Charlie Puth wrote Taylor Swift a note to thank her for naming him in her song The Tortured Poets Department.
The Silence hitmaker revealed to Rolling Stone on Friday that he reached out to the Shake It Off singer and thanked her for inspiring him to release his new music by singing that he “should be a bigger artist” on her album’s title track.
“I wrote her a note, and I was just like, ‘This means more, and I will take this newfound courage to put this new body of work out,'” he shared. “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 idolised for such a long time and still do.”
When asked if he had anything he wanted to tell her, Charlie added, “I’m just very thankful. I’m a broken record, but I’m very thankful for her shout-out because I really don’t know if I would’ve had the courage to put a song like this out. And all I needed was just that little ‘You’re good, put it out’ reminder.”
The 32-year-old, who met Taylor backstage at a Jingle Ball concert “a very long time ago”, admitted to the publication that he was in “complete denial” when his friend told him Taylor mentioned him in a song.
Recalling his reaction to hearing the track for the first time, Charlie said, “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.”
Charlie’s latest single, Hero, was released on Friday.
