A Look At The Music And Impact Of Bruno Mars In 2011!

14 Dec, 2011 craig Articles, Featured, Front Page, Uncategorized

: Bruno Mars (Photo By Andreas Laszlo Konrath)

We would like to send big congratulations to one of our favorite singer/songwriter/producers, Bruno Mars! He has become one of the year’s highest performing artists on 2011’s year end chart! After bursting on to the music scene in 2010 first singing on and /writing/producing on B.O.B’s “Nothing On You”, Bruno has been on a hot streak all through the year of 2011. He has produced hits for other artists like Bad Meets Evil (Eminem & Royce Da 5’’9’), Travie McCoy, Cee-Lo and Far East Movement among others! He also has had also helped redefine the boundaries of soulful Pop as an artist, with many hits off of his Elektra/Atlantic Records’ debut album, Doo Wop And Hooligans. That album produced the hit singles “Just The Way You Are”, “Grenade”, The Lazy Song” and “Marry You.” All of those songs scored Top 10 status on various charts around the world, and have had a huge impact as major Pop music for 2011, not only commercially but critically.

As a producer first, the 26 year old has been able to successfully inject a timeless feel of doo wop soul into his music and mix it with some very emotionally driven song concepts with contemporary meaning. He has done this while using his instrumentally driven sound of either piano or guitar to show a different side to him with each song. On one song he can be clearly compared to Elvis Presley on a guitar driven track with Rock flair, the next, a piano ballad that sounds like a classic cut by Donny Hathaway. Bruno and his production/song writing partners, Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine, A.k.A., The Smeezingtons have shown an ability to do it all with an integrity and wisdom that is arguably far beyond their years. This is because at a young age Bruno has been able to survive record deals gone bad, and like Ryan Tedder, Robin Thicke and Ne-Yo before him, develop his craft into creating a production sound all his own, rather than being endorsed by a producer like Justin Timberlake with The Neptunes/Timbaland and Chris Brown with Sean Garrett/Scott Storch for example.

Those skills have allowed him to not only be a trail blazer with his own sound, but it also explains why oftentimes when he collaborates and produces with other artists, his contributions can be considered the leading characteristic that helped make that song a hit. Some of the best examples of this are when Bruno’s vocals are the first thing heard on B.O.B.’s breakout hit, “Nothing On You”, or when his hook also dominates the direction of the song “Lighters” by Eminem and Royce Da 5’9’. (Bad Meets Evil). No matter if Bruno was writing with Flo Rida and Ke$ha on a party track like “Right Round”, or getting reflective recently on “Mirror” with Lil Wayne for Tha Carter IV, he has approached each different type of song topic that he has been a part of with the same amount originality, and use his skills to help score an idea, each one of those providing a very visual escape a little different than the last. With that said, it is easy to see why even though his music is phenomenal without question, his many layers as a young performer show how sometimes radio music directors do not always know how to place him. Some songs sound like he is more R&B, some sound rocking, and others even have a Jazz influence to them. While this has been a very understandable problem for other artists in the past, Bruno has proven that this has been a good problem for him to have.

His music has found a place in many different circles based on the merits of the song’s strength of melody alone. How else could a song he co wrote and produced for Cee-Lo Green originally called “F*** You”, go on to be sang by Gwyneth Paltrow on Fox’s Glee, and eventually be featured in Disney’s 2011 film, The Muppets? 2011’s year end charts show that no matter how you describe his music, he has done nothing short of define the Pop music of today! Bruno has become Billboard’s, Top Male Hot 100 Artist of the Year, Top Hot 100 Producer of the Year (The Smeezingtons), Top Male Radio Songs Artist, Top Male Digital Songs Artist, Top Adult Contemporary Artist of the Year, Top Male Adult Pop Songs Artist, and Adult Contemporary Song of the Year (“Just The Way You Are”). The coolest part about all this is that he is just getting started. All these accolades are primarily based on the success of only his first album! The best is yet to come for Bruno, now that he put a cap on the year by contributing “It Will Rain” as the first single to the wildly successful Twilight film, Twilight Saga; Breaking Dawn Part 1. We at Clizbeats are very excited to see what else he has in store for us. Keep up the good work!

Bruno Mars

“It Will Rain”

From Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 Soudrack

Summit Entertainment/Chop Shop/Atlantic Records