Charlie Puth is thankful his fans are super honest, even if they sometimes tell him things he doesn’t want to hear.

Speaking with GQ, the singer revealed his fans convinced him to drop the “bad boy” aesthetic he was using back in 2020. He also credited Sir Elton John, his idol, for telling him he was losing his way musically.

Sir Elton had criticized three songs Charlie made to establish his new era: “I Warned Myself,” “Cheating on You” and “Mother.”

“These three songs you’ve put out — they sound nothing like the music that you put together so beautifully on your second album… I think you’re involving too many people in your music,” Charlie recalled the British hitmaker telling him. That warning — paired with concerned fans asking him, “Are you sure you’re hanging with the right crowd?” — made him drop the act. 

The singer will release his third studio album, Charlie, on Friday, and he is so pleased with how it sounds because he’s not “trying too hard” — as some concerned fans once told him.  

Charlie admitted this is a defacto breakup album that carries the message that “you, yourself, can be responsible for the healing.” He said one can find “temporary feel-goodness” when hanging out with friends or going to therapy, but the one responsible for doing the hard work is yourself.

Charlie said making music about his 2019 heartbreak “healed me,” adding that recovery was something that came from within. “I made my own Band-Aid. And I just want people to know that they’re capable of so much,” he expressed.

He also said he’s moved on from “checking boxes for the music industry” with his new music. 

Charlie — an album he hails as his most honest and vulnerable yet — arrives October 7.

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