MAX Fell in Love with Wife Emily After Kissing at One of His Concerts: 'We've Never Been Apart' (Exclusive)

"I was like, she's it. I don't want to see anybody else ever," MAX tells PEOPLE of the 9-year relationship, explored on his new album, 'Love in Stereo'

It was basically love at first sight for MAX and his wife, Emily.

For the 31-year-old pop star's new album Love in Stereo, he largely wrote about his feelings for Emily, whom he married in 2016 and shares 3-year-old daughter Edie Celine. Now, he's telling their romance origin story.

Before the pair officially started dating, MAX (whose full name is Max Schneider) met Emily (née Cannon) through a friend, who invited her to his performance at Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre in Tinley Park, Illinois, during a 2015 tour with Fall Out Boy.

"I was like, 'Oh, that hot British girl, for sure. She should definitely come to my show,'" the "Butterflies" singer tells PEOPLE over lunch in New York City. "And then she's like, 'I think she'd be down to make out with you.' I was like, 'Sweet, let's see what happens.'"

Emily came to the show, and they kissed right before MAX hit the stage. "I was like, 'She's it. I don't want to see anybody else ever,'" he recalls.

Not wanting to leave Emily in Chicago, he invited her to fly to North Carolina for another show the following weekend.

Related: MAX Teases Unreleased Collab with Former Nickelodeon Costar Keke Palmer: 'One of My Favorites' (Exclusive)

"She was stupid enough to say yes — stupid in love enough," MAX quips, referencing his latest single "Stupid in Love" from the new album. "Ever since, we've never been apart, and we're going on nine years together."

Upon their first meeting, the "Lights Down Low" musician was recently single and ready to live the "rock star lifestyle" that leads to kissing women backstage, which he'd never done before. But that all ended after the initial kiss.

"She was the first one, and of course I got married to her, which is hilarious," says MAX. "I'm a wife guy. She calls me her baby girl."

Related: MAX Says Le Sserafim's Huh Yunjin Sent Him an 'Endearing' Letter Ahead of Their Collaboration (Exclusive)

The pair's relationship continued moving fast, as they got married about one year after meeting in a 2016 courthouse wedding in New York City, followed by a small reception at his apartment. "We literally got engaged in four months, and our parents were like, 'This seems kind of crazy,' but it's the thing that I've been the most sure of in my whole life," he says.

Prior to getting together with Emily, the former Nickelodeon star often felt boxed in by his early career days as a teenage actor in the kids network's film Rags and series How to Rock. Thanks to their relationship, however, he's been able to come to terms with his past.

"She's believed in me the most and changed my whole life. She saw me the deepest and made me feel the most confident," says MAX. "Every day, I'm like, 'If she wants to be with me, then I can't believe that she wants to be with me.' That's how I feel about her, and I am still really so in love with her."

Related: Singer MAX Welcomes Daughter Edie Celine: 'We Couldn't Be More in Love If We Tried'

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

A few months after the release of his last album Colour Vision, the couple welcomed Edie Celine in December 2020. At the time, he swiftly wrote a sweet song named after their daughter, which appears on Love in Stereo as its closing track.

"My wife was sleeping, she'd just given birth, and I was just holding Edie, and that was the first natural thing that happened," explains MAX. "I was just writing this song for her, and it was the core memory that I'll never forget."

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.