How Long

“How Long,” the second single from Charlie’s sophomore album VoiceNotes, sees Charlie apologizing to a girl for being unfaithful. Charlie teased the track on social media in the week leading up to its release, and posted a video of the voice note behind the track the night before it came out. In an interview with Ryan Seacrest released the day after this song dropped, Charlie discussed the similarities between this track and his previous single, “Attention”: With the theme of ‘Attention’ kinda being a ‘bass’ song, I didn’t want it to be, like, a ripoff of ‘Attention,’ but lyrically, the song is like part two of ‘Attention,’ as far as the story goes. I’ll leave that up to interpretation. As of the week of Feb. 2, 2018, “How Long” peaked at #21 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.

[Intro] Alright Whoa, oh, yeah [Verse 1] I'll admit, I was wrong, what else can I say, girl? Can't you blame my head and not my heart? I was drunk, I was gone, that don't make it right, but Promise there were no feelings involved, no [Pre-Chorus] She said, "Boy, tell me honestly Was it real or just for show?" Yeah She said, "Save your apologies” Baby, I just gotta know [Chorus] How long has this been goin' on? You've been creepin' 'round on me While you're callin' me "baby" How long has this been goin' on? You've been actin' so shady (Shady) I've been feelin' it lately, baby [Post-Chorus] Ooh-ooh (Yeah) Ooh-ooh (Encore) Ooh-ooh, ooh [Verse 2] I'll admit (I'll admit), it's my fault (My fault) But you gotta believe me When I say it only happened once, mmm I try (I try), and I try (I try), but you'll never see that You're the only one I wanna love, oh, yeah [Pre-Chorus] She said "Boy, tell me honestly (Honestly, yeah) Was it real or just for show?" Yeah (Is it just for show?) She said, "Save your apologies" (Apologies, yeah) Baby, I just gotta know [Chorus] How long has this been goin' on? You've been creepin' 'round on me (On me) While you're callin' me "Baby" (Baby) How long has this been goin' on? You've been actin' so shady (Shady) I've been feelin' it lately, baby (Baby) [Post-Chorus] Ooh-ooh (Yeah) Ooh-ooh (Encore) Ooh-ooh, ooh How long has it been goin' on, baby? Ooh-ooh (Woo) Ooh-ooh, you gotta go tell me now Ooh-ooh, ooh [Pre-Chorus] She said, "Boy, tell me honestly (Ooh) Was it real or just for show?" Yeah (Ooh) She said, "Save your apologies" (Ah) Baby, I just gotta know [Chorus] How long has this been goin' on? (On, on) You've been creepin' 'round on me (On me) While you're callin' me "Baby" (Baby) How long has this been goin' on? You've been actin' so shady (Shady) I've been feelin' it lately, baby [Post-Chorus] (Ooh-ooh, yeah) How long has this been goin' on? (Ooh, uh-uh) You've been creepin' 'round on me (Yeah) (Ooh-ooh-oh) How long has it been goin' on, baby? Oh (Ooh-ooh) How long has this been goin' on? (Ooh, uh-uh) (You gotta go tell me now) (Ooh-ooh-oh) You've been actin' so shady (Shady) I've been feelin' it lately, baby