What is it about Bruno Mars?
On the surface of it, I can't fault him. The guy's got a great voice (yes, he can sing), an inherent charm which exudes in all his live performances and has dished out hit after hit in the last year or two. I spent the morning sampling "Doo Wops and Hooligans", and it reminded me of Katy Perry's Teenage Dreams: single after single that I've heard on the charts. He topped off a great year in which he sold millions of records by winning a Grammy for Best Male Vocalist.
But something's still not there for me.
Yes, the album is full of hits. But it lacks coherence. The common theme is boring, with Mars singing primarily about three things:
1. Meeting and then losing and then looking for a beautiful stranger (in a club, at a train station, wherever you please),
2. Love, how he's found the most beautiful woman in the world, and how it will last forever,
or 3. Heartbreak, and how it's such a bitch.
Make up your mind, man. Are you anti-relationships, pro-love or just trying to play something for everyone? And for God's sakes, stop singing like Michael Jackson. We know you made a living impersonating him when you were young, but it's time to shed that baggage.
I know a lot of people would disagree, but for me there's a certain je ne sais quoi missing in Bruno Mars, and I'm not a fan. As he exists today, I don't find him either relevant or entertaining enough to hold my attention for more than a few bars on the singles charts.
And in all objectivity, while the guy's popular, he hasn't had a 'great' hit yet, one that could cement him into musical history with more permanence than the thousands of pop artists who've gone before him. Maybe he'll get there - and if he does, I'll recant - but for the moment, he's plain old average for me.
On the surface of it, I can't fault him. The guy's got a great voice (yes, he can sing), an inherent charm which exudes in all his live performances and has dished out hit after hit in the last year or two. I spent the morning sampling "Doo Wops and Hooligans", and it reminded me of Katy Perry's Teenage Dreams: single after single that I've heard on the charts. He topped off a great year in which he sold millions of records by winning a Grammy for Best Male Vocalist.
But something's still not there for me.
Yes, the album is full of hits. But it lacks coherence. The common theme is boring, with Mars singing primarily about three things:
1. Meeting and then losing and then looking for a beautiful stranger (in a club, at a train station, wherever you please),
2. Love, how he's found the most beautiful woman in the world, and how it will last forever,
or 3. Heartbreak, and how it's such a bitch.
Make up your mind, man. Are you anti-relationships, pro-love or just trying to play something for everyone? And for God's sakes, stop singing like Michael Jackson. We know you made a living impersonating him when you were young, but it's time to shed that baggage.
I know a lot of people would disagree, but for me there's a certain je ne sais quoi missing in Bruno Mars, and I'm not a fan. As he exists today, I don't find him either relevant or entertaining enough to hold my attention for more than a few bars on the singles charts.
And in all objectivity, while the guy's popular, he hasn't had a 'great' hit yet, one that could cement him into musical history with more permanence than the thousands of pop artists who've gone before him. Maybe he'll get there - and if he does, I'll recant - but for the moment, he's plain old average for me.
