Bruno Mars ’24k Magic’ Impresses With Nostalgia

He is back. Honolulu-born artist Bruno Mars brings back funk with groovy vibes, analog synths and a huge portion of nostalgia for ’80s kids. With the third album, “24k Magic” dropped on Nov. 18, Mars pumped through with swinging drums and picked up from the success with Mark Ronson from “Uptown Funk.”

First song off the bat is “24k Magic,” which also shares the title of the album, strongly resembles his collaboration with Ronson. The popular single is currently No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and still rising.

The entirety of the album brings back strong resemblances of the late ’70s and ’80s with disco-like bass riffs, punchy drums, classic synths and a shimmery timbre. The arrangement starts energetic and brings you to prom night at the middle with love songs “Versace on the Floor” and “Straight Up & Down.”

It is a short album, however, just like his first and second albums “Doo-Wops & Hooligans” and “Unorthodox Jukebox.” The album contains only nine songs stretching into diverse styles that brings in influence from disco and R&B and funk.  

The album’s last song, “Too Good To Say Goodbye,” is a classic last-dance ballad with its minimalistic drums, strong chord progressions. And with Mars singing “Baby, ain’t nobody gonna love me like the way you do,” every girl will fall in love. As whole, the album ends in a similar way to “Unorthodox Jukebox.”

Looking back at Mars’s triple platinum hit “Treasure,” songs like “Uptown Funk,” “Chunky” and “24k Magic” sure look like a winning recipe for the Bruno Mars team. With his third album going even further into this direction, it shows an original and intriguing side of him.

With no featuring artists on the album, the entire record is all Bruno Mars and produced by Shampoo Press & Curl, which gives the album a unified sound and connects each track to another in a artistic way that modern albums often lack.

Experiencing major success with “Unorthodox Jukebox” with hits such as “Locked Out of Heaven” and “When I Was Your Man,” Mars surely has a lot to live up too, but with this album being so diverse compared to previous albums, it will be exciting to see if he once again can top the Billboard Top 200 list with “24k Magic.”

 After “Uptown Funk” was released in 2015, Mars announced he was taking a step back to work on the album, which he also stated would be done when it is completed, giving no time for when the album would be released, the wait for it was not as long as expected after all and fans can now enjoy the LP.

As one of the most anticipated albums of the year, “24k Magic” certainly lives up to its expectations. It even exceeds the hype, as it is such an original piece bringing in inspiration from a symbolic era of music, yet maintaining a modern sound.

The nostalgia is strong and can even revive a new path for the music industry by bringing back real instruments and funky grooves. Bruno Mars sets his mark on 2016 with this album.