Currently the top artist on Spotify with over 136 million streams, Bruno Mars has made numerous hit singles including “Locked Out of Heaven” and “That’s What I Like,” which all top the Billboard Top 100.
Bruno Mars released his debut album “Doo-wops & Hooligans” in 2010, which is actually one of the most-sold albums of all time with over 20 million sales. Hits like “Grenade,” “Just the Way You Are” and “Talking to the Moon” all exceed billions of streams on Spotify.
Two years later, Bruno Mars released his second album called the “Unorthodox Jukebox” which contains hits like “Locked out of Heaven” and “When I was Your Man”. His fame continued with his 2016 album “24K Magic,” with “That’s What I Like” being the number one hit. This was Bruno Mars’ last solo album before he dropped the recent “The Romantic’ album in February. There was a 10 year gap between “24K Magic” and “The Romantic” in terms of solo albums. I think that it was a long wait, but his undeniable presence in the music industry stayed constant.
Before his new album was officially released, Bruno Mars released a hit single called “I Just Might” in January, which was also released in “The Romantic,” to give a preview of the album’s style of music. “I Just Might” is my favorite song out of Bruno Mars’ new track because of the catchy, happy beat. I felt like the lyrics were well crafted and the music video, which featured clones of the artist, was quite creative. Out of all of Bruno Mars’ music videos, this one was my favorite because of the synchronized dancing, joyful green attire and unique setting.
For the rest of “The Romantic,” released in February of 2026, I had some mixed opinions about his style of music. I thought that it was repetitive and similar to his previous albums. Although his album exceeded millions of streams and was pretty successful overall, it wasn’t as well-received as other albums. Besides “I Just Might” and his first song on the album, “Risk it All,” which was very popular with listeners, the others tracks didn’t gain as much popularity. Critics claimed that their lyrics were too placid and corny and that the songs lacked personal connection to Mars.
Bruno Mars writes his own songs (with the help of co-writers sometimes) unlike some popular artists, and his lyrics are usually based on real events. In Bruno Mars’s music career, he has written songs about breakups and first lovers which ended up being big hits. Oftentimes, songs written about real events connect with people the most, making a song popular; however, listeners did not feel that while listening to this album.
I don’t agree with all of the critical reviews. I don’t necessarily find the lyrics corny, but I do agree that sometimes the songs lack personal depth. Songs like “Why You Wanna Fight” resemble Bruno Mars’s collaborations with Anderson .Paak and Silk Sonic on their 2021 album “An Evening with Silk Sonic.” People claimed that it was a self rehash. After listening to the song, the style and the background instrumental do sound like they were taken from the previous album, which doesn’t make a song particularly bad, but I can see why people can label some of Mars’s music as poorly written. Opinions always differ, but I think good songs should be not considered bad when taken inspiration from a previous track.
I liked the “Doo-Wops and Holligans” album more than “The Romantic” mostly due to nostalgia, because I listened to the former album frequently when I was little. Since the album gained popularity around the time I was born, I feel a deep connection with this album. Songs from this album like “Count on Me” and “The Lazy Song” have always held a place in my heart because they remind me of my childhood and spending time with family.
I did like overall theme of the album, and Mars’ mix of different genres, even on the lesser known songs. I didn’t feel the personal connection as much as I have felt in previous albums, but I feel like the music Mars wrote for this album is still good. Songs like “On My Soul” and “Something Serious” definitely were catchy tunes. Those songs were quick paced and had nice instrumentals in the background. I like songs with lots of beats to it. Still, I personally thought that “The Romantic” wasn’t necessarily his best album. I felt like some of the songs were kind of bland.
With “The Romantic,” Bruno Mars also kicked off his “Romantic Tour” to promote his new music and to reembrace his oldies. The ticket sales, which exceeded 2.1 million tickets, went crazy for Mars’ new tour. Audiences across the United States loved the concert, especially its great choreography. He’s already a household name, and Bruno Mars continues to make music to establish himself as one of the greatest modern music artists of all time.
Album Rating: 7.6/10
