Selena Gomez struck by song lyrics

Selena Gomez instantly identified with the lyrics in We Don’t Talk Anymore, her new duet with Charlie Puth.

The singer-and-actress has collaborated with Charlie on the feel-good track, which includes lines such as “It’s such a shame we don’t talk anymore” and “We don’t laugh anymore”. It seems Selena’s tumultuous love life, including a highly-publicised on-off romance with Justin Bieber, was a factor in her agreeing to lend her vocals to the song. When Charlie played her the song for the first time and saw her reaction, he knew she had to be part of the project.

“I met up with Selena,” Charlie recalled to MTV News. “And she went through a very public relationship, on and off, and she could just relate to the song and the lyrical sentiment. 

“I was playing the song for her, and she just started singing the second verse. I got chills. I was like, 'Oh my gosh, that sounds so real. You need to sing on it.’ And she said yes.”

Last week (end11Dec15), Charlie announced he had teamed up with Selena on We Don’t Talk Anymore by posting a 15-second video of the song on Instagram. In the clip, 24-year-old Charlie is seen singing into the camera while Selena shows off some impressive dance moves in the background. The singer-songwriter insists the performance was all Selena’s idea and he hugely admires her enthusiasm for the track.

“I met up with her and she started a mini dance party in my tour bus with the song,” Charlie explained. “She’s really amazing.”

The music star claims the heartbreak of a close pal inspired him to pen the lyrics for We Don’t Talk Anymore. Charlie was also struck by inspiration as he was travelling around the world and insisted on recording it as soon as possible.

“I wrote it in Japan,” he said. “I was in my hotel room, at the Mandarin Hotel, looking out at this wonderful city from the top floor, and I called my guitarist who was in the next room and I said, 'Dude, can you come to my room really quickly and play this guitar line?’ I didn’t have a microphone, so I recorded his guitar with my iPhone, and I put it in the mix. Then, we went to the Philippines the next day, and I put the kick drum in.

“I remember a conversation I had had with my friend. He had just broken up with this girl, and I was like, 'So, are you going to talk to her anymore?’ And he was like, ’Nah, we don’t talk anymore.’ I was trying to cheer him up, so I did a dumb little face, and I was like, (singing) 'We don’t talk anymore.’ It became a cool melody, and I realised that this guitar beat fit perfectly over it.”