On February 27, Bruno Mars released his fourth solo studio album, The Romantic.
The last time Mars released a solo album was 2016, and it was called “24K Magic,” featuring many popular songs such as, “That’s What I Like,” “Finesse,” and “24K Magic.”
Mars hasn’t released any albums since then besides a collaborative album with Anderson Paak called, “An Evening With Silk Sonic,” and many other single EPs with other famous artists such as Lady Gaga on “Die With A Smile” and Rose on “APT.”
In an interview with E! News, Mars shared his reasoning behind this 10-year hiatus from creating any solo studio albums, saying, “it wasn’t that I didn’t want to, of course I would have loved to make more solo music, but I wanted to leave the door open for collaboration projects with many other amazing artists I have recently collaborated with.”
The Romantic is very different from the rest of Bruno Mars’s music, as Mars started to blend different elements like nostalgia and Latin Pop sounds that have both evolved his discography but also stayed true to his original sound. When I listened to this album for the first time, the sounds and instrumentals were far different from any of the other songs I listened to previously. Songs like “Die With A Smile” and “Locked Out Of Heaven” had a sound that aligned with what Bruno Mars was known for during his time either doing a Single EP or an album. According to Riff Magazine, they mentioned, “rather than chasing contemporary pop trends, Mars leans into funk, soul, disco and Latin influences, creating a record that feels nostalgic and refreshingly personal.”
Mars released the song, “I Just Might,” as a teaser to The Romantic album in January, and this song has a more up-beat, dance feeling to it, especially with certain lyrics like, “Hey, Mr. DJ, play a song for this pretty little lady-”
However, every single song from this album has brought a different feeling, and there are three songs that really caught my attention during my first full album listen: “Risk It All,” “God Was Showing Off,” and “Dance With Me.”
“Risk It All” is the opening song to the album. According to Rolling Stone Australia, the melody and instrumentals are inspired by Puerto Rican heritage, Latin music traditions, and romantic Mexican mariachi music. The instruments played throughout the song consisted of guitar, trumpets, saxophones, drums/congas, keyboard, and strings. The meaning behind this song is a romantic relationship mainly focused upon the intense devotion, emotional risk, and unconditional love to do anything for a person they love, according to Genius’s definition of this song.
This song stuck out to me since it was the opener of the album, and I had mixed feelings on what I was going to expect from this song, since I didn’t want to expect too high or too little from this opener. Hearing the first couple of trumpets/guitar notes had me surprised, as I didn’t expect these sounds going into the album. I think just going into this album thinking about songs like “Locked out of Heaven,” “24K Magic,” and “Finesse,” I believed that the mixed sounds of retro and pop are both the unique sounds I affiliated Mars with, so this album had a bunch of surprises as Mars composed different sounds.
“God Was Showing Off” is the fourth song in this album. The song is a very medium-slow song that talks about the way a partner can look, indicating God made them with perfection in mind, especially with the lyrics, “you little earth angel, the way you’re put together only god can do.” It’s a very beautiful song that perfectly aligns with the theme of the album, talking about the complexity of love but also the feeling of butterflies that these scenarios can induce. This song perfects the feeling of butterflies well in my opinion. I picked this song because of how it had the mashup between both Mars’ original music style but also his new style he is showcasing in this new album. Bruno Mars not only shared his extreme devotion to someone he truly loves but also talked about the way God can articulate and create a person where they are seen as perfection in his own eyes. I love the fact that he is very aware of his words and means every word he says about this person.
“Dance With Me,” the closing song of the album, is a deep idea of yearning, lasting love between others, or even mentioning the rekindling of love with one another after losing contact with each other. The song connected with me after the start of March, as during this period there was a challenge in my life that had come out of nowhere. This song in particular kept coming up in my feed when I was just on break at my job, which caught my attention since when I work I listen to music, so I decided to listen to it during my shift one time. It just had a feeling of connection that things will get better over time. You just have to wait a moment and go through the struggle, and when you wait, you’ll eventually get the thing you’ve been hoping for back in your life after an unexpected conflict occurs. I would definitely say it’s my favorite song out of the album, as it perfects not only rekindling with a loved one but also yourself in the process.
Before I started listening to this album, I have always been a Bruno Mars fan since the last time he released his album about 10-11 years ago. During this listening session, I got to listen to all the different instruments that were used, which really amazed but also surprised my thinking towards how Mars is able to compose his sound to fit any genre he wants to.
Overall, The Romantic is good to listen to for any Bruno Mars fans or just people that want an alternative sound from the usual Mars songs everyone has heard.
