“He is the most wonderful artist,” she told Rolling Stone in December 2024. “He is so kind and generous. One of my favorite things about working with him on this song was, he wanted me to be myself. You pray that if you work with someone as legendary and incredible as Bruno Mars that they’re going to be as amazing as you thought they were—and he totally is.”
And Rosé will also drink to that sentiment, noting during her November 2024 appearance on Hot Ones, “I was really lucky enough to have Bruno on [‘APT.’]. Craziest experience of my life.”
But aside from all the other music he was putting out, count Bruno’s perfectionism as a major reason why he didn’t rush out a follow-up to 24K Magic, which came out four long years after Unorthodox Jukebox.
“Coming off the biggest song of my career, it was super-daunting to come in here,” he told Rolling Stone about his return to the studio—where he was still tinkering with 24K Magic ahead of its November 2016 release—after “Uptown Funk” sold 12 million copies. “I don’t know if people are going to love this s–t. I don’t know if radio is going to play it. But what I don’t want to have happen is I put it out and say, ‘Damn it, if I’d just done this and this, maybe it would have had a shot.'”
Hence the gap between albums. He’s either releasing magic in the air, or nothing.
And while it should be no surprise if Bruno collects another golden gramophone (or two, or three) on Feb. 1, check out these truly shocking moments in Grammys history:
