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Sitting down on a plush white couch with a paper coffee cup of bone broth in hand, Charlie Puth buzzes with energy as he prepares for a day of helping to shape the young minds of aspiring musicians. Through his ongoing partnership with BIC and the Save The Music Foundation, the 32-year-old played teacher while hosting a Creativity Camp for teachers and students on August 7.

Before helping guide attendees through stations like journal writing, beat making, album cover drawing and a live performance, the Grammy-nominated artist had a chance to share with ShopBillboard his must have music writing tools, favorite back-to-school supplies and thoughts on Taylor Swift name dropping him on her track “The Tortured Poets Department.”

“I still am the person that writes out the lyrics by hand,” Puth says. “I feel like it’s more solidified when you write it in your own handwriting versus typing it out on the phone.”

His choice of writing utensil? BIC’s 4-Color Retractable Pen, which the “Attention” singer finds makes it easier to cross out his mistakes and write out his most standout lyrics on paper quickly.

Similar to Taylor Swift, Puth likes to incorporate different pen colors into his songwriting process, but rather than base the shade off the type of song he’s writing, color determines the quality of the lyric he’s come up with.

“Red is the color that I use the most,” he says. “Lately, I’ve been starting with the lyric before the melody and if the lyric comes out of my head really quickly, it’s urgent, I have to write it in red.”

If he thinks a lyric is just okay though, he’ll jot it down in blue ink.

A solid pen isn’t the only thing that helps Puth have a successful music writing session, the “See You Again” singer also enjoys clearing his mind while bike riding — specifically on an electric bike.

“I can’t ever sit in the studio and just force a song out of me,” he says. “I have to go outside and I just bike around my neighborhood and then hear the song in my head and come back to a notepad full of red scribbles.”

With eager students waiting to meet the singer, the conversation easily drifted to back-to-school season and what he used to look forward to stocking up on.

As Puth looks to motivate aspiring artists, he himself received a push this year from Swift after she name-dropped him on her chart-topping album. Looking towards the future, he’s using it as affirmation while making new music.

“My goal as an artist now is to inspire other people to be artists” he says. “So if that means I should be an even bigger artist than I am now, maybe that means I’ll reach more people to inspire them to be bigger artists. So I’m perfectly fine with that notion.”

He’s also taking notes on how the “Fortnight” singer makes music and looking for ways to infuse it into his own writing process.

“I’ve always loved how her songs were journal entries” Puth notes. “I don’t think I’ve ever approached my music like that before. I was already starting that, but when she sung my name, I guess it reaffirmed that I was doing a good job. Doing what I’m already doing. So that’s what [the new music] is going to be like.”

For more product recommendations, check out ShopBillboard‘s roundups of the best gifts for musicians, vinyl record player accessories and gifts for singers.