walking upstream…
Bruno Mars
photo: slgckgc · cc by 4.0 ↗Bruno Mars
Bruno Mars is a Honolulu-raised showman who spent his childhood in his family's Waikiki lounge act impersonating Elvis and studying Michael Jackson, then rebuilt that variety-stage versatility into 21st-century pop stardom. His albums move fluidly between disco-funk, new jack swing, reggae-pop and doo-wop pastiche, unified by an obsessive, retro-minded devotion to the craft of the hook and the live show. He remains one of pop's rare vocalist-instrumentalist-choreographer triple threats, equally at home writing a falsetto ballad or leading a horn-driven funk revue.
the sound in question
2016
24K MagicBruno Mars
walk the tributaries ↓
Michael Jackson1980s · Pop / R&B / Dance
Mars has said plainly that Jackson is a reason he's making music at all, and it shows up everywhere: the falsetto leaps, the disco-funk basslines, the insistence that a pop song is also a piece of choreography and stagecraft, not just a vocal.
listen: upstream & heresource: Hypebeast ↗
1979
Rock with YouMichael Jackson
2013
TreasureBruno Mars
listen forPut on Jackson's 'Rock with You' next to Mars's 'Treasure' — critics called Treasure a modern-day 'Rock with You' the moment it came out, and once you hear it you can't unhear the shared glide of the bassline and the silk-jumpsuit disco falsetto.
The Police1980s · New Wave / Reggae Rock / Post-Punk
Mars grew up singing Police songs in Waikiki bars, and their reggae-tinged, guitar-and-bass new-wave pulse resurfaced directly when he set out, in his own words, to 'write a Police song.'
listen: upstream & heresource: PopCrush ↗
1978
RoxanneThe Police
2012
Locked Out of HeavenBruno Mars
listen forPlay The Police's 'Roxanne' — that tense, chopping reggae-rock verse groove and Sting's urgent tenor — then go straight into Mars's 'Locked Out of Heaven', which critics described almost song-for-song as a 'Roxanne'-esque new-wave groove with 'a shockingly good Sting vocal impression.'
Prince1980s · Funk / Pop / R&B / Rock
Prince's minimalist funk guitar stabs, the swooping falsetto love-man persona, and the idea of one artist running the whole studio show all echo through Mars's ballads and up-tempo funk cuts alike — Mars even paid it forward with a widely-viewed guitar-solo tribute to Prince at the 2017 Grammys.
listen: upstream & heresource: Hypebeast ↗
1986
KissPrince
2016
Versace on the FloorBruno Mars
listen forCue Prince's 'Kiss' — all empty space, falsetto, and one clean funk guitar line — then play Mars's 'Versace on the Floor', a slow-jam ballad critics described as full of 'Prince-like flourishes and frills.' Listen for how both let the vocal do the acrobatics while the instrumentation stays spare.