Adele wins the Grammy for Album of the Year…Again

25 Adele

Released: November 20, 2015 Peak: 110 US, 113 UK, 112 CN, 18 AU Sales (in millions): 11.0 US, 3.9 UK, 23.36 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop/blue-eyed soul

Tracks: (Click for codes to charts.) Song Title (Writers) [Time] (chart date, peaks on charts) Hello (Adele Adkins/Greg Kurstin) [4:55] (10/23/15, 110 US, 13 UK, 17 CN, 16 AU, 116 AC, 17 A40, 14 AAA, 10a RB, sales: 13.45 million worldwide) Send My Love to Your New Lover (Adkins/Max Martin/Shellback) [3:43] (12/12/15, 8 US, 5 UK, 10 CN, 13 AU, 13 AC, 12 A40, 2 AAA, sales: 1.55 million worldwide) I Miss You (Adkins/Paul Epworth) [5:48] When We Were Young (Adkins/Tobias Jesso Jr.) [4:51] (12/12/15, 14 US, 9 UK, 9 CN, 13 AU, 6 AC, 3 A40, 10 AAA, sales: 1.55 million worldwide) Remedy (Adkins/Ryan Tedder) [4:05] (12/12/15, 87 US) Water Under the Bridge (Adkins/Kurstin) [4:00] (12/12/15, 26 US, 16 AAA, sales: 0.5 million) River Lea (Adkins/Brian Burton) [3:45] Love in the Dark (Adkins/Samuel Dixon) [4:46] Million Years Ago (Adkins/Kurstin) [3:47] All I Ask (Adkins/Bruno Mars/Philip Lawrence/Christopher Brody Brown) [4:32] (3/5/16, 77 US) Sweetest Devotion (Adkins/Epworth) [4:12] Total Running Time: 48:24

Rating: 3.847 out of 5.00 (average of 37 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: After the monstrous success of her 2011 sophomore album 21, Adele considered quitting music. After all, how do you follow-up one of the most successful albums of all time? She suffered from writer’s block, but was inspired to work again after the birth of her first child in October 2012. She said then that she wanted her son to “know what I do.” WK She met with producer Greg Kurstin, after which she said “it all poured right out of me.” WK She made a conscious attempt to move away from the break-up themes which dominated 21 and also added added synths and drum pads to give the album a modern sound. WK She initially wrote an entire album about motherhood which she scrapped because it was “too boring,” WK although she did keep Sweetest Devotion, an uplifting track written as a tribute to her son. WK She told Rolling Stone the final product was about “yearning for her old self” and “melancholia about the passage of time.” WK To that end, she crafted songs such as When We Were Young, which explored Adele’s “uneasy acceptable of adulthood,” the album’s key theme. WK “25 didn’t quite achieve the cultural impact of 21,” BB “but by no means did Adele disappoint on her third studio album.” BB “It was still an industry phenomenon, scoring the largest sales week in SoundScan history with over 3 million copies sold in its first week – an unfathomable figure in any era, let alone where sales totals have long been shrinking.” BB It went on to easily be the best-selling album of 2015, moving more than 17 million by year’s end. WK With sales continuing into 2016, it became the biggest selling album of that year as well. WK “The set contains the perfect melancholy soul hits to put her unbeatable vocals on full display, from Water Under the Bridge to ‘When We Were Young’ to Hello – all of which are the type of crossover smashes that made us fall in love with the British powerhouse in the first place.” BB “Hello” was a soul-driven piano ballad which Telegraph described as having “a very luscious wall of sound.” WK It was the first single and a monstrous #1. It went on to win Grammys for Record and Song of the Year and racked up more than 2 billion views on YouTube. The song took six months to finish. WK In addition to working with Tedder and Paul Epworth again, Adele also collaborated with Max Martin and Shellback, Danger Mouse, and the Smeezingtons (which includes Bruno Mars). WK The track Send My Love Your New Lover was a reworking of a song Adele wrote when she was thirteen and inspired by Amy Winehouse’s Frank album. She and Ryan Tedder, who worked with her on 21 and 25, went to lunch after unfruitful sessions and Adele heard Taylor Swift’s single “I Knew Your Were Trouble.” When Tedder told Adele it was produced by Max Martin, she reached out to him and they reworked “Lover.” WK On February 12, 2017, Adele made Grammy history as only the second woman (after Taylor Swift) to win the Album of the Year twice for a solo effort. Adele first pulled off the feat with 21. In fact, Adele won all five Grammys for which she was nominated.

Resources and Related Links: BB Billboard (11/19/2019). “The 100 Greatest Albums of the 2010s” Grammy.com WK Wikipedia.org Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/1/2019; last updated 3/5/2024.

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 released Doo-Wops & Hooligans

Doo-Wops & Hooligans Bruno Mars

Released: October 4, 2010 Charted: October 23, 2010 Peak: 3 US, 11 UK, 12 CN, 2 AU Sales (in millions): 5.0 US, 1.8 UK, 15.5 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop/R&B

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. Grenade (9/28/10, 14 US, 15 RR, 11 AC, 3 A40, 12 UK, 13 CN, 13 AU, sales: 10.9 million) Just the Way You Are (Amazing) (7/20/10, 14 US, 13 RR, 120 AC, 15 A40, 11 UK, 14 CN, 11 AU, sales: 13.7 million) Our First Time Runaway Baby (10/29/11, 50 US, 19 UK) The Lazy Song (10/23/10, 4 US, 3 RR, 13 AC, 2 A40, 11 UK, 5 CN, 6 AU, sales: 7.28 million) Marry You (12/11/10, 85 US, 11 UK, 10 CN, 8 AU, sales: 3.18 million) Talking to the Moon Liquor Store Blues (w/ Damian Marley) Count on Me (11/7/11, 78 UK, 19 AU, sales: 0.41 million) The Other Side (w/ CeeLo Green & B.o.B.) Total Running Time: 35:24

Rating: 3.814 out of 5.00 (average of 29 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: Bruno Mars was already a star when he released Doo-Wops & Hooligans, his first album, in 2010. He’d had hits with Travie McCoy (“Billionaire,” #4) and B.o.B. (“Nothin’ on You,” #1) and was writing and producing songs (such as Cee-Lo Green’s #2 hit “Fuck You”) with Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine as the Smeezingtons. As such, it wasn’t a big surprise when “the lushly romantic” AMG Just the Way You Are and Grenade, “a darker song with a masochistic message,” WK topped the Billboard Hot 100. Mars pulled off “a record that sounds like it was written and recorded on a warm, sleepy summer Sunday afternoon.” AMG “Lyrically, the album visualizes carefree optimism along with failed relationships, pain and loneliness.” WK He plays all the instruments and “his voice is the kind of smooth instrument that slips into your ear like honey.” AMG Most of the tracks on Doo-Wops capture this laid-back groove, especially The Lazy Song and the reggaefied midnight love jam Our First Time. Mars barely raises a sweat on these tracks, cruising in low gear but with a very likeable style. It’s not very deep and it’s not poetry, but sweetly played and sung songs like Count on Me,” AMG which has been compared to Boyz II Men, WK “or ‘Just the Way You Are’ project a cuddly image and will melt hearts from tweens to old folks.” AMG The biggest criticism may be that “the album tried too hard to appeal to all groups” WK as it integrates pop, soul, reggae, R&B, and rock. Mars himself confirmed an effort to reach as wide an audience as possible, explaining “I have records that women are going to relate to and men are going to relate to. So doo-wops are for the girls, and hooligans are for the guys.” WK “When he turns up the volume and boosts the tempo, however, the album suffers a little. Runaway Baby is a pretty cheesy rocker, suffering from clichéd lyrics and production. Faring better thanks to some dynamics and nuanced production is the pleasantly silly Marry You.” AMG The latter was used for a fantastic viral video proposal. In the comments section, Emily said, “Honestly a total stranger could propose to me like this and I would say yes.” “The only glimpse of Mars as something more than an innocuous charmer is…The Other Side.” AMG The song, which features Cee-Lo Green and B.o.B., “has been called the album’s highlight, with its most experimental and complex production.” WK It “has the most complicated melody, and the best production and singing; it sounds like the only song that Mars truly invested with some soul and grit. It was also recorded way before the rest of the album, and featured on the EP that came out earlier in 2010. It points to a direction Mars could have taken with the album but didn’t. As it is, Doo-Wops & Hooligans is an uneven debut that shows why Mars is likeable and popular, but doesn’t tap into his full potential as a writer or producer.” AMG Notes: The European version added the song “Somewhere in Brooklyn” and an acoustic piano version of “Talking to the Moon.” Both of those songs are also featured on the deluxe/tour version as well as a remix of “Just the Way You Are” featuring Lupe Fiasco, and live versions of “Just the Way You Are,” “Grenade,” and “The Other Side.” The Japanese platinum edition included those songs and three remixes of “Grenade.” The iTunes deluxe version of the album also included “Somewhere in Brooklyn” as well as music videos for “Just the Way You Are” and “The Other Side” and the remix of “Just the Way You Are.”

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Bruno Mars AMG All Music Guide review by Tim Sendra WK Wikipedia First posted 12/12/2020; last updated 3/3/2024.

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.