Charlie Puth subtly acknowledged Taylor Swift name-dropping him on The Tortured Poets Department album more than a week after the record was released.
Swift, 34, shared an Instagram post on Sunday, April 28, to celebrate the album’s milestones thus far, which includes 2.6 million streams, and Puth, 32, subsequently shared one of the photos via Instagram Stories. The photo shared by the singer showed Swift sitting in the recording studio with the words “The Tortured Poets Department” written in sharpie.
Swift didn’t shy away from calling out her exes and enemies on The Tortured Poets Department, which dropped on April 19, but the pop star actually praised Puth in the title track.
“You smoked then ate seven bars of chocolate / We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist,” Swift sang on “The Tortured Poets Department.”
Fans immediately began speculating that the song was inspired by The 1975’s Matty Healy, who briefly dated Swift following her 2023 split from Joe Alwyn. Healy, 35, previously gave Puth a shout-out in a 2018 tweet, writing, “That Charlie Puth and Boyz II Men track is harrrrrd.” At the time, Puth responded via Twitter, writing, “Thank u matty!”
While name-dropping is “Nothing New” for Swift — her 2010 song “Dear John” calls out her ex John Mayer — TTPD references an unprecedented number of celebrities by name. In the chorus of the title track, she references poets Dylan Thomas and Patti Smith as well as “Lucy” and “Jack,” whom fans are speculating are actually Boygenius’ Lucy Dacus and Swift’s friend and collaborator Jack Antonoff.
Swift also gives a shout-out to Stevie Nicks in “Clara Bow” — a song named after the early Hollywood actress — in addition to name-dropping herself. “You look like Taylor Swift in this light, we’re loving it,” she sings.
While Swift has never publicly shared her admiration for Puth before, the “See You Again” singer is definitely a fan of hers. Puth once covered Swift’s song “Teardrops On My Guitar,” praising Swift throughout the social media video. “This is why [Taylor] is such a genius, man,” he says before breaking down the chords used in the song. “I think it’s wonderful.”
Puth’s song “Tears On My Piano” is even a reference to one of Swift’s first big hits. After previewing the song via TikTok in 2021, Puth confirmed in the comments section that the song was inspired by Swift’s “Teardrops On My Guitar” from her 2006 debut album.
