Charlie Puth Texted His Dead Friend's Phone — and Wrote a Hit

When Charlie Puth learned his Berklee friend Vail Cerullo had died in a motorcycle accident, he instinctively texted Vail's phone. The phrase 'see you again' emerged in that moment of grief, and the chorus of the song followed almost immediately. The most commercially successful lyrics of his career came not from a writing session but from a one-sided text to someone who could no longer respond.