Charlie Puth Reveals the Inspiration Behind Every Song On 'Nine Track Mind'

Coming off of a very successful 2015, with his single featuring Wiz Khalifa, "See You Again," and multiple solo singles like "Marvin Gaye," Charlie Puth has finally released is brand new debut album, Nine Track Mind. The album showcases twelve new songs, including "Marvin Gaye" featuring Meghan Trainor, his current release "One Call Away," and his new collaboration with Selena Gomez "We Don't Talk Anymore."

Puth tells iHeartRadio of Nine Track Mind, "It was very fun making. It was a little bit of pressure. I was like, 'Oh God, debut album.' A lot of success with songs, and being featured on songs, and writing songs for other people, kind of nervous of what people are going to think when the stuff is just me. But, it was very thrilling at the same time because I was just chilling in my house, making beats, and it turned into an album. It's a very personal album and it wasn't made in any studio, it was all in my bedroom."

The New Jersey native also revealed the meaning behind each song on Nine Track Mind, explaining what each track is about, what inspired the lyrics behind them, and what they mean to him. Read on below.

Track 1: "One Call Away"

"'One Call Away' is about anybody who is in love with somebody, and doesn't get to see that person every single day. That's the e-cards that people used to send to you over email. I feel like people use them more as memes now. Well, this is your musical meme for not seeing a person that you love so dearly for a really, really long time."

Track 2: "Dangerously"

"'Dangerously' [is] kind of in the same vein as 'My Gospel,' of loving someone to the utmost amount, but taking it to a ridiculous level. Kind of like Bruno Mars 'Grenade,' like, 'I'll catch a grenade for you' — not biting that of course, but thinking of what's the craziest thing you could think of just to love somebody."

Track 3: "Marvin Gaye" featuring Meghan Trainor

"I was honestly just fooling around thinking 'okay, what's a funny song I could make?' And I was just like, 'Let's Marvin Gaye and get it on.' And my friend was like, 'That's actually kinda tight, you should try and finish that.' So, it turned into a real song. And then I met Meghan Trainor at a party, and she wanted to sing on it, and she's now my best friend and she's featured on it."

Track 4: "Losing My Mind"

"'Losing My Mind' is the last record that I wrote for the album when I was getting pressured to finish the album. I had 12 hours to finish it, and I was kind of having a mental breakdown because I couldn't think of anything. I thought I was losing my mind, and I didn't know what to write about. And I stopped myself and I was like, 'Dummy, why don't you just write about what you're feeling right now? You're losing your mind.'"

Track 5: "We Don't Talk Anymore" featuring Selena Gomez

"I was driving on Santa Monica Boulevard with my friend, and I hadn't seen him in like four months, and last time I saw him, he was so infatuated and in love with this girl, and would literally talk about her every second, and always just literally with the ups and downs and the sideways and whatever. When I saw him after four months of not seeing him, of being on tour, I was like, 'Oh, how is so and so doing?' And he was like, 'Oh, we don't talk anymore.' And literally as he said that I was like, 'We don't talk anymore. We don't talk anymore. We don't talk anymore, like we used to do.' Simple. And that's the dude that came into the 'Marvin Gaye' session when I was writing 'Marvin Gaye' too, so he has has a nice, strong energy about him."

Track 6: "My Gospel"

"I wrote it with the guy who wrote, 'I dug my key into the side of his pretty little souped up four wheel drive,' [Carrie Underwood's 'Before He Cheats'] Josh Kear — brilliant writer. I just wanted to [write a song about] the pain and desperation of doing absolutely anything for a girl, female, anybody. I wanted to relay that message musically, and a lot of people could probably feel the same way when they hear it. It has a nice little beat to it."

Track 7: "Up All Night"

"'Up All Night' I wrote with Bonnie McKee, who Bonnie writes all of Katy's [Perry] stuff, and is incredible. I was talking with Bonnie, who was going through a tough time with this guy, wanting [him] to like her, and I didn't tell her that I was having a tough time with this girl wanting [her] to like me, and it was the first time that I've been in a session where two people were both experiencing the same feeling, but didn't tell each other, but we found it out through music. So that's pretty cool."

Track 8: "Left Right Left"

"'Left Right Left' is literally just about moving on, as referring to my feet. Left foot, right foot, I forget what movie I was watching, but I thought of lyrical concepts that just would be dope, would be just simply moving on, don't live in the present, don't think about the future, or dwell on the past."

Track 9: "Then There's You"

"'Then There's You' is a record I worked on with Max Martin, who is like the Pop God of the world. I needed to have one pop-y record on this album. I grew up listening to Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, and I couldn't have a debut album without having something done by Max Martin. I was so happy he jumped on this. 'There's beautiful and then there's you, not being able to find the word, there's no words to express when you're wearing that dress that way, there's no words to express let me look in your eyes and say there's beautiful and then there's you.' You can't find the word to say it."

Track 10: "Suffer"

"Pretty self explanatory. A girl made me suffer, and I wrote a song about it. Not nice of her. But, it's one of those popular songs on the EP, so sucks for her!"

Track 11: "As You Are" featuring Shy Carter

"I will take you as you are, if you want to wear grey sweatpants and eat Chinese food with me at 2:00 o'clock in the morning on a Friday night, that's totally fine. Doesn't that sound fun? At Charlie's house you always end up on the couch, eating Chinese food. Not even Netflix and chill, just Jerry Springer and television ads, infomercials, blue and white lights shining upon us as we eat the sesame chicken."

Track 12: "Some Type Of Love"

"'Some Type of Love' was the debut record on my EP and one of the first records that people know me by. I wrote it with my friend David Brook, and kind of like 'How Beautiful' and 'Then There's You,' can't find the word to describe someone who is even more so than beautiful, that's kind of in the same vein too. 'Some Type of Love,' I don't know what this feeling is, some type of love,' and it just sounds really good when you say it, 'Some Type of Love.' Just like that."

Photos: Rachel Kaplan