"With Anderson .Paak, he co-piloted Silk Sonic's hit album An Evening with Silk Sonic. He variously collaborated with Cardi B, Gucci Mane, Sexy Redd and Ed Sheeran. Die With a Smile, 2024's soft rock duet with Lady Gaga went on to become the most streamed song of last year. Meanwhile, he also recorded the most globally successful song released in 2025, the infernally catchy APT., with Blackpink's Rose."
"You can scoff at that as a profoundly unhip reference point if you want, but as the TikTok ubiquity of Edison Lighthouse's Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes or Chris Rainbow's dimly recalled 70s soft-rock track Be Like a Woman proves, we live in a world where long-held notions of what's hip and what's not went out of the window some time ago."
"As it turns out, resemblances to old songs are something of a hallmark on The Romantic, an album that takes a lot of its cues from Silk Sonic's update of the soft soul peddled by the Chi-Lites and the Stylistics 50 years ago: Why You Wanna Fight? in particular could have slipped on to the Silk Sonic album without causing a jolt."
Bruno Mars returns with his solo album The Romantic after a decade away from solo releases, though he has remained highly visible through collaborations, tours, and residencies. His lead single I Just Might reached number one in 11 countries despite—or because of—its similarity to Leo Sayer's 1976 hit You Make Me Feel Like Dancing. The album continues the soft soul aesthetic Mars explored with Anderson .Paak on Silk Sonic, drawing inspiration from 1970s artists like the Chi-Lites and the Stylistics. Contemporary music culture has shifted regarding what constitutes hip or trendy, with vintage 70s soft-rock tracks gaining renewed popularity through platforms like TikTok, making Mars's retro approach timely rather than dated.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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