Charlie Puth’s “Loser” Is Based On A Heartbreaking Real-Life Text Message

After sharing the creation of his third album with fans on TikTok, Charlie Puth’s self-titled new record Charlie is a hot topic. And it turns out that his much-discussed track “Loser” takes direct inspiration from a break-up that still sticks in the singer’s mind. “This song started off with the title,” Puth told Apple Music.

“I was in the shower, recalling a time where I felt like I really messed it up with somebody. I thought that I lost them forever. I felt like a loser. I’m a singer living in LA, I’m seeing too many people and I’m a loser. “I followed up with, ‘How’d I ever lose her?’ And it just happens to rhyme. It sounds like a nursery rhyme that’s been around forever. Just a self-deprecating, sad one.”

As some eagle-eyed Puthinators may have noted, the singer first teased the beginnings of the song over a year ago, sharing his creative process on TikTok. Here, Puth tells a slightly different origin story. “I’m on my way to the studio right now, thinking about what kind of song I’m gonna make today, and I see this old text message,” he says, before showing a text exchange from his phone. In the conversation, he’s chatting to a friend called Jeff (presumably, his manager Jeff Azoff) about a recent heartbreak, before accidentally coming up with the song’s main hook in the process. “You’ll get over her I promise… but maybe you should go to the studio,” Jeff replies.

Elsewhere, Puth told Variety that new album Charlie will show fans another side to his personality. “I realised what I’ve gone through — breakups and beyond — they’re very similar to what other people have gone through, and similar feelings that one person has felt are maybe a different colour of something else that somebody else has felt,” he said, adding: “I wouldn’t define it just as a breakup album. I define it as a self-reflective album of ‘how did I ever let myself get this low because of somebody?’ album.”

Either way, though, the artist has confirmed that “Loser” draws directly from his real life experiences, and is written about a real relationship that came to an end. Could it be the same break-up that he references on his new album’s opening track “That’s Hilarious” — the split that “took away a year of my f*ckin' life?” That much still remains to be seen.

Check out the full lyrics, below:

Oh, I'm such a loser, how'd I ever lose her?

Oh, maybe I must have been out of my mind

Now, I'm a loser, why'd I have to lose her?

I'll never recover, I'll never be fine 'cause I

I just might get a little too drunk, so I won't think about us (Uh)

I don't think about what (Uh) we could have been

And I stay up like three or four nights, so I won't dream about us (Uh)

I wake up with no luck (No), I just can't win

I should've seen it all along (Ah-ah)

She was one in a million (Ah-ah)

It hurts whenever someone says her name

(Someone says her name)

When wе were goin' off and on (Ah-ah)

I guess I rеally played it wrong (Ah-ah)

I should have never let her slip away

Oh, I'm such a loser, how'd I ever lose her?

Oh, maybe I must have been out of my mind

Now, I'm a loser, why'd I have to lose her?

I'll never recover, I'll never be fine 'cause I

Uh, I just might been a little too gone

When she needed somebody (Uh)

Up against her body (Woah) at 2 AM

Yeah, and now I keep lying to myself

When she's just joking probably (She's joking probably)

She'll probably call me and we'll be us again

I should've seen it all along (Ah-ah)

She was one in a million (Ah-ah)

Now she's in love, and I'm in second place (Damn)

Oh, I'm such a loser, how'd I ever lose her? (Lose her)

Oh, maybe I must have been out of my mind (Now, I)

Now, I'm a loser, why'd I have to lose her? (Her)

I'll never recover, I'll never be fine (Fine) 'cause I, uh

[Post-Chorus]

Oh my, my, my, my

Oh my, my, my, my

Oh my, my, my, my, I'm a loser (I say)

Oh my, my, my, my

Oh my, my, my, my (I)

Oh my, my, my, my, I'm a loser

Tell me God is real

Do you think about me still

Or am I livin' for nothin'?

Don't know where it went

Wrong but I'll just take the hint

It's gonna take some adjusting

Oh, I'm such a loser, how'd I ever lose her?

Oh, maybe I must have been out of my mind

Now, I'm a loser (Oh), why'd I have to lose her? (I'll never)

I'll never recover, I'll never be fine (Oh, baby, I)

'Cause I'm a loser

Oh my, my, my, my

Oh my, my, my, my

Oh my, my, my, my, I'm a loser (I say)

Oh my, my, my, my (Oh, and I say)

Oh my, my, my, my (Yeah, and I say)

Oh my, my, my, my, I'm a loser