a bonus track. - Old & Crazy ft. Esperanza Spalding included in target edition
Bruno Mars and Diplo Hit Paris Strip Club for ‘Unorthodox’ Inspiration ‘They played ‘Just the Way You Are.’ That’s the worst song to hear in that environment, so I resolved to write a good one’
“It turned into this soulful, experimental, electronic, hard-to-explain thing,” Bruno Mars says of the freewheeling sessions that produced his second solo album Unorthodox Jukebox, due out December 11th. “That’s the reason behind the album title – before I got signed to my current label, executives would always tell me what I did was too all over the place – too unorthodox. They couldn’t imagine what radio station would play my stuff. I was thinking about this in my head when I started this album – so I decided to go into the studio and do whatever I wanted.”
One thing Mars was sure he did want: to create something unexpected with the follow up his smash 2010 debut, Doo-Wops & Hooligans, which unleashed gushers of hits spanning “Just the Way You Are” to “Grenade,” transforming him into a star. To that end, he tossed out the pop rulebook – working with surprise guests like jazz iconoclast Esperanza Spalding, collaborating with EDM hitmaker Diplo to create an insane club banger unlike anything Mars has ever recorded, and pushing a cadre of pop’s most innovative producers (Jeff Bhasker, sonic auteur behind Fun.’s “We Are Young” and hits for Kanye and Beyoncé; Emile Haynie, crate-digging beatmaster for everyone from Kid Cudi to Lana Del Rey; and Mark Ronson, stylish groovesmith whose retro-tastic grooves defined Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black) beyond their comfort zone.
“I was traveling in Zanzibar on my honeymoon when I got this call: ‘Do you want to meet Bruno Mars?,’” Mark Ronson says. “I was only kind of familiar with his music. But we met up in London a month later, and the first thing he said was, ‘I want to sound exactly the opposite of what a Mark Ronson collaboration with Bruno Mars is supposed to sound like.’ That won me over – and then I found out what a phenomenal talent he is. This is the most progressive music I’ve worked on yet. It’s going to open up the arteries and change the sound of music.” As such, for “Locked Out of Heaven,” Ronson brought in the rhythm section of his frequent collaborators the Dap-Kings to achieve a crisply syncopated, locked-in groove. “It’s hard to create sounds with live instrumentation that bump in the club, and Mark Ronson did it here,” Mars says. “Since Back to Black, I’ve always wanted to get into his head and see how he does it.”
“So much of the record is played live, but still sounds like a hit record on the radio,” adds Jeff Bhasker. “This is Bruno showing new dimensions as a songwriter and producer.” Mars and co. pushed themselves even further on “Old & Crazy,” a bonus track on the album’s special Target edition featuring a face-to-face duet with Esperanza Spalding that Bhasker calls a “kooky, true-jazz classic, like ‘Pennies From Heaven.’ It’s sounds like a song you’d hear in a club in 1920s Paris, even though we recorded it on a laptop; we even use old microphones to give it that feel. It started with an Emile beat, and then I added a Django Reinhardt sample that I screwed with in Ableton; then Esperanza came in and nailed her bass and vocal parts live, like an old pro.”
Meanwhile, Mars’ frequent collaborator Diplo – the pair worked together on “Liquor Store Blues” from Doo-Wops & Hooligans – took Mars even further away from the safety net on “Money Make Her Smile,” surrounding his tale of a gold-digging super freak with rave sirens and hardcore punk rattle. “That’s the wild card,” Mars says. “Diplo has all the sounds in his computer to make the club go wild. We actually wrote that to be a strip-club anthem. After a concert in Paris, we went to a strip club; the promoter got on the mic and said, ‘We have a special guest, Bruno Mars!’ – and then they played ‘Just the Way You Are.’ That’s the worst song to hear in that environment, so I resolved to write a good one.” “In our generation, he’s the most talented guy I’ve worked with,” says Diplo, who’s crafted hits for everyone from M.I.A to Beyoncé. “That record, he wanted to have something for the club, that has some noise on it and an ‘I don’t give a ****’ feel. Still, he writes giant pop songs. Bruno just does things with the songwriting I could never do – I’ve never spent so much time working on a bridge or post-chorus, but that’s what you have to do.”
Elsewhere, Mars’ new material proves more emotionally revealing than ever. “When I Was Your Man,” a stark breakup ballad (co-written with Miike Snow’s Andrew Wyatt) stands out amidst the edgy production, featuring only piano and Mars’ raw, intense vocals. “When we started the record, I was like, ‘I’m never singing another ballad again,’ but that came from the gut – it’s the most honest, real thing I’ve ever sang,” he says. “When there are no safe bets, that’s when I feel my blood move.”
Could've get any better???
I don't remember the last time I was this excited to hear an album.
Bruno will be performing today (the 22nd) on Skavlan (It's a broadcast show in Norway + Sweden). +Jamareo said on Twitter they'll be promoting in Europe, till like, release week.
Good, because right now I want people to buy locked out of heaven, when the time is right a second single will be released, LooH is holding on very good and the difference between the song & die young isn't that big on itunes even though kesha has recently performed her song.
Currently @ 91. (But "C'Mon" is semi-flopping as well.)
It looks like people would only be flocking when the album comes out. And I would be among those who're eagerly awaiting the top contender for next year's Album of the Year Grammy.
I LOOOOVE Moonshine, but I feel that Gorilla will be the v2nd Official single. I don't remember a single interwiew when he didn't mention it. He does everything he wants so...
Bruno's in Sweden:
Bruno Mars shows his wild side
The debut album made Bruno Mars one of the world’s biggest stars. It also gave him a free hand when it was time to put together the sequel. Now he gets to sing what he wants. Love - and gorilla sex.
He has left a sunny California for perhaps the greyest of history’s all gray November days in Stockholm. But heavy clouds did not seem to dampen Bruno Mars mood. He jokes, flirt and frolic almost continuously during his first visit to Sweden. As soon as it gets quiet in the room, if only for a second, he becomes noticeably uncomfortable.”Embarrassing silence!” he exclaims. ”Awkward!”
The American pop star is elegant - and exclusive - dressed from the brown felt hat on top of the braided to Gucci shoes in soft leather that adorn his feet. It is difficult to imagine that the same man a few years ago had to sell all his possessions in order to afford to invest in their dream.
“I had to sell all the instruments that I saved up for, my clothes, my car”, says Bruno Mars.
Successful Debut
The singer grew up as Peter Gene Hernandez in a musical family in Hawaii. His mother is a singer, his father a drummer and all his five siblings sing. The 17-year-old, he decided to pursue a singing career. He packed the bag and went alone to Los Angeles.
“It was hard. But it was something I had to do. I had done everything I could to Hawaii has been committed to a magic show and sing for tourists”, he said.
There was some wear the same year. But after having been recognized as a songwriter and producer exploded suddenly solo career in 2010 when he released his debut album “Doo-wops & hooligans”, with hit songs like “Grenade” and “Just the way you are”.
The first time he heard himself on the radio he’ll never forget:
“I called everyone I know and just screamed. Justice! So it felt.”
Wanna Be Wild
Album sold five million copies and opened all the world’s doors. Not least bought him musical freedom. When he began writing songs for his new album, “Unorthodox Jukebox”, kept the music industry pundits in the background.
“I let loose, I wanted to be wild on this disc. I love my first album, I would not be here if it were not for it. But now I have other things to talk about”, explains Bruno Mars.
TT spectra: “Like what?”
Bruno: “Love, trust, honesty and animalistic sex”.
The latter can be found in “Gorilla”, the first song he wrote on the disk. In the same time let him sing about cocaine, booze and love the jungle animals.
“It set the bar. There were no limits or rules for the song”, he says with a laugh.
In just a few years, Bruno Mars life changed completely. But he is well aware that it can be quickly changed again.
“I have to have fun when I create music. You never know, it can disappear in an instant. You have to enjoy while it lasts”.
And I didn't know Diplo was a part of "Liquor Store Blues". Interesting.
