“Left and Right” by Charlie Puth (ft. Jung Kook of BTS)

Charlie Puth’s “Left and Right” is a pretty simple song, one in which the thesis sentiment revolves around the vocalist(s) missing the addressee, who is his ex. More specifically to what’s being expressed, the thing he really misses about their relationship, most simply put, is the sex. So as it currently stands he thinks about her constantly, even though, as implied, he also understands that such is not an ideal modus operandi. Or explained otherwise, it’s as if Charlie and Jung are kicking themselves for letting the addressee ‘get away’.

Indeed the title of this song, as explained by Puth, refers to army marching order, i.e. how you see those movies sometimes where the leader of the troop is instructing the soldiers under his command to walk ‘left-right-left’. In other words, the title is meant to point to the notion of moving on from the past.

But as relayed by the lyrics, the vocalist does not seem to actually be on that path. Or let’s say that he has made a conscientious effort to do so but thus far appears to be failing miserably, at least from a psychological perspective.

“Left and Right”

This is the first collaboration between Charlie Puth and Jung Kook. The latter is best known for being a member of BTS, i.e. the most-popular musical act in the world circa the release of this track on 24 June 2022. 

It has been pointed out that whereas this is the first time the two vocalists have teamed up officially, the pair do have a notable history. One such history is Puth sharing the stage once with BTS more specifically Kook himself at a 2018 event held in South Korea called the MCB Plus X Genie Music Awards.

Charlie Puth is a musician from New Jersey. To date, the biggest hit in his discography is 2015’s “See You Again“, from the movie Furious 5, in which he collaborated with Wiz Khalifa. And even though he and Jung Kook co-headline “Left and Right”, the track is from a 2022 Puth album titled Charlie, a product of Atlantic Records. And Kook’s label, Big Hit Music, also contributed to the issuance of this song.

This is a song which Charlie originally put out, via TikTok, as a solo joint earlier in 2022. He later reported of having a dream of featuring BTS on the track, and whereas that vision did not come true in its entirety, he did score one-seventh of the group in Jungkook. And to note, the Bangtan Boys are known to venture out on their own occasionally. But as reported a couple of weeks prior to the dropping of “Left and Right”, as of mid-2022 the group is on hiatus (i.e. not actually breaking up), with all seven members now respectively pursuing solo projects.

The director of this track’s music video is Drew Kirsch.

Charlie Puth produced this track and also wrote it, accomplishing the latter task alongside Jacob Kasher.