Charlie Puth felt all the emotions after learning Taylor Swift name-dropped him on her new album, The Tortured Poets Department.
Puth, 32, said he received a call from a friend who had heard a leak of the album before its official release on April 19.
“My brain immediately went to ‘Oh, like in an interview or something. That’s cool. I love Taylor Swift,’” he told Rolling Stone in an interview published on Friday, May 24.
Next, the “See You Again” singer wondered if the lyrics were the work of artificial intelligence.
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Puth recalled thinking: “I’m going to wake up tomorrow and it was just a big joke that someone was playing on me because someone thinks I shouldn’t be a bigger artist, so get the biggest artist since the Beatles to say that I should be a bigger artist. Ha ha ha.”
Upon learning the shout-out on the album’s title track was real, Puth said he was in shock.
“My first thought was like, ‘Wow. She said my name.’ She kind of said it like P-O-O-T-H.’ And I just cried, dude,” he said.
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On “The Tortured Poets Department,” Swift, 34, sings: “You smoked then ate seven bars of chocolate / We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist.”
Puth said he hasn’t yet spoken to the “Fortnight” singer — who is currently on tour in Europe — but has sent her a note. He credits her with giving him the confidence to release new music.
“I was just like, ‘This means more, and I will take this newfound courage to put this new body of work out,’” he told Rolling Stone. “Again, I was working on it already, but I was just unsure and it’s cool to get a stamp of approval from an artist that you have idolized for such a long time and still do.”
Puth premiered his new song, “Hero,” on Friday, and publicly thanked Swift for inspiring him in an Instagram post announcing the single on Tuesday, May 21.
“I’m very excited to share my next album with you, especially this song because it’s a great representation of what’s to come. I’ve never put out a song like this before — it’s very different for me, but I want to thank @taylorswift for letting me know musically that I just couldn’t keep this on my hard drive any longer,” Puth wrote.
