YMMV / Bruno Mars

• Awesome Music:
  • Unorthodox Jukebox has many enjoyable tunes, but "Locked Out of Heaven" and "Treasure" will most certainly start any party. "Gorilla" also counts, if only for being over-the-top and hilariously So Bad, It's Good.
  • Doo-Wops & Hooligans may be largely comprised of teenybopper high school dance songs, but in hindsight "Runaway Baby" from that album gave us a clue that Bruno was capable of more than teen-oriented music.
  • "Uptown Funk", a catchy as all hell homage to the works of Funk and Soul pioneers like James Brown and George Clinton.
  • "24K Magic" seconds that, the title track and the entire album.
  • An Evening With Silk Sonic — a joint with Anderson .Paak — is nothing short of masterful classic R&B, Soul and Funk from beginning to end. Highlights include the dreamy, yet delightfully dramatic "Smokin Out the Window", the feel-good disco grooves of "Skate", and the infectiously funky and braggadocious "Fly as Me".
• Award Snub: He's had the misfortune of losing Best Male Singer five times at the Kids' Choice Awards. At first it was understandable due to Justin Bieber being an almost unstoppable force, but once he got tossed aside fans assumed Bruno will finally prosper in 2014…only to lose to Justin Timberlake. In 2015 he lost yet again, this time to Nick Jonas (it didn't help that he was hosting the show that year). In 2016, he was completely snubbed, with neither he nor Uptown Funk nominated for anything.
• Director Displacement: In the U.S. (really, west of the pond as a whole), you'll be hard-pressed to find someone who recognizes "Uptown Funk" as being a Mark Ronson song instead of a Bruno Mars song (much in the same way people think "Easy Lover" is a Phil Collins song instead of Philip Bailey's), given that while he's a pop superstar Ronson's a virtually unknown name there. It's gotten so bad that Ronson's fate as a one-hit wonder is practically sealed. It's understandable in that it continues Bruno's general trend of Genre Throwbacks to the 70's and 80's.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Julio, a person/character reference in passing in several songs (namely as Bruno's limo driver in Uptown Funk and chef in That's What I like) became a popular reference among his fans.
• Even Better Sequel: 24K Magic was more widely and critically acclaimed than his previous two albums where Bruno has polished up his musical style and kept a consistent theme of throwback songs instead of having songs and themes all over the place this time.
• Fridge Logic: In "Grenade", the singer calls his lover out because her eyes were open when they had their first kiss... which he couldn't have known unless his eyes were also open. Maybe he had his hands on her face while kissing her and (accidentally) felt her open eyes?
• Friendly Fandoms: With The Weeknd. Both artists are huge fans of both Michael Jackson and The '80s in general, and both show this in their music. However, because Bruno pursues a lighter, flamboyant style of music whereas The Weeknd goes for a darker, somber style, many believe that it's easy to like both artists as they take 80's appreciation in different directions without stepping on each other's toes. Additionally, two of Bruno's songs, "Moonshine" and "Natalie", have a dark vibe to them that wouldn't be too out-of-place for The Weeknd. Fans of both often wish they could make a collaborative track.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
  • His song "Talking to the Moon", relatively unknown to American listeners up until it was given a Colbert Bump through TikTok, is surprisingly popular in Brazil due to its inclusion in a Soap Opera.
  • Despite "Marry You"'s failure in the U.S., it was a massive hit in New Zealand.
• Growing the Beard:
  • Unorthodox Jukebox in general has been better received than Doo-Wops was, thanks to toning down the Wangst with breakup songs (compare "When I Was Your Man" to "Grenade") and toning down the silliness of Silly Love Songs. The fact that it contains some excellent throwbacks to the 70's and 80's doesn't hurt either.
  • 24K Magic is an even bigger throwback where the entire album features songs straight out of the 70's-90's ranging from hip-hop to R&B to New Jack Swing. There's barely not a single song that doesn't make you want to dance.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Although "24K Magic" was well-received regardless, many criticized it for being a retread of "Uptown Funk" musically and lyrically.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Many of his features. For example, "Uptown Funk" wouldn't have been nearly as big a hit for Mark Ronson if he wasn't involved (in the U.S, it probably wouldn't have become a hit at all!)
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Cuz my heart breaks a little when I heeeaaar your name...it all just sounds like (insert funny sample of your choice).
  • I'd still catch a grenaaaaaade for yaaaa! Anytime someone gets a grenade kill in Call of Duty, expect to hear that joke a lot.
  • The opening notes of "Treasure" where the last note is replaced by a clip of a loud smacking sound such as someone getting slapped.
  • "24K Magic" has spawned many spoofs and parodies and remixes.
  • "Jump in the CAAC" ^note A Tumblr post edited "That's What I Like" into a string of nonsensical lyrics, usually accompanied by a Stylistic Suck animation.
  • The Rumor Come Out: Does Bruno Mars is Gay? ^note An article in broken English discussing the false rumor that Bruno Mars came out as gay. Featured on Game Grumps.
  • "This! Bitch! Got me payin' her rent!"
• Misaimed Fandom: "Marry You" has been used for numerous actual marriage proposals, probably because the chorus contains the line "hey baby, I think I wanna marry you." However, reading the rest of the lyrics paints quite a different picture. The first line of the chorus is "it's a beautiful night, we're looking for something dumb to do," and the singer frequently mentions how he's had too much to drink. Mars even sings "when we wake up, if you wanna break up, that's cool," painting the marriage as a very spur-of-the-moment thing because the singer and his ladyfriend were drunk and had nothing better to do.
• Nightmare Fuel: The ending of the "Grenade" music video has the narrator commit suicide. There's also the reason for said suicide; he's being brutally abused by his girlfriend.
• Refrain from Assuming: "Uptown Funk" is not "Don't Believe Me Just Watch". Although the latter phrase is not said more (in the radio edit they are both said 18 times, in the album/single version the former is said 30), it is probably the phrase you will remember more in the long run.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • Even those who hate Bruno Mars really seem to enjoy "Uptown Funk".
  • For those who hated his 2010/11 Wangst songs yet liked him as a singer, his retro hits, that started with "Locked Out of Heaven" and later the whole of Unorthodox Jukebox gave back some of that crowd.
  • And he is definitely back in the spotlight after the success of his 24K Magic album.
• Signature Song: "Uptown Funk!" If you want to avoid songs where he's a featured artist, then "Just the Way You Are", "Grenade", "Locked Out of Heaven", or "24K Magic".
• So Bad, It's Good: "Gorilla", in a hilariously overblown way.
• Squick: "YOU AND ME, BABY, MAKING LOVE LIKE GORILLAS!"
• Suspiciously Similar Song: "Uptown Funk" sounds very similar to "Bob-Omb Battlefield" from Super Mario 64 and especially its remix "Throwback Galaxy" from Super Mario Galaxy 2.
• Tear Jerker:
  • "When I Was Your Man". The ending, however could be seen as a Heartwarming Moment.
  • "Grenade" is arguably this and Nightmare Fuel.
  • His performance of "Valerie", a tribute to the late singer Amy Winehouse.
  Say Amy, oh Amy..
  I love you darling..
  Say Amy, oh Amy..
  We'll miss you baby
  You've got whole world singing..
  • "Too Good To Say Goodbye" is poignantly beautiful about a break-up and it's unclear whether they get back together.
  • "Talking to the Moon" conveys such a feeling of loneliness where the narrator resorts to talking to the moon hoping his loved one (who can be interpreted as either far away or dead) would hear him.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Many criticized "The Lazy Song" for rather vulgar lyrics compared to previous songs such as "Just the Way You Are".
  • Some of his singles from the "24K Magic" album have spawned some further backlash in this vein, including the title track. Particularly coupled with the music video, which is just a few minutes of wealth-flaunting and female objectification, netizen cries of "Why is so much of music these days all about sex and money?" were hardly alleviated by it. (Note that this is certainly Older Than They Think for Bruno Mars' discography [see older tracks like "Runaway Baby" for reference], although his music videos had previously never so in-your-face about his riches. Maybe because, you know, he wasn’t that loaded back then.) The gentler sound of “Finesse” and a nostalgia-laden music video helped Win Back the Crowd within this era.
• They Copied It, So It Sucks!: Although his post-Doo Wops and Hooligans material has generally been seen as him Growing the Beard, it has attracted a new kind of criticism towards him: that he copies his material from his influences. His songs are generally seen as being well-composed, but he is still often accused of imitating his influences like Michael Jackson, James Brown, and various other R&B artists as opposed to using their work to make his own unique sound. His 24K Magic album in particular has been roundly criticized for this.
• Unintentional Period Piece: In Lazy Song, Bruno mentions he tunes into MTV to watch "Teach Me How to Dougie", a song by Cali Swag District. The song was popular in 2010 but would unlikely be aired much longer afterwords, especially since the group disbanded in 2015.
• Wangst: Prior to Unorthodox Jukebox and especially 24K Magic, this was why some people dislike his music; a good portion of it is about his feelings and breakups. While some artists do this, Bruno Mars goes so over the top with it, it's hard not to be bothered by it.
  • "Grenade". The narrator loves the girl to the point that he would kill himself in spectacular ways, but the girl won't do the same.
  • "It Will Rain", another breakup song about a girl leaving the protagonist sung with very over-the-top histrionics.^note Though, when you consider that it was written for the soundtrack for the fourth Twilight film, and that that series has its own history of wangst, one can't help but wonder if it was written that way on purpose.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Bruno seems to have a following with kids. A few of his songs have been covered on Kidz Bop albums and nominated for Kids' Choice Awards, and songs cowritten by him were featured in both modern Muppets films. However, his songs' lyrics talk about things that kids would not understand, and sometimes contain swearing.