Bruno Mars over confidently presents new album ’24K Magic’

After a four-year hiatus, Bruno Mars finally returns to the music scene with 24K Magic, his third studio album.

24K Magic, Atlantic Records

Mars has been known for releasing sleek, concise albums that integrate catchy hooks into a strong cohesive work. This is still the case, as he captures the funk and soul he strived for with the creation of this album. 

With only nine songs, 24K Magic plays at a mere 33 minutes. The first half of the songs on the record is high tempo, high energy and incredibly catchy. Nearly every song on the album is produced by first time producers Shampoo Press & Curl.

In the second half of the album, Mars slows things down with ballads that resemble those of Michael Jackson during the height of his career. While the production is clean and well-mixed, the ballads can’t support the shallow lyrics present on most of the album.

Mars kicks off the album with “24K Magic,” an electrifying introduction to his new sound. For the first time, Mars establishes himself as a top dog and boasted about his riches. While the song is undeniably catchy and sounds like a younger sibling to the Mark Ronson collaboration “Uptown Funk,” it feels like a sellout.

One of the most troubling lyrics within the opening song is, “bad b—tches and your ugly ass friends.” Gone were the serenading words of chart-topping hits such as “Locked Out of Heaven” and “Just the Way you Are.”

Mars sounds less like he would catch a grenade for his lover and more like he would refer to women as grenades with this new attitude. 

Mars soon undercuts this attitude, however, with the second song “Chunky.” The mid-tempo jam has Mars describing his ideal woman. Its catchy, funky and empowering. This duality is an example of much of the back and forth Mars takes in describing women in the album.

Following “That’s What I Like” is the album’s second pre-released single “Versace on the Floor.” With a resemblance to “When I Was Your Man,” Mars slows things down for a powerful ballad with a synth backed by handclaps. The song is sexy and catchy, but easily forgettable compared to the other tracks on the record.

“Finesse” provides a much-needed beat change for the record, but its content is too hollow to reignite the excitement of the early tracks on “24K Magic.” Mars closes the album with a more raw, slow-burning ballad “Too Good to Say Goodbye.” The song represents the deeper, meaningful lyrics Mars is generally known for. The song saves the album from being completely hollow. 

With 24K Magic, Bruno Mars brought together a collection of songs into what could be his most sonically cohesive album yet. While the lyrical content at times felt shallow and insincere, Mars clearly had a lot of fun in the recording process. Fans of his previous work will mostly be satisfied by the fun, danceable tracks on the album. The record was undoubtedly fun and smooth, but it was not deep enough to warrant a second or third listen.

Author: Kieran Sweeney

Writing about entertainment for the better part of a decade and consuming it twice as much, Kieran Sweeney is "the" pop culture aficionado. A connoisseur of the intersection of art and commercialism, the USC Annenberg graduate has earned his reputation as an empathetic and thoughtful writer with his insightful and challenging analyses of entertainment and pop culture. His resume includes USC's The Daily Trojan, USC Viterbi News, and personal assistance for publicity and marketing companies from Drill Down Media to This Fiction Management both based in Los Angeles. His intersectional experience in the industry has helped inform the writer's quick wit and sharp perspectives.

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