24-karat magic in the air: Bruno Mars

When he's good, he's great

It’s difficult to write critically about Bruno Mars without using the word “pastiche.” I mean, the man is a genius when it comes to taking old musical styles and spitting them back out through his own voice, from the Police on “Locked Out of Heaven” to Jodeci on his Cardi B duet “Please Me.” Tom Breihan just took on Mars’s last solo #1, “That’s What I Like,” for his Stereogum column The Number Ones, and inspired me to write a few words on the Hawai’ian polyglot, because good lord do I like a lot of his songs.

That said, I don’t love his early work; 2011 debut Doo-Wops and Hooligans is fairly worthless, and the same can be said of his collabs with non-entities like BoB. But his next album, 2012’s Unorthodox Jukebox featured both the superb Police rip “Locked Out of Heaven” — so superb Sting joined him to perform it at the 2013 Grammys — and the superb Off the Wall riff “Treasure,” which just sounds like joy. (As for his ballads, the less said the better.)

10 years ago this week, The Singles Jukebox reviewed his Mark Ronson collab “Uptown Funk!” Mine was the lead blurb: Greasy like Timberlake wants to be but is afraid to be, this is the best James Brown single since “Unity” – though the best comparison is “Living In America,” with Ronson as the Dan Hartman to Mars’s JB. This is clean but it’s still funky, and Bruno Mars further proves that he might be the baddest motherfucker around right now cuz he can do anything he damn well wants. [10]

For more on “Uptown,” check out Breihan’s The Number Ones column on it. The song spent 14 weeks atop the Hot 100, hit #1 in seemingly every country around the globe, and seemed to set Mars on a new course, one where he’s largely embraced his love of ‘80s and ‘90s R&B. Two years later came “24K Magic,” the title track from his third album; I love it even more, which I didn’t think was possible. My TSJ blurb, where I went long: Wherein Bruno Mars decides that “Uptown Funk!” was far too subtle. He’s rocking levels of braggadocious swagger unseen since Mystikal’s reign, pulls in a guy who goes by the name Mr. TalkBox (most recently heard on TobyMac’s Christian #1 “Feel It”, so that’s something) to handle the Roger Troutman-esque intro, and the production by Shampoo Press & Curl (really, that’s their name) is straight-up 1982 Ohio funk. (Did you know that Zapp, Lakeside, and Slave were all from the Buckeye state? They were.) Not to mention that amidst the song’s references to pinky rings, pimping, and Mars’s, er, “rocket,” you’ve got the the lyric “Got to blame it on Jesus, hashtag ‘blessed’!” hitting new heights of brilliant ridiculousness (or ridiculous brilliance). Much like “Uptown Funk!,” there’s a real irony here that “24K Magic” would’ve likely been ignored by U.S. top 40 radio had it come out in 1982 (as Sean Ross superbly broke down 2 years ago), but today it’s already receiving saturation levels of airplay, and will likely continue to do so into the winter months. This is the summer jam we needed but didn’t get this year, but with a song this hot, I’ll take it any time of year. “24K Magic” is one of the jams of 2016, and will end up being one of the defining musical memories of the year. It goes against every single dominant grain in pop music right now (and, for that matter, R&B too), which helps it stand out that much more brightly. Check the shine on this. [10]

I stand by every word. It’s just so, so good, and sounds so effortless.

The accompanying album is a blast from end to end; weirdly, it didn’t make either my 2016 or 2017 lists, likely because it came out at the end of the former year, and year-end albums often get lost in the year-end shuffle. Its second single was the aforementioned “That’s What I Like,” and well, I liked that one a lot too, to the tune of yet another 10: Yeah, Bruno can be ridiculous — cf. “strawberry champagne on ice,” “wake up with no jammies” (he actually sings that), etc. — but when he’s having this much fun, so much fun you can hear it on the record, and doing it against a cocky late-’80s/early-’90s Bobby Brown take on poppy R&B, I am utterly incapable of resistance. Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds may only have a writing credit on one track on 24K Magic, but his version of end-of-the-’80s R&B is all over the album, baked into its DNA. The more I listen to the album, the more I hear it, and the happier I am. And while in the context of its parent album, “That’s What I Like” is a middle-of-the-album cut, standing on its own as a single, it sparkles like a fistful of glitter. [10]

“Versace on the Floor” is where Mars cracked the ballad code, because he went all-in on the R&B. I like it a little less, by which I mean: Of course Babyface had a hand in Mars’s 24K Magic album: it’s the most joyously ’80s R&B flashback since, I dunno, maybe ever? What’s really surprising is that he didn’t have a hand in this song, which is the best 1989 Babyface ballad(ish) of the 2010s, expertly produced by Mars’s crew Shampoo Press & Curl and written by ’em too. This is a gorgeous track, as sweet as a song whose key line is “Let’s just kiss ’til we’re naked” can be. Bobby Brown wishes he’d had this on Bobby, trust. [8]

Then he did a remix of “Finesse” and brought rising star Cardi B along for the ride. I gave it an 8, but it should’ve been yet another 10: I love the hell outta Bruno’s 24K Magic album, and this song was always a highlight, as New Jack Swing as it gets — the production/writing teams of Shampoo Press & Curl and the Stereotypes are on their shit. Adding a rap intro from the hottest woman of the moment makes it even mo’ betta, though I wish they’d brought her back for a 16-bar bridge, too. Mars may be the ultimate musical chameleon, but damned if he doesn’t sound the most comfortable plumbing the sounds of ’80s R&B. More, please. [8]

The pairing worked so well, they did it again the next year on “Please Me,” and good fucking god: After working his way through Jam & Lewis, LA & Babyface, and Teddy Riley through the 24K Magic album cycle, it’s time for Bruno to move into some platinum ’90s R&B — in this case, Jodeci. I am a noted, hardcore Jodeci stan, so it follows that I would fall hard for a Devante Swing homage. “Please Me” thumps, bobs and weaves like the best of them — those layered-to-the-heavens harmonies on the bridge alone are worth at least a 6 or 7. And Bruno’s chorus is pure cream. But then there’s Cardi, going for hers so hard. These sex rhymes sound so natural from her, talking about how she’s got “no panties in the way,” “dinner reservations like the pussy, you gon’ eat out,” and the coup de grace, “better fuck me like we listenin’ to Jodeci.” (She’s smart.) Between her verse on City Girls’ “Twerk,” her Grammy moments (performing and winning), and now “Please Me,” Cardi’s making it clear that she’s gonna own 2019 just like she owned ’18. Bow down. [10]

Then he goes and teams up with Anderson .Paak for an album-length ‘70s R&B tribute credited to the joint moniker Silk Sonic, An Evening with Silk Sonic. Do I love it as much as its predecessor? No, if only because I love ‘80s and ‘90s R&B more than I do that from the ‘70s. But that doesn’t mean it’s not mostly great as well. To wit:

“Leave the Door Open”: Sure, this sounds like mid-’70s soul manqué, but when it gets it this right, how can anyone be mad? Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars make for a dynamic duo here, and make me awfully eager to hear their joint album. [8]
“Skate”: What Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’s “Uptown Funk!” was for early ’80s R&B pastiche, Mars and Anderson .Paak’s Silk Sonic collaboration is, across two singles, for the ’70s. And it sounds gorgeous. The two sound great together, in perfect harmony in every way, really; I’ve not got a single negative thing to say about this. [9]

The third Silk Sonic single, “Smokin Out the Window,” doesn’t fare as well; I gave it a [3] largely for its misogyny, and because the revue started to feel a little stale. Still, from 2014 to 2021, that’s one hell of a run. This year he’s come back with duets with Lady Gaga (the dull “Die with a Smile”) and Blackpink’s ROSÉ (the dynamic, “Mickey”-jacking “APT.”). Do I doubt that there’s anything he can’t do at this point? Not for a minute. And he’s more than a mimic, because he puts some of himself in all of these records. I couldn’t have imagined, when he appeared some 14 years ago, that Bruno Mars would become one of my favorite singles artists, but he’s proven himself over and over. Here’s hoping he keeps it up and doesn’t get all serious.