Charlie Puth has finally embraced his inner tortured poet. A month after Taylor Swift surprisingly mentioned the singer on The Tortured Poets Department, Puth sent a thank-you message and explained how the surprise line inspired him to compose an adventurous new song. So it appears that fans can thank Swift for Puth’s new sound.

On May 21, Puth debuted his new track “Hero,” marking his first release as a main artist in nearly a year. He revealed that this was “one of the hardest songs I’ve ever had to write,” adding that it was inspired by seeing someone you care about wasting their life and being helpless to rescue them. He also stated that “Hero” is “very different” from anything he has ever published, and he thanked Swift for encouraging him to try out this new way.

“I’ve never put out a song like this before- it’s very different for me,” Puth stated. “But I want to thank Taylor Swift for letting me know musically that I just couldn’t keep this on my hard drive any longer.”

Charlie Puth commended Taylor Swift for her lyrics about him in his own music release.

The shoutout is, of course, in response to the extra attention Puth has received from Swifties since The Tortured Poets Department’s release. In the album’s title track, Swift sings about a conversation she had with an ex: “You smoked, then ate seven bars of chocolate / We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist.”

The unexpected line sparked a minor ripple of tension, but for the most part, it appeared to cast a new light on Puth’s musical abilities. Puth didn’t immediately respond to the mention until this thank-you note, despite implying that he was aware of the situation. A few days after the album was out, he reposted Swift’s promotional post on Instagram.

He made an even cheekier allusion to “The Tortured Poets Department” when previewing “Hero” in a May 7 video, chewing on a chocolate bar while showing off how he mixed the tune. It may not have been seven complete bars of chocolate, but Swifties understood the message with just one.