The Romantic

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The last time Bruno Mars released an album of his own, the year was 2016 and the “Locked Out of Heaven” hitmaker had just pivoted from world-beating pop to the R&B grooves he fell in love with as a child—the kind of songs that make you get up off the wall and dance. It’s not like Mars has been slacking since that year’s <i>24K Magic</i>, his inescapable, seven-time Grammy-winning third album. In the time since, he held down a residency in Las Vegas, formed a superduo with Anderson.Paak (2021’s champagne-soaked <i>An Evening with Silk Sonic</i>), and notched his belt with a few more megahits, from his 2024 Lady Gaga duet “Die with a Smile” to “APT.” with ROSÉ, Apple Music’s most-streamed song of 2025. Still, dance floors worldwide felt the absence of a new Mars solo album. Nearly a decade after <i>24K Magic</i>, pop’s preeminent showman returns with an album dedicated to two timeless pleasures: dancing and romance. With the help of a familiar crew of co-writers and producers (Brody Brown, Philip Lawrence, James Fauntleroy, D’Mile), the singer lavishes in the sultry sounds of yesteryear (cha-cha, bossa nova, funk, new jack swing) for songs that go all out in passion and boogie the night away. “Got my lemon-pepper steppers on/Ooh girl, you’re in trouble tonight,” he croons on “Cha Cha Cha,” slipping in a disco breakdown and a sly interpolation of Juvenile’s 2003 hit “Slow Motion.” Mars channels Curtis Mayfield on the groovy “On My Soul,” while “I Just Might” channels Leo Sayer’s “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” for a handclap-heavy ode to flirting on the dance floor. (“It would break my heart, break my heart, break my heart/If I find out you can’t move…”) Lovers, steppers, and wedding DJs, rejoice.

via Apple Music

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