Why Charlie Puth Wasn't The Same After Dating Selena Gomez

A former Disney Channel darling who grew up alongside Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez's love life has been scrutinized since her early days on the network. Perhaps the media attention started because of her high-profile relationship with Justin Bieber. When the "Peaches" singer admitted Gomez was his celebrity crush in 2009, it seemed like a matter of time before they got together, per People. Indeed, Gomez and Bieber made their red carpet debut later that year and went on to have a tumultuous relationship, lasting nearly seven years.

Their final break came in 2018. Gomez had just ended a romance with The Weeknd when she was spotted riding bikes with Bieber shortly after. In defense of her decision to rekindle things with The Biebs, she told Billboard, "I cherish people who have really impacted my life. Before, it could have been forcing something that wasn't right." Unfortunately, it turned out that Bieber still wasn't right for her. After that break, the Canada native went on to reconcile with — and marry — Hailey Baldwin. Meanwhile, Gomez dropped "Lose You To Love Me," featuring lyrics like, "Set fire to my purpose / And I let it burn." (FYI, Bieber has a studio album titled "Purpose," so make of that what you will.)

Gomez's up-and-down relationship with Bieber took the better part of a decade, but they both found time to date other people during the "off" periods. For Gomez, this included a fling with singer Charlie Puth, who wasn't the same after dating the talented actor/singer.

In 2016, Charlie Puth and Selena Gomez collaborated on the song, "We Don't Talk Anymore." Fans thought they weren't talking because they were too busy hooking up, but Puth clarified they were just friends, via ET. "I'm trying to evade the question," he said. "We're friends, and I'm very happy to have collaborated with her. She's a really awesome singer." However, things apparently went south soon after, as evidenced by the fact that Gomez didn't appear in the music video. "We don't talk anymore," Puth tweeted when a fan asked where Gomez was (via Teen Vogue). Separately, he tweeted (via Teen Vogue), "It takes me awhile to admit it but I really really messed it up with this one girl." The girl in question just so happened to be "a good singer." Hmm.

It was ultimately Puth's revealing interview with Billboard that hinted at what went wrong. As it turns out, the ghost of Justin Bieber foiled any potential for true love between him and Gomez. "[The song is] about a particular moment in my life, when someone very close to me wanted the attention of somebody else," Puth said. The "Light Switch" singer went on to call his time with Gomez "very short-lived, very small, but very impactful." He added, "It really messed me up. I'm trying to put this the best way possible: It wasn't like I was the only person on her mind." Puth didn't name names, but he didn't have to.

For readers who are still scratching their heads over the concept of a Charlie Puth-Selena Gomez romance, that's understandable. It was a blink-and-you'll-miss-it fling, which a source claimed was never "serious," per Us Weekly. However, Puth seemed to feel differently. "I don't know if anyone really understands me. Which is why I hang out with Selena Gomez. She gets me," the Grammy winner told Us Weekly in 2016. Judging by this comment, the relationship could have been one-sided, which led to Puth feeling "messed up" when Gomez broke things off. At the very least, it's clear the "Only Murders in the Building" star carried a torch for Justin Bieber, even when she was hanging out with Puth. Bieber apparently knew this and played on her heartstrings. He posted a throwback shot on Instagram of the two kissing in March 2016 and captioned it, "Feels."

Now that the Bieber and the Puth eras are firmly in the rearview, Gomez is finally ready for a new man in her life. For a while, she felt "haunted by a past relationship," — aka Bieber — as she explained in the documentary "Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me," (via People). But now, "Selena is feeling positive and optimistic," a source told ET in 2022. "She is open to dating." In fact, if the rumors about Gomez cozying up to Chainsmokers' frontman Drew Taggart are true, she may be dating already.