24K Magic (album)

Background and development

After ending the Moonshine Jungle Tour, Bruno Mars began working on his third album "Now it's time to start writing chapter 3". He hadn't come up with a date for the release, stating "Until it's done" and "It's gotta be just as good if not better". Previously, the singer-songwriter was interviewed by that's Shanghai and gave some details of the new album, confirming Mark Ronson and Jeff Bhasker as record producers. "I want to write better songs, I want to put on better shows, I want to make better music videos. I want my next album to be better than the first and the second." The singer has been in the studio with engineer Charles Moniz, who called it "the next movement of Bruno" and confirmed the album was close to being finished on February 2016. Rolling Stone ranked Mars' third album as one of the 20 most anticipated of 2016. Mars' father confirmed the album was set to be released in March and seven songs have already been recorded, but his son's appearance at the Super Bowl halftime show led to the release being postponed for several months.

Mars has been in the studio with Skrillex. The latter said "what we're doing is so f—king different, awesome and next level and sounds like nothing else that's happened before". In another interview Skrillex claimed "Who knows if I'll do something that's more of a Skrillex thing with him, but he have a vision for his album, and I'm helping him produce it on some of the songs". Mars has also played some of his new songs to Missy Elliott. Jamareo Artis of The Hooligans, disclosed that he has been working on the album for about a year, "trying different ideas and experimenting". He furthered, "it's going to have a new sound...the material is very groove-oriented", set to be released this year. Andrew Wyatt, who was involved in Mars' previous studio albums, has been in the studio. In an interview with Carson Daly, Mars revealed that there were no features on the album, including his work with Skrillex, as it was not completed in time for the album's release. The singer has also confirmed to be working with Babyface on a song and the recording being influenced by late 80's and early 90's. During the Elvis Duran and the Morning Show Mars said "that there is a groove, a pocket, a swing that I want to hear." He continued, "the album has a 90's spirit". Mars, on the Carson and Cane show of WNEW-FM, said "you're gonna get a little heart-break on this album, you're gonna get it all." A private album listening party was held in New York City, in a club named Tao. In an interview with Zane Lowe for Beats 1 Mars explained with the third album he "wanted to make a movie," he said. "A real movie. I told myself, 'We're gonna have a screenplay and we're gonna go to that." The movie in his head was set in New York during a summer night "The baddest rooftop house party. 2:30 in the morning, the band comes out, fucking dipped in Versace. The girls are screaming. And then the flyest lead singer the world has ever seen comes on and starts singing some shit." Regarding the plot of the movie Mars also stated that he is unaware of it, he said joking "it's about a Versace-wearing pimp". The singer continued "You hear my other albums, I'm bouncing around from genre to genre. I wanted to really hone it in and give myself a world in which I could keep it contained."

Recording

Regarding the recording, Mars wanted to "sing more so than I did on the other albums. That's why you get "Versace" and "Too Good to Say Goodbye". Mars said that Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds is his hero, "Music, to me, is all about feeling. Before, lyrics, and beats and the new drum sounds, it's about feeling. And he's the best." "It's like he has this butter that he knows how to put in and out of these notes and these chords. 'Cause it's feeling… it's all feeling." Mars recorded part of his album at Glenwood Place, in Burbank, California. In July 2016, the singer expected to complete the project by the middle of August due to his deadline and costs with the recording process. He was trying to finish a song with Skrillex, it wasn't yet completed because "The groove ain't right, or we're not doing something on the chorus. I'm just trying to figure out why I'm tuning out in certain parts." Around this time, he and his engineers were going insane with the process of coming up with songs. The singer revealed he wasn't confident in coming back to the studio after releasing "Uptown Funk", "Coming off the biggest song of my career, it was super-daunting to come in here", which led him to "second-guessing everything." With the new recording Mars look to come up with "the feeling of the R&B he fell in love with as a kid" with acts such as Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, New Edition, Bobby Brown, Jodeci, Boyz II Men, Teddy Riley and Babyface. He recorded several tracks, including "Finesse", which had twenty different versions, one "where he sang about gold chains and cognac over a silky beat (too corny)", and other which sounded "too much "like a Seventies cop show – like I should be on roller skates". He was happy with the last version that only needed to fix the bridge. "Versace on the Floor", dubbed as a seductive slow-jam, started with a "piña colada vibe", the beat was latter remixed and came up with a "epic musical track", good enough to make the final cut of the album. However, Mars was not sure since it was supposed to be a big ballad and he is not singing. Henceforth an everything started from scratch and a new melody was composed, as well as new lyrics. The latest version sounded like a "Boyz II Men–ish anthem that climaxes with an indelible hook". The lyrics had to go and Mars was thinking about using them later, maybe in the fourth album.

Six weeks later, the album was in the mixing stage. The singer returned to the studio on the first week of October, hoping to be the last time. By then the album was officially done. While Mars was wearing the finest clothes, jewelry he got made possible the creation of this album. Philip Lawrence stated ""What's really helped us – and I don't think a lot of producers have the luxury of, have the privilege of – is being able to be in the studio recording an album and then going out and performing it". He carried on, "We got two different vantage points: We got the sitting in the studio laboring over songs for hours and days and weeks, and then we get to take whatever that energy is and put it in front of people. And when you do that it gives you the opportunity to see what works, what doesn't work, what could be better, what could be improved on." His label was hesitating about the sound. They ended up by trusting him. "Too Good To Say Goodbye" is a song that Mars started writing "years and years ago, but it never felt right". Mars first met Babyface "between tours". The two reunited in the studio "When [Babyface] came into the studio, I started playing the chorus on the piano and he stopped me and he said, 'What is that?'" he remembered. "I said, 'It's a song that I can't crack the code.' He said, 'We got to work on that, we got to finish that.' It was old-school; sitting down on the piano and we built this song." Mars concluded "We just went in old school on the piano. He's the coldest."

The NME interview was conducted few people have heard the album as there was only one copy in the world, on an iPod touch. The copy was sent back to a safe in the head of Atlantic Records office when Hamish MacBain finished listening to it. This was due to Mars' perfectionist and consummate people pleaser as he obsessed with every single detail. Mars explained the shortage of the length and number of the songs in the album "If I can't pull you in with nine songs, I'm not gonna pull you in with 19! The album was only him and his band as the Skrillex collaboration ended up by not being finished and him and Missy Eliot were just relaxing. The singer-songwriter is known to be critical when coming up with new material. Mars mentioned that "there are producers who can just create fire. But for me there's a process that I have to go through with each song. I have to touch an instrument or it won't come out. If I'm not touching the guitar or touching the drum machine or playing the piano, the song just won't come out. I have to be in it, all the way." According to him every song had to pass the "test" as he "made sure that there was a whole set-up where we could pick up the instruments and make sure that it was gripping and locking", even thought the title track was the hardest one. Mars said that his album was designed to look like a '90s album, with just the track titles in a basic font. He carried on by saying, "I worked hard on those titles, and that's what you're gonna get!" It's hard to imagine, say, Justin Bieber or Rihanna giving much of a toss about such minor details". 60 minutes interviewed Mars, where he showed them how he created 24K Magic.

Artwork

The album's sleeve was designed while using several inspirations, including a "musky cologne ad" and a "1995 Cadillac Allanté convertible". The latter felt like "bootleg luxury" and when it came the time he was wondering "What's the guy who drives this wearing? He's wearing the best silk s**t he owns! And he thinks he's doing something extra-fancy in shorts". Mars and Greg Gigendad Burke were in charge of coming up with the artwork, while Kai Z Feng was the photographer of it.

Performances

On October 15, 2016, Mars performed "24K Magic" for the first time on Saturday Night Live, as well as a new song, titled "Chunky", which received positive reaction from critics and audiences. In November, Mars performed "24k Magic" at the MTV Europe Music Awards, NRJ Music Awards, and the American Music Awards. On December 2, Mars performed at 102.7 KIIS FM's Jingle Ball. On December 6, Mars performed at the 2016 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. On December 13, Mars sang some of his new songs and greatest hits during the Carpool Karaoke segment of The Late Late Show with James Corden. After first performing at the Theater at MGM National Harbor near Washington, D.C. on December 27, 2016, Mars had limited Las Vegas residency shows in MGM's Park Theater at Monte Carlo Resort and Casino on December 30 and 31, 2016 and will have another in March 2017.

Singles

On October 7, 2016, Mars released the lead single from the album, called "24K Magic", along with its music video. He also unveiled the album's official artwork and a link to the album's pre-order on iTunes. On the same date, the album was made available for pre-order worldwide via Mars' official site, offering four different options to purchase. "That's What I Like" was released as the second single on January 30, 2017.

Promotional singles

Mars exclusively announced on Capital FM that a new track, which later revealed to be called "Versace on the Floor", which would be released as the album's promotional single on November 4, 2016.

Critical reception

Jim Carroll said "Mars shows he's a smart operator when it comes to the sort of pop which has all the accouterments needed to engineer earworms, yet is sussed enough to know a little dab of special sauce is often required." Andy Kellman rated the album 4 out of 5 stars. Jonathan Wroble of Slant Magazine gave the album three out of 5 stars. Entertainment Weekly's Nolan Feeney graded it a B+. Cleveland.com awarded it 4 out of 5 stars. USA Today gave it a mixed review. Edward Bowser of Soul in Stereo gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars. Rolling Stone rated it 3 out of 5 stars. The Observer rated the album three out of five starts. Consequence of Sound awarded it a B- rating. Idolator gave the album a rave review, rating it 4.5 stars out of 5. Billboard made a track-by-track review comparing the songs to the ones made by other artists and see where the inspiration came from. The Guardian three out of five stars. Q magazine wrote "Ultimately 24k Magic's luxe exterior writes cheques its soul can't cash."

Digital Spy considered it the 18th best album of 2016, while Idolator named it the 7th best album of the year, Rap-Up the 17th best, and Rolling Stone the 12th best pop album of the year. Complex considered it the 28th among 50 best albums of the year.

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200, and sold 231,000 album-equivalent units (194,000 in pure sales plus 37,000 track equivalent and streaming equivalent albums), during its first week of release in the United States, being kept from number one by Metallica's Hardwired... to Self-Destruct, which sold 291,000 copies (281,000 in traditional sales). The album remained in the chart's top ten for the next several weeks and eventually repeaked at No. 2 in its 13th charting week. Despite this, it spent 6 non-consecutive weeks at number one on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. As of January 1, 2017, 24K Magic has sold 462,000 recognized copies and a total of 684,000 album-equivalent units in the United States.

In Japan, 24K Magic debuted at number 6 on the Oricon, selling 20,000 copies in the debut week. In the second week the album jumped at number 3 on the Oricon chart, selling 15,000 copies. 24K Magic debuted at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart, selling 52,300 copies in first week. It debuted at number 3 in Australia. In Canada, the album debuted at number 2, with 21,000 total consumption units. The album is the best-selling album of 2016 in the Philippines.

Track listing

Credits adapted from the liner notes of 24K Magic by Atlantic Records.

Notes

Sample credits

Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic