For the past two years, radio DJs across the country have played Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth's Furious 7 hit "See You Again" on what seems to be a continuous loop. The song got so popular, in fact, that it racked up 2.9 billion views on YouTube, making it the most-viewed video on the channel. Yes, it has even more views than Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)."
But it turns out the video, which was an emotional tribute to the Fast & Furious franchise's Paul Walker, was the source of a lot of tension for Puth and the film's executive team.
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In an interview with Billboard, the 25-year-old artist said he had to really sell himself in order to be featured on the now-famous track and in the video.
"I don't know if a lot of people know this, I wasn't supposed to be in the video," he told Billboard. "I wasn't supposed to be on the song; I was only supposed to be a writer on the song. I was a brand new artist, I wasn't cool enough to be part of the franchise yet, I wasn't big enough."
While many up-and-coming artists might sit back and let someone else star in their song and be content with having the exposure, Puth was determined to get the credit he felt he deserved.
"I'll never forget I ended up calling [the executives] from around this big conference table on the phone, and they were explaining the reasons why it was going to be sung by this artist and blah, blah, blah, I'm not going to name any names, but...I said, 'That's great. Your movie comes out in a week and I'm not gonna give you the song,'" Puth told Billboard. "And I hung up the phone and when I said that miraculously I was in the music video."
Demand and you shall receive, it appears.