Bruno Mars “Locked Out of Heaven” hit #1

Locked Out of Heaven Bruno Mars

Writer(s): Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine (see lyrics here) Released: October 1, 2012 First Charted: October 7, 2012 Peak: 15 US, 16 RR, 17 BA, 13 DG, 7 AC, 2 A40, 2 UK 13 CN, 4 AU, 16 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 10.0 US, 1.11 UK, 11.86 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1001.04 video, 1470.36 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Bruno Mars burst on the scene in December 2009 when he was featured as the vocalist for B.o.B.’s “Nothin’ on You,” a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Three months later, he provided guest vocals to Travie McCoy’s “Billionaire,’” which got to #4. In 2010, he also released the first two singles (“Just the Way You Are” and “Grenade”) in support of his own debut album Doo-Wops & Hooligans. In the U.S. alone, the album sold more than two million copies and reached #3. He was primed for even greater success with his follow-up, 2012’s Unorthodox Jukebox. Sure enough, it was another multi-platinum seller and this time he reached #1 on the album chart. The album featured another pair of chart-topping songs – “Locked Out of Heaven” and “When I Was Your Man.” The former – the lead single – became the first song to hit a million streams in a week’s time. SF It was also nominated for Grammys for Record and Song of the Year. “Locked Out of Heaven” featured a mix of reggae and pop influenced by new wave and funk. The lyrics celebrate “a relationship that is so good the narrator feels like he was ‘locked out of heaven’ before he met his lover.” SF Some critics compared Mars’ vocals to Sting, which was fitting since Mars cited Sting’s former group, The Police, as his greatest influence in writing the song. WK Mark Ronson, one of the producers, brought the Dap-Kings (who backed Amy Winehouse on her Back to Black album) to get a “crisply syncopated, locked-in groove.” WK The Guardian’s Paul MacInnes called the song “a brazen – but successful – welding of Dire Straits’ ‘Sultans of Swing’…and ‘Can’t Stand Losing You’ by the Police.” WK The Idolator’s Carl Williott said “the angular guitars and Mars’ Sting-like staccato delivery are heavily indebited to The Police.” WK Melinda Newman of HitFix also noted the similarities to the Police as well as The Romantics’ “What I Like About You.” WK The Los Angeles Times’ Mikael Wood said it was like The Police-era Ghost in the Machine album with a heavy influence from the Human League. WK AMG All Music Guide SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 7/20/2023.

Cee-Lo Green peaked at #2 with “Fuck You”

Fuck You (aka “Forget You”) Cee-Lo Green

Writer(s): Bruno Mars, Cee-Lo Green, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine (see lyrics here) Released: August 19, 2010 First Charted: September 15, 2010 Peak: 2 US, 11 RR, 13 AC, 2 A40, 57 RB, 33 MR, 12 UK, 7 CN, 5 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 7.0 US, 1.2 UK, 8.73 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 229.98 video, 559.96 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: This “gloriously catchy Motown stomper,” as Digital Spy’s Nick Levin called it, WK came out of a Los Angeles session with Bruno Mars and Phil Lawrence of the production team the Smeezingtons. When Mars came up with the piano part, he thought it was a soul riff from the ‘60s or ‘70s. “I guess I’d know by now if it wasn’t original,” he said. They played a rough demo for Green, who liked it and then contributed many of the verse lyrics. Mars said, “When Cee-Lo got in there and sang, we all got the chills.” SF Green told Entertainment Weekly that the lyrics about a gold-digging ex were “based on something true” but weren’t strictly autobiographical. SF He told NME magazine “it’s a fictitious account of love lost. But it’s a trial that we’ve all been through some time or another, and I think that’s why people can relate to it.” SF Cee-Lo has also said creative differences with his label, Elektra Records, served as inspiration. As he said, he did the song “to be an asshole, to be spiteful toward the label…because it had taken about three years to do The Lady Killer [album] and I just felt that after recording almost 70 sings I could not please them.” SF The song was released in an edited version to radio. In the U.K., it was retitled “FU” and the offending words were replaced with blank spaces. In the U.S., the song was retitled “Forget You” and the sixteen F-bombs were replaced with the word “forget.” WK Green has said the milder lyrics weren’t part of the original plan. “It wasn’t like we were looking for it to be a radio hit.” SF There was also a remix released in the U.S. which featured 50 Cent and a fifth version, entitled “Thank You,” which featured new lyrics as a tribute to firefighters. WK The song topped the charts in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom and was a top ten in multiple countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden, and the United States. SF In the U.S., the song originally peaked at #9 and was slipping down the charts, but after he performed it at the Grammys, it had a resurgence and hit #2 in its 26th week on the Billboard Hot 100. WK Despite never reaching the pinnacle, it became the United States’ best-selling song of 2011. WK The song was nominated for Grammys for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Urban/Alternative Performance. Spin magazine named it the best song of 2010. SF Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Cee-Lo Green SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: Last updated 3/31/2024.

Bruno Mars hit #1 with “Grenade”

Grenade Bruno Mars

Writer(s): Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine, Brody Brown, Claude Kelly, Andrew Wyatt (see lyrics here) Released: September 28, 2010 First Charted: October 16, 2010 Peak: 14 US, 13 BA, 15 DG, 11 AC, 3 A40, 12 UK, 13 CN, 13 AU, 12 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 10.0 US, 1.2 UK, 12.17 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.2 radio, 1134.4 video, 1043.39 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “Grenade” was a pop and R&B ballad from Bruno Mars’ debut studio album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans. Originally released as a promotional single before the album, it later became the album’s official second single. It was only his second single as a solo artist, although he hit the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 twice (#1 on B.o.B.’s “Nothin’ on You,” #4 on Travie McCoy’s “Billionaire”) before his debut single, “Just the Way You Are (Amazing)” hit the summit. Mars was the first solo male to send his first four entires to the top ten since Rick Astley did it in 1988-89. SF Mars was also the first male act since P. Diddy, 13 years earlier, to take his first two songs as a lead artist to the top. SF The song hit #1 in fifteen countries WK and was nominated for Grammys for Song and Record of the Year. In “Grenade,” Bruno Mars assures his “hard-to-please girl” that “he would catch a grenade for her, along with other assorted foolhardy acts.” SF The video echoed that them as it depicted Mars dragging an upright piano through the streets of Los Angeles in an effort to sing to a girl about how he’d do anything for her. Mars said he got the inspiration for the song from Benny Bianco, who co-wrote the #1 songs “I Kissed a Girl” by Katy Perry and “Tik Tok” by Ke$ha. SF The Smeezingtons (Mars, Phillip Lawrence, and Ari Levine) produced and wrote the song. Brody Brown, Claude Kelly, and Andrew Wyatt also received songwriting credits. The song originally had an “uptempo 1960’s surf-style sound with a jangle pop,” WK but Mars stripped it down and slowed the pace. WK That ended up being the version recorded and praised by the label. WK Entertainment Weekly’s Leah Greenblatt called the song a “captivating masochist’s anthem” WK while Consequence of Sound’s Kevin Barber said it “showcases his Michael Jackson-esque vocal range.” WK Resources: SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: Last updated 7/20/2023.

Bruno Mars landed his first #1 as a solo artist with “Just the Way You Are”

Just the Way You Are (Amazing) Bruno Mars

Writer(s): Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine, Khalil Walton, Khari Cain (see lyrics here) Released: July 20, 2010 First Charted: August 1, 2010 Peak: 14 US, 13 RR, 17 BA, 12 DG, 120 AC, 15 A40, 11 UK, 14 CN, 11 AU, 9 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 13.0 US, 1.8 UK, 15.77 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.5 radio, 1636.9 video, 1631.53 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “Just the Way You Are” was Bruno Mars’ debut single as a solo artist, but it wasn’t his first time on the charts. He’d already been a guest artist on B.o.B.’s “Nothin’ on You” (#1 on the Hot 100) and Travie McCoy’s “Billionaire” (#4) and was a member of the production trio The Smeezingtons, who produced hits such as Flo Rida’s “Right Round” (#1). SF The song was, at different times, intended for Lupe Fiasco and Cee-Lo Green. Green thought the song was better for Mars, but did record Mars’ song “Fuck You,” with which he had a #2 hit. SF When Mars’ topped the charts with the song, it became the first #1 hit for Elektra Rcords in 17 years, the last being “Freak Me” by Silk in 1993. SF Its 20 weeks atop the adult contemporary chart gave it the record for longest-reigning debut on that chart. WK It was also the best-selling digital single of 2011 with 12.2 million in sales WK and named ASCAP’s Most Performed Song of the year at their Pop Music Awards. WK Mars has said, “I’m a big fan of just classic love songs,” SF citing songs like Joe Cocker’s “You Are So Beautiful” and Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight,” which he said “go straight to the point…They just come directly from the heart.” WK He continues that, “I wasn’t thinking of anything deep or poetic. I was telling a story. Get ready to fall in love!” SF He also said, “There’s nothing really lyrically mind-blowing in the song” SF and that “I’m just telling a woman she looks beautiful the way she IS.” WK The song was an inspiration for Meghan Trainor’s debut single “All About That Bass.” WK Billboard’s Megan Vick said the lyrics “aim to make femal listeners feel nothing short of perfect in their own skin.” WK The song served as an inspiration for the #1 hit “All About That Bass,” the body-empowerment debut single from Megan Trainor. WK Digital Spy’s Nick Levin described the song as “a huge-hearted urbany piano ballad with a similar instant classic feel to ‘Empire State of Mind.’” WK Resources: SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: Last updated 7/21/2023.