"I just couldn’t keep this on my hard drive any longer" — Charlie Puth thanks Taylor Swift for urging him to release his upcoming single Hero

We Don't Talk Anymore singer Charlie Puth recently announced that his single, Hero, will be released on May 24, 2024. He took to Instagram with a lengthy caption talking about the song, mentioning that he has "never put out a song like this before".

In his post from May 21, 2024, Charlie Puth also expressed his gratitude to Taylor Swift for encouraging him to release the song:

"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."

In his post Puth also talked about his new song and mentioned it is about when one sees someone they love hurting themselves but "you just can't save them."

The How Long singer said that it is "one of the hardest songs" he's ever had to write, adding that he wrote it in hopes that his fans have gone through something similar in life. Puth stated that he hoped the song "can fill in the BLANK" for his listeners just like it did for him.

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Taylor Swift mentioned Charlie Puth in her latest album

In his Instagram post from May 4, 2024, Charlie Puth hinted at Swift when he thanked someone for support in the caption and mentioned "you know who you are".

Meanwhile, Taylor Swift recently mentioned Charlie Puth in the title track of her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department. Mentioning Puth alongside poet Dylan Thomas, singer Patti Smith, and other famous musicians, Swift's song lyrics stated:

"You smokеd, then ate seven bars of chocolate / We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist."

Charlie Puth silently acknowledged his mention in Swift's song by posting one of the photos from Taylor Swift's Instagram carousel on his story. It was a picture of Swift sitting in her recording booth with headphones, printed on a disc, as per People Magazine.

In an interview with CBS dated December 2022, Charlie Puth talked about why he did not release music in 2020 and had scrapped his third album at the time because he thought none of the music "felt real".

He then recalled an incident that prompted him to start over with his songs. While at a restaurant in West Hollywood, the maître d' came to him and mentioned that Elton John would like to see him. John had heard an early version of Puth's album and reportedly said:

"That music you just put out was not very good."

While the Light Switch singer was taken aback, he did not disagree with what Elton John had said. That is when Charlie Puth decided to rebuild his foundation and co-wrote as well as produced songs for other artists for some time.

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Hero arrives on all music streaming platforms on May 24, 2024.