What's new

What do you think of Bruno Mars' newest single?

Yes I know, it's all a matter of taste, but I'm sorry his album is shaping up to be a pure killer, and I immediately warn anyone who would contradict me that he will be a victim of swatting, FBI'ying, armying and termonuclearing. :laugh::P
I just discovered this extract from the album on his youtube channel, no sorry, it kills! :


I’m sure the album will be quality production and playing. These members are undeniably talented. I doubt I’ll hear much of it out here in Japan, so I doubt it will become an ear worm that lasts long.

no doubt the album is full of brilliantly executed reinterpretations of classic styles and references to “that song you know”
 
Can’t say I’m impressed, the word is a tad strong but as a fan of Marvin Gaye’s work, I really enjoyed the track. Really pleasing to my ears, good melodies and chords progression. It’s also great to see and listen to the performance of real musicians for once and not an EDM programmed backing track with 8 mouse clicks in Fruity Loops. It’s been rare in pop music recent years to be noted.

I discovered Andersonn paak maybe 6 years ago in Dr Dre last LP, Compton, in which he played a significant role. He is a really talented chap.
 
el-bo,
(Attach a ‘zo’ to that, and you have an entire vinyl side of Chick Corea’s “My Spanish Heart”, containing many, many minutes of great music.)
Had a quick 'dip' and enjoyed what I heard. Will go back for the rest. So, guess I'll take "Bozo" ;)

Those semi-funky pieces I posted last week represent maybe 3% of what I do musically. And I posted them only as illustration material in my reply to the OP’s question in that thread. It’s not that I disown that 3% (quite the contrary: I am quite fond of it), but if one day, many years from now, my great-grandchildren — if it should come to that — ever decide to excavate their great-grandfather’s music, I hope my other pieces, which are *much* more important to me, will receive the best of their attention. Which is not a given however, as much of that other music consists of rather experimental, unaccessible stretches of weird sample-mangling, bizarre electro-acoustic ejaculations mixed with shreds of twisted retro ideas and various chaotic mock-orchestral excursions. The music of a lunatic, is one of the kinder ways in which I’ve heard it described. See, my musical leanings are Zappa, Mingus, Thelonious Monk (all jazz, as it happens, from hot to free, except ‘smooth’) and Stravinsky. And Beethoven and Bach. But not, as AudioLoco, despite insisting on the correct protocol of the debate, quite wrongly assumed … Bruno Mars.
Wasn't saying it was representative of your oeuvre, just that it's the only piece of yours I've heard and it turns out to be quite apropos. And maybe one day you'll get to find out what your great-grandchildren think of your music :2thumbs:

And, as I intimated earlier, I do not think this is a particularly remarkable song. It’s not awful, it’s not great, it’s sort of an instantly digestible, professionaly concocted and well-crafted effort. And inspired and driven by a genuine affection for the originals, it seems to me.
As I tried to point out, your opinion is shared by most of the commenters.

this Bruno Mars song is the sort of song I can imagine hearing in that type of movie: skilfully written stuff, but totally formulaic, never containing a single compositional surprise, and always staying safely within the prescribed boundaries of how such songs are supposed to be written. Not necessarily bad, you know, but never really great either.
If everything was great then nothing would be great ;) Sometimes there's nothing better than a peanut-butter and jam sandwich.

As for the other point of contention: I feel that, perhaps, there’s been a little misunderstanding. I don’t mind people copying, imitating, rehashing, playing it safe and obeying the rules of the game — who am I, an avid pasticheïonado on several days of the week, to mind anyway? — nor do I object to people dismissing popular music on the basis of its banality, its superficiality or its whateverity (not that I agree: I believe there’s a rightful place for banality and superficiality in even the greatest of art). What I do have a bit of a problem with though, is the combination of the two: when musical suburbia — which is what, in my opinion, V.I.-C by and large is — feels itself entitled to look with a superior and condescending eye at manifestations of music which happen outside its chosen musical ken and which it perceives, for reasons best known to itself, as musically inferior. And usually, it’s pop music that has to take a beating.

Sometime ago, there was a thread here that mocked the fact that the I-VI-IV-V chord progression is used in god-knows-how-many pop songs. Ha-ha-ha, these pop musicians, what a silly, primitive bunch, aren’t they? That’s the sort of snotty idiocy which you can see surfacing here on the forum and which I hate. That’s so stupid and pretentious — especially given the questionable quality of much of the music that usually walks away here with all the idolatry and applause —, on every imagineable level, that I don’t know where to begin to express my loathing for it.
The opposite, which annoys me just as much, occurs as well: the time before last we discussed some of the more arcane expressions of 20th century music, there were several voices who felt it necessary to label Schönberg and his students as sick, childish, incompetent frauds. And the next day, some of those same people posted another dire slice of ‘epic’ muzak of course.

Musical suburbia, you know.

It’s that all-too-widespread, extremely myopic view on music which I never could comprehend among musicians and which often stirs the less kindly side of my personality, I’m afraid. That bafflingly narrow-minded attitude — often very conservative, conformist and surprisingly ignorant as well — with which people judge, consume, make and talk about music, which never ceases to astound me (in a deeply saddening way).

There’s many here who still think about orchestral music as if three quarters of the 20th century never happened. And, preferably, shouldn’t have happened. In fact, they’re only prepared to take that century into consideration to the extent in which its musical innovations and accomplishments can be reduced and cliché-ified to fit the format and requirements of film and/or media music. I find that truly, truly depressing.

(Depressed is, by the way, also how I feel when I observe with how little imagination, curiosity and sense of adventure the majority of people here think about, and work with samples and computers. But that’s a different topic, I suppose.)
Sure, you can’t lump the entire community together in that one bag of beige blandness and inert uniformity, I know. There are very exciting and inspiring exceptions, there’s some terrific music and music-making being posted too, absolutely, but the previous pages of this thread sadly also contained, once again, just a fraction too much of that chronic, thinly-veiled disdain and snobbery, ever-present just under the surface of this and many related discussions, which is why I felt triggered to write what I wrote.
This seems like a lot of baggage you've brought to this thread, from who knows how far back, and with this thread being your 'Last straw'. So it's maybe not worth repeating that the majority of the posts (At least up until the moment you made your original post) are similar to yours and not "thinly-veiled disdain and snobbery" (It's called the last straw for a reason).

There's a lot to unpack here, but considering I'd put myself squarely in your "bag of beige blandness and inert uniformity", perhaps I'm not the right person to do so ;) But I do agree with you about snobbery. Can't stand it in music...or anything, really.
 
PS: Just to be clear about my position, "derivative" and "Pop" is not THE problem, it can be done infusing it with personality. Like this for example: :)


And there's no need for "derivative" to always be pejorative. We derive light and heat from the sun, energy from food and joy from a multitude of activities. Is there really anything new under the sun? Are we not all standing on the shoulders of giants?

But yes, you've given maybe the perfect example (imo) of an album wearing it's influences on it's sleeves, but where the music serves serves the song. That album had certainly had "personality" (Amy clearly poured her heart and soul into some of those songs).

 
But I do agree with you about snobbery. Can't stand it in music...or anything, really.
The Hip Hop crowd is snubbed by the Rock people for not playing "real instruments", the Rock people are snubbed by the EDM guys for being "old and dads", the EDM people are snubbed by the "cinematic" people for "playing with one finger", the cinematic people are seen like "little children with toys" by the Classical musicians, the Classical musicians are snubbed by the Jazz crowd for being "even older then the Rock people and not being able to function without some written stuff", the Jazz people are snubbed by the Hip Hop people for "doing music only they want to listen to", the Hip Hop people are snubbed by......etc etc etc.....

The circle of snob...

I agree too there is no place for snobbery in music - whatsoever! :rofl:
 
The Hip Hop crowd is snubbed by the Rock people for not playing "real instruments", the Rock people are snubbed by the EDM guys for being "old and dads", the EDM people are snubbed by the "cinematic" people for "playing with one finger", the cinematic people are seen like "little children with toys" by the Classical musicians, the Classical musicians are snubbed by the Jazz crowd for being "even older then the Rock people and not being able to function without some written stuff", the Jazz people are snubbed by the Hip Hop people for "doing music only they want to listen to", the Hip Hop people are snubbed by......etc etc etc.....
Thing is, all of that is true. Other than the "old and dad" thing, but considering that EDM is music for teenagers, one would expect such a sentiment from that corner.
 
Really enjoyed reading everyone's thoughtful reflections. I dislike BM's music in general, but I think this song's musical-esque ride through various modulations and musical spaces is fun to experience. The sharper-than-a-japanese-knife production really gives it a contemporary tint (like one expects from a Serban mix). The bass and kick drum were doing some serious work down there.

Didn't really feel like nostalgia for its own sake at all to me.

Sort of surprised to see "carbon copy" thrown at a song in a forum where we talk about VI's that are often made with a very specific, almost homage-like sound in mind (and not seldomly used for such purposes). Sure, I get the idea is to do something original with them, and the accusation here is Mars & co didn't do so with their tools. But to be honest, I felt Mars & co topped their idols - I found the song creative and ambitious, the more I listened to it.

I agree it's not a song I'd hum, but then I don't regard that as a measurement for anything but earworms. Most of my fave soul and rnb albums are about inviting you into a certain atmosphere, instead of trying to make you sing along.

Also some classic, more "ambitious" rock does that to me - there are Steely Dan songs I love to sing in the shower, but then some of their stuff I just like for the vibe and can't remember a thing about a given song save for the mood or a neat compositional trick.

Back to this song. I especially like how Bruno's voice becomes one with the arrangement - really immersive, sort of wall-of-sound-y vibes. I'd love to hear this in a film or, yes, a musical. Not something I'd reach for in most if any situations, but a terrific listening experience nevertheless.

edit: typos
 
Last edited:
Saw on Fox this morning they got the Grammy for this. Not that it matters, but it was maybe well deserved. But the production of the track must have involved an army division - nobody is fooled, they are posters for a product polished to the finest detail. But product is great. Those two guys probably smoke so much pot they would never have the patience for this type of mastering of details - but product is great. Almost fake - or maybe even fake. Hope they are not photoshopped.
 
Saw on Fox this morning they got the Grammy for this. Not that it matters, but it was maybe well deserved. But the production of the track must have involved an army division - nobody is fooled, they are posters for a product polished to the finest detail. But product is great. Those two guys probably smoke so much pot they would never have the patience for this type of mastering of details - but product is great. Almost fake - or maybe even fake. Hope they are not photoshopped.
You do know that Bruno Mars started out as a writer/producer...before he had his big break, right?.....Anderson too for that matter..

besides I find it hard to believe that they smoke too much weed for the patience to produce their tracks, but not enough to stop them from spending the equivalent hours mastering their craft as singers, writers and instrumentalists....
 
:2thumbs: No way they did that - feel free be fooled by this, but it wont fool me. Every detail is polished, from the shining shoes to the movement of fingers. This is a fuckin product - its a high quality product - but just like so much else these days they are following script and moved as marionettes. You get a diamond ring for that, nice bodied ladies, and posh grammy awards too, so not blaming them. My guess is they tweaked the high freq eq button with a joint between the mouth, maybe once, or at most twice - rest is following script. No mortal even has time to do this high quality stuff, this is the work of a dedicated army division. They achieved the goal.
 
Last edited:
:2thumbs: No way they did that - feel free be fooled by this, but it wont fool me. Every detail is polished, from the shining shoes to the movement of fingers. This is a fuckin product - its a high quality product - but just like so much else these days they are following script and moved as marionettes. You get a diamond ring for that, nice bodied ladies, and posh grammy awards too, so not blaming them. My guess is they tweaked the high freq eq button with a joint between the mouth, maybe once, or at most twice - rest is following script. No mortal even has time to do this high quality stuff, this is the work of a dedicated army division. They achieved the goal.
can't tell if you're being serious and ignorant, or telling a rather unfunny joke...

either way, for clarity, the song credits 4 songwriters and 2 producers. Produced by Bruno Mars and D'Mile


D'Mile must be a one-man army I guess....

plus a lot of the world's best rock songs have been produced by a few individuals on far harder drugs than weed....

just saying...
 
Saw on Fox this morning they got the Grammy for this. Not that it matters, but it was maybe well deserved. But the production of the track must have involved an army division - nobody is fooled, they are posters for a product polished to the finest detail. But product is great. Those two guys probably smoke so much pot they would never have the patience for this type of mastering of details - but product is great. Almost fake - or maybe even fake. Hope they are not photoshopped.
What exactly is it about these guys that makes you think they smoke too much weed to be able to work hard at their craft?
 
either way, for clarity, the song credits 4 songwriters and 2 producers. Produced by Bruno Mars and D'Mile

Where you found, that theres 4 songwriters and 2 producers? It was not in the link, but 4 songwriters is probably true. You can taste it in the soup, that theres around 4 of them. You can smell the pot, the curry, basil and even garlic powder there.

2 producers sounds realistic too. Thats two teams.


Where you picked that?
 
I ignored this topic for week - didn't understand why it kept hanging around for so long. But today I finally bit.

I think one of the issues with many of the comments is the lack of distinction between the song/music and the video. Most pop videos are slick overdone, shallow fantasies. When I listen to stuff on You Tube I either scroll the video off the screen, or move to another tab on my browser so I can listen to the music without being distracted by the video noise. The video is not the song.

As to the lyrics - it's fairly standard pop music fare - not meant to be anything else. You could criticize 430,345,678.5 other pop songs for the same "banal" lyrics, and crime of "lacking soul."

The posting of the Grammy performance above confirmed my original sentiment - that it's a well sung, produced, and arranged pop song with some interesting musical changes. It's an homage to the 70s soul groups. And they performed it pretty good didn't they?

There's really a lot worse "pop" music out there today.
 
I really like Bruno Mars. Anderson Paak is also a very good artist and drummer. I like this song, i feel the vibe. Maybe its not for everyone, but i like it
 
If this Bruno Mars track was the scope of music I would not bother with music. Sounds like Starbucks.
You should really listen to what’s going on here. This song, and the Billie Eilish tracks, are actual composed songs with chords and structure. We have just endured 20 years of loops and structures where the intro, verse and chorus are the same chord progression. At least now we’re getting back to song crafting like the 60’s and 70’s. I only see this song as a good sign for what’s to come in the pop industry
 
Top Bottom