Posted by Loser is a single released by Charlie Puth on October 7, 2022, the same day as the album’s release (Charlie is his third solo album). It’s a song about love and breakups, and people naturally relate to the meaning behind the lyrics. In this article, we will analyze the song’s message, and you’ll also find the complete lyrics at the end.
You can find the official video of the song below.
Loser: the lyrics and their meaning
Loser is a song about the feeling of failure we have after a breakup. In the lyrics, Charlie Puth admits that the girl he loved left him, and now he feels lost. The awareness of how precious she was to him makes him feel like a loser now that he’s alone.
At the song’s beginning, Charlie asks himself how he lost her. The memories seem confusing, or perhaps there was no clarity from her about the reasons for the breakup.
Oh, I’m such a loser
How’d I ever lose her?
Oh, baby, I must’ve been out of my mind
Now, I-I’m a loser
Why’d I have to lose her?
I’ll never recover, I’ll never be fine
‘Cause I-I
Sometimes a relationship ends, and we don’t understand how it happened. This confusing feeling makes us insecure, and we tend to believe we did something wrong. It takes a rational effort to admit that both parts of the relationship are usually responsible for the breakup. And if it’s hard for one part to find the right reason, it may also be because of ambiguity or lack of clarity/communication on the other side.
The result is that it’s hard for us to move on. The singer is describing many ways we instinctively react in these situations:
I just might get a little too drunk
So, I won’t think about us (Uh)
I don’t think about what (Uh)
We could have been, and
I stay up, like, three or four nights
So I won’t dream about us (Uh)
I wake up with no luck (No)
I just can’t win
Trying not to think about it, drinking, and insomnia are typical reactions of our body and psyche when we face something hard to explain or admit. In this specific phase, Charlie seems to take complete responsibility for the breakup: he’s sure he did something wrong, and she left because he didn’t give her enough attention. He also mentions that he may be absent when she needed him, and now she’s in love with someone else.
Uh, I just might been a little too gone
When she needed somebody
Now she’s in love, and I’m in second place (Damn)
I guess I really played it wrong (Ah-uh)
I should’ve never let her slip away
The lyrics inside Loser perfectly describe the complete set of feelings and thoughts we have in front of a breakup that we cannot explain. There is also the refusal part, where a part of us wants to believe that it’s not over yet, and maybe soon things will get solved, and the person we love will return to us.
Now I keep lyin’ to myself
But she’s just joking probably (She’s joking probably)
She’ll probably call me and we’ll be us again
At some point, we start questioning ourselves as individuals, challenging our values. In Charlie’s case, he asks God if his life is still worth it without her and then starts wondering if he needs to adjust something to prevent it from happening again.
Tell me, God is real
Do you think about me still
Or am I livin’ for nothing?
Don’t know where it went
Wrong but I’ll just take the hint
It’s gonna take some adjusting
After all, this is the true meaning of the lyrics inside Loser: I feel I lost you because of my mistakes, and now it’s hard for me to move on. I struggle to manage everything I feel and wonder what is wrong with me. Usually, the next phase in these situations is learning again to love ourselves. But that may be the topic for another Charlie’s song.
Read other popular song lyrics and their meaning on Auralcrave
The complete lyrics
Oh, I’m such a loser
How’d I ever lose her?
Oh, baby, I must’ve been out of my mind
Now, I-I’m a loser
Why’d I have to lose her?
I’ll never recover, I’ll never be fine
‘Cause I-I
I just might get a little too drunk
So, I won’t think about us (Uh)
I don’t think about what (Uh)
We could have been, and
I stay up, like, three or four nights
So I won’t dream about us (Uh)
I wake up with no luck (No)
I just can’t win
I should’ve seen it all along (Uh-ah)
She was a one in a million (Uh-ah)
It hurts whenever someone says her name
(Someone says her name)
When we were goin’ off and on (Uh-ah)
I guess I really played it wrong (Ah-uh)
I should’ve never let her slip away
Oh, I’m such a loser
How’d I ever lose her?
Oh, baby, I must’ve been out of my mind
Now, I-I’m a loser
Why’d I have to lose her?
I’ll never recover, I’ll never be fine
‘Cause I-I
Uh, I just might been a little too gone
When she needed somebody (Uh)
Up against her body (Woah) at 2 A.M
Yeah, now I keep lyin’ to myself
But she’s just joking probably (She’s joking probably)
She’ll probably call me and we’ll be us again
I should’ve seen it all along (Uh-ah)
She was a one in a million (Ah-uh)
Now she’s in love, and I’m in second place (Damn)
Oh, I’m such a loser
How’d I ever lose her? (Lose her)
Oh, baby, I must’ve been out of my mind (-ind)
Now, I-I’m a loser
Why’d I have to lose her? (Her)
I’ll never recover, I’ll never be fine (Fine)
‘Cause I-I, uh
I’m-ma-ma-ma-ma
I’m-ma-ma-ma-ma
I’m-ma-ma-ma-ma-lo-o-o-o-ser (Yeah, I say)
I’m-ma-ma-ma-ma
I’m-ma-ma-ma-ma (I)
I’m-ma-ma-ma-ma-lo-o-o-o-ser
Tell me, God is real
Do you think about me still
Or am I livin’ for nothing?
Don’t know where it went
Wrong but I’ll just take the hint
It’s gonna take some adjusting
Oh, I’m such a loser
How’d I ever lose her?
Oh, baby, I must’ve been out of my mind
Now, I-I’m a loser (Oh!)
Why’d I have to lose her? (I’ll never)
I’ll never recover, I’ll never be fine (Oh, baby, I)
‘Cause I-I’m a loser
I’m-ma-ma-ma-ma
I’m-ma-ma-ma-ma
I’m-ma-ma-ma-ma (Ah, hey)
I’m-ma-ma-ma-ma (Don’t slip away)
I’m-ma-ma-ma-ma (I say, yeah, I say)
I’m-ma-ma-ma-ma-lo-o-o-o-ser
