Ghosts of Girlfriends Past Haunt Charlie Puth on ‘I Don’t Think That I Like Her’

Ghosts of heartbreak past stopped in to pay Charlie Puth a visit on his haunting new single “I Don’t Think I Like Her.” Teaming up with Travis Barker, the record finds the singer weighed down by past relationships that instilled a sense of paranoia in him, making dating all the more precarious.

“I don’t think that I like her anymore/Girls are all the same/All they wanna do is break my heart,” Puth sings over punching percussive stabs on the chorus. “I don’t think that I like her anymore/Girls are all the same/They just wanna see me fall apart.”

As he notes throughout the song, Puth followed all the instructions to build a healthy relationship, even though he’d come to accept that he’d be single forever. He got her name and number, indulged in their commonalities while ignoring their differences, and met her family.

Still, he can’t escape the disconnect between his sudden infatuation and finding out that the person he’s falling for has other plans: “For me, the stars are aligning / But for her, it’s bad timing.” He’s back at square one, and it’s starting to feel personal.

Puth first teased “I Don’t Think I Like Her” over a year and a half ago with a since-deleted TikTok previewing the record in its early stages. The singer has turned to his audience of 19.1 million followers on the app throughout the creation process of Charlie, his third studio album set for release on Oct. 7.

“This album was born on the internet, and I’ve had so much fun making it in front of all of you this past year,” Puth wrote when unveiling the album artwork. “2019 me used to think that in order to be an artist, you had to hide away and talk to nobody to make your art. Turns out you make MUCH better art when you involve millions of people in the process.”