"I Warned Myself" is a song by American singer-songwriter

Charlie Puth Charles Otto Puth Jr. (; born December 2, 1991) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. His initial exposure came through the viral success of his cover (music), song covers uploaded to YouTube. Puth signed with the record labe ...

. It was released through Artist Partner Group and

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

as a single on August 21, 2019. Puth produced the song with

Benny Blanco Benjamin Joseph Levin (born March 8, 1988), known professionally as Benny Blanco (stylized in all lowercase), is an American record producer and songwriter. He is the recipient of the 2013 Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall ...

and they wrote the song together.

Background

On October 1, 2018, Puth announced that he was working on a new album. He first hinted at the title of the track on August 10, 2019 on his

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

with the caption "i Warned Myself this would happen". A week later, he officially announced the release date and posted the cover art of the song. The song marks the first of three single releases. Puth revealed that the song is about "a vicious cycle of going back to someone continuously, knowing deep down that they aren't any good for you".

Critical reception

Salvatore Maicki at ''

The Fader ''The Fader'' is a magazine established in 1999 as an outlet for Cornerstone Agency, a marketing and public relations firm established by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. History and work It is owned by T ...

'' thought the song had an "undeniably sticky hook" and noted the "sparse, rumbling production". Writing for ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to Nort ...

'', Hunter Harris pointed out the lyrical content to be "about love and loss, secrets and lies — basically a breakup" and questioned who the song could be about, with possibilities ranging from a fan to fellow singer

Selena Gomez Selena Marie Gomez ( ; born July 22, 1992) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, producer, and businesswoman. Gomez began her career as a child actress, appearing on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004), a ...

. Derrick Rossignol at ''

Uproxx Uproxx Studios (stylized as ''UPROXX'') is an American music, entertainment and popular culture website and content studio. It was founded in 2008 by Jarret Myer and Brian Brater. The website was acquired in 2014 by Woven Digital (which later ...

'' praised the song for being a "a dark and welcomed addition to the Billie Eilish-led pop landscape".

Music video

The music video was released along with the song on August 21, 2019, and was directed by Brendan Vaughn. The video shows Puth being surrounded by a love interest in various settings and also includes scenes of the singer driving in a red Jaguar F-type coupe. Kirsten Spruch at ''Billboard'' noted that in the video "Puth serves up plenty of somber glances", while Sofiana Ramli of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' described the visuals as "hypnotizing".

Charts

References

2019 songs 2019 singles Atlantic Records singles Charlie Puth songs Songs written by Charlie Puth Song recordings produced by Benny Blanco Songs written by Benny Blanco {{2019-single-stub