Charlie Puth releases 'Hero,' one of his 'hardest' songs to write

May 24 (UPI) -- Charlie Puth is back with new music.

The 32-year-old singer-songwriter released the single "Hero" on Friday after teasing the song earlier this week.

Puth said Tuesday that "Hero" is "about when you see someone you love hurting themselves, ruining the things in their life that are good, but you just can't save them."

"It's one of the hardest songs I've ever had to write, but I wrote it in hopes that you've gone through something similar in your life, and that it can fill in the BLANK for you like it did for me," he wrote on Instagram. "I'm very excited to share my next album with you, especially this song because it's a great representation of what's to come."

Puth said he decided to release the song after being inspired by fellow singer Taylor Swift.

"I've never put out a song like this before- it's very different for me, but I want to thank @taylorswift for letting me know musically that I just couldn't keep this on my hard drive any longer," he shared.

Swift referenced Puth on her song "The Tortured Poets Department," which features the lyric, "We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist."

"Hero" is Puth's second song of 2024, following his collaboration with K-pop group Stray Kids, "Lose My Breath" featuring Charlie Puth.

He released his most recent album, Charlie, in October 2022.