap single in the country behind Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road.” It was the best-selling song of 2015 worldwide and is the biggest hit song for both Wiz Khalifa and Puth. 

Eminem and Sam Smith auditioned to be on ‘See You Again’

Charlie Puth recently did an interview with Allure to break down several of his most iconic music videos. While discussing “See You Again,” Puth admitted that he wasn’t meant to be the artist featured on the song. He was a relatively new artist, and artists like Eminem, Sam Smith, Adele, and Lil Wayne had auditioned to be on the song. 

“I was actually not supposed to be in this music video. I remember, they were filming the first day of the music video, and I was on my to the music video and they were like, ‘Wait, never mind. You’re not gonna be singing anymore. You don’t need to come.’ And I turned around and then the next day they were like, ‘Just kidding. We need you back here.’ I wrote this song for Sam Smith, Adele, Eminem, Skylar Grey, Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, they all auditioned to sing it. I was never intended to be the artist on this song.”

Considering Wiz Khalifa handled the rap verses, Eminem and Lil Wayne would have been odd choices to handle Puth’s chorus. However, someone like Sam Smith and Adele could have complimented the song nicely. Still, it’s good that Puth could capitalize on this song’s success and have his own successful career. 

Eminem turned down this song for a different movie

Eminem has experience making songs for movie soundtracks, and his reasoning for not doing “See You Again” came down to scheduling conflicts. In an interview with Fuse, 50 Cent revealed that Eminem turned down “See You Again” because he was working on a song for Southpaw, a 2015 boxing film starring Jake Gyllenhaal. 

“At the time, [Eminem] had to make a decision between doing that and the song for Fast & Furious,” 50 Cent explained. “That record [‘See You Again’] was a huge success for Wiz Khalifa and them. [Eminem] decided to do Southpaw because he was invested in the project.”

Southpaw wasn’t nearly as successful as Furious 7, nor was Eminem’s song as successful as “See You Again.” He may have missed this opportunity, but Eminem still has plenty of success.