On May 24, 2016, Puth released the third single "We Don't Talk Anymore", featuring Selena Gomez, with it having peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Marvin Gaye", which features American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor, was released on February 10, 2015, as the first single from the album.

[12][21] The Guardian's Rachel Aroesti gave Nine Track Mind three out of five stars, saying, "the standard of his songwriting is consistently high, and his central theme — romantic obsession that verges on the masochistic — makes for a record that softly burns.

"[2] In a negative review for Pitchfork, Jia Tolentino — recognizing Puth's talent and "considerable abilities" — criticized the album for sounding juvenile, and wrote that "the album's emotional range covers the spectrum from light longing to light infatuation, contributing to the overall sense that Nine Track Mind is aimed exclusively at hairlessness: children, prepubescents, the discomfitingly waxed.

"[18] Spin wrote that "The most standout feature of Nine Track Mind might be its rhythmic consistency, an exercise in deceleration.... inoffensive dross".

[19] AllMusic criticized the singer's performances and the album's production, stating that "Puth's problem is that he feels stage-managed; you can sense him hitting his marks.

Such fussiness extends to his compositions, which seem to mimic the idea of genuine emotions instead of delivering them, something that would be infuriating if Puth didn't just disappear into his immaculate surroundings, a fading ghost on his own album".