I listened to 31 minutes of Bruno Mars’ new album and, spoiler alert, that’s all of it. Here’s what I thought.
Released on Feb. 27, Mars’ fourth solo studio album “The Romantic” is his first solo record in nearly a decade. In terms of what he’s known for and capable of, this album is…acceptable.
Mars, known for his versatility in sound and lyricism, has had very memorable songs. However, while these nine songs are enough to sustain the sound of his past albums, they fall short of surpassing them.
Leading up to the album’s release, Mars has been straying far from his original sound with singles in his interim period, “Fat Juicy & Wet” with Sexyy Red, “APT” with Rosé and “Die with A Smile” next to Lady Gaga. This new album’s title sparked hopes that he remains true to his older music.
Mars released album inclusion “I Just Might” as a single in early January, and it’s already added to Mars’ Essential Album on Apple Music. This song seems to be one of the most popular off the album, but it didn’t shine for me, except for the fact that it was released first.
The songs on this album aren’t lyrically very different from other albums; however, the Latin-infused mix of soul, funk and pop is a more diverse sound than what he has produced in the past. “Risk it All” and “Cha Cha Cha” have different sounds, but revert back to the pop/funk sound Mars is known for.
Recently, “Die with a Smile” was salsa-fied during Bad Bunny’s performance at the Super Bowl, which may have been an introduction to the direction that Mars is going on this new project.
The overall feeling of the album is yearning, which is what much of his fanbase looks to him for. My personal favorite is “God was Showing Off” with absolute bars like, “Is Heaven your name? Or is it Divine? / Don’t matter, girl, it’s gonna look good next to mine.”
Mars also recently announced that he is going on tour with Anderson .Paak, Victoria Monet, Raye and Leon Thomas. This is a very diverse and talented set of performers, and I think their music would work well together.
I think that the overall sound and lyrics of “The Romantic” are exactly what people are looking for. There is a lack of diversity, past the first two songs, but that’s what a lot of people wanted. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?