In late 2009, the majority of us were introduced to Bruno Mars via his hit collaboration with B.O.B. (remember him?), “Nothin’ on You.” “Beautiful girls all over the world/ I could be chasin’, but my time would be wasted/ They got nothin’ on you, girl.” How sweet! He sounded so lovely singing it, his voice pure and childlike, the hook evoking the expressive wonder of classic soul and totally in contrast with the hard-partying turbo pop that was dominating the charts.
16 years later, Mars is back with The Romantic, his first solo album since 2016’s 24K Magic, and apparently not much has changed. He’s still the same honey-voiced crooner with his heart on his sleeve, and he’s still doing it in staunch opposition to the heavily digitized sheen of contemporary pop. After all this time, Mars sounds remarkably unchanged, continuing to mine the golden era of soul and R&B for every ounce of its charm, content to be music’s most talented preservationist rather than a pioneer. What more should you expect from him, Mars seems to ask on The Romantic, when the vibe is this infectious?
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Like its title suggests, The Romantic finds Mars once again obsessed with love. Its nine songs aren’t really about anything else; he’s over the moon in love on the first seven tracks, and then on “Nothing Left,” he’s heartbroken, lamenting how “the fire don’t burn like it used to.” Then on the final song, he’s hoping for one last dance, where maybe — just maybe — he and his lady will “fall in love all over again.” Throughout, Mars offers as many clichés as he possibly can: Running through fire, rocket ships and shooting stars, calling the DJ “Mister,” alleging that he was blind but now he can see… really, any way that he can express that he’s just a good ol’ classic lover boy, he’ll give it a shot.
Had his lyrics always been this general? Surely not, right? “Darling, I’d catch a grenade for you” is at least an evocative image. “When I Was Your Man” brandishes the sting of regret. It’s almost surprising to say in an era where pop music relies too heavily on in-the-know references about the artists’ personal lives and pinpoint detail is deployed as a defense mechanism, but The Romantic is aching for a bit more specificity. It would be great to know a little bit more about why this love he feels is special beyond the fact that they are perfect match on the dance floor.
Mars, though, doesn’t really bother with all that. As lead single “I Just Might” suggests, he is much more interested in cultivating a vibe — which he undeniably does on The Romantic. Perhaps the biggest adjustment to Mars’ sound (beyond abandoning the ’90s nostalgia mined in 24K Magic) is the introduction of some Latin-adjacent instrumentation, mostly evident in openers “Risk It All” and “Cha Cha Cha.” Acoustic guitars flutter and bloom, congas help drive the rhythm, and brass flourishes add a sun-soaked feel; Mars croons a la Luis Miguel in these songs, bringing all the suave energy he can muster.
The rest of The Romantic provides charming, finely-crafted takes on retro soul, disco, funk, and everything in between. A handful of tracks, like the up-tempo “On My Soul,” live in the same ’70s throwback arena as An Evening with Silk Sonic, Mars’ 2021 collaborative effort with Anderson .Paak and the most apt sonic predecessor for The Romantic. There’s a sense of familiarity to many of the instrumentals, where you know you’ve heard a similar melody or groove before but you just can’t quite place it.
Mars and his band of trusted writers and producers (D’Mile, Phillip Lawrence, Brody Brown, James Fauntleroy, and Johan Arjona) are masters of replicating these sugar-coated arrangements and making them feel both fresh and lived-in. The songs sound like they’ve been recorded live straight to tape, with roomy reverb and a gloriously rich atmosphere swimming throughout the production. There are lovely flourishes all over the place: auxiliary percussion that slinks and shimmies, the expressiveness of the drums during the guitar solo on “Nothing Left,” the interplay between electric and acoustic guitars on “I Just Might,” the weeping strings on “Dance With Me.” It all sounds gorgeous, and Mars rounds it out with towering, phenomenal vocal performances.
But there’s definitely more to be desired on The Romantic. Mars is essentially telling us nine times that we needn’t look for any substance here. That’s probably okay for the vast majority of his listeners, especially because he hasn’t shown any prior evidence of wanting to move his sound in a more progressive direction. It’d be silly to think Mars wouldn’t reprise his usual smooth-talkin’ vintage pop reverie, even after 10 years.
Still, does The Romantic have to be so ordinary? While everything seems to check out sonically, the project lacks the charisma that Mars and .Paak brought to An Evening with Silk Sonic. Mars was shamelessly romantic there, but it was rendered with a cheeky wink and, mainly thanks to .Paak, a mostly unserious vibe. There was more specificity and perspective offered in the lyrics, a willingness to be playful and hammy while still retaining the duo’s distinct personalities.
The Romantic, unfortunately, provides no perspective. Bruno is in love, and love is grand. Dancing is amazing. Let’s all get together and feel good. Is there anything else you’d like to say, Bruno? Anything?
