Bruno Mars creates his own jukebox

I listened to Unorthodox Jukebox by Bruno Mars and it got me thinking. This is music. Real pop music. And I never thought I would hear it from Bruno Mars. Did he really do all these? There are some collaborators listed in the credits, his usual team, the Smeezingtons, are on the ball, but it seems like he did most of the work in this, his second album. It is truly a worthy follow up to his impressive debut Doo-Wops & Hooligans from two years ago.

Worthy? It is not. I want to change that to mindblowing. Unorthodox Jukebox is one of the best albums I’ve heard these past months. The talented Mars has found his creative path and is milking it with all his might. I hear his piano, so emphatic and I think of Elton John or Billy Joel or maybe Neil Sedaka from an earlier time. Those were excellent singer- songwriters who sans fanfare changed the sound of pop music. They simply made so many hits, that we merely slept and woke up and found the songs different. And we liked what they did.

Do you think Mars will be able to do the same with his Jukebox? I hope so because music always has a need for artists who can create songs with coherent lyrics that people can relate to and who know how to make pretty melodies with killer hooks. Mars does all these very well in Jukebox. In fact, the first single release, the Police influenced Locked Out Of Heaven, love that title, has been the No. 1 song in Billboard Magazine’s Hot 100 list for seven weeks now. It is also the highlighted number in next week’s episode of Glee.

Of course, we have already known how good Mars is with making commercial tunes. Grenade, Just The Way You Are, Lazy Song and Marry You from Doo-Wops plus Nothin’ On You with B.o.B. and Billionaire with Travie McCoy. But Jukebox is still a revelation. At a time when sales emphasis has reverted back to singles, Mars has made a total package. Like what the title suggests, he has put together his own unique jukebox by taking assorted sounds from the past and making them new and his very own. Against a bed that blends

R&B with vintage Motown, he has reggae, the light and bouncy in Show Me. There is a big rocker in Young Girls. Gorilla is fierce and sexy. He has a power ballad in Moon shine. Something anguished and frustrated in Natalie and fun old fashioned doo-wop in If I Knew. All are very good but nothing like the beautifully written When I Was Your Man, a surefire love song with time-cherished sentiments. Nice to know that Mars is also a true romantic and how wonderful to find out that he is not afraid to show it. I can already hear this song screaming, next single.

As I am sure most of you already know, Bruno is also a source of Pinoy pride. He was born Peter Gene Hernandez in Honolulu, Hawaii. His parents are Peter Hernandez, a rock ’n roll singer and percussionist who is half Jewish and half Puerto Rican and Bernie San Pedro Bayot, a hula dancer and singer who is Filipino. He made his performing debut in the family act at the age of four and appeared in the movie Honeymoon In Vegas with Nicolas Cage as an Elvis Impersonator when he was only six years old.

Here is how the top of the latest Hot 100 list from Billboard looks like: Locked Out Of Heaven by Bruno Mars; Thrift Shop by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz; Ho Hey by The Lumineers; I Knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift; Diamonds by Rihanna; Scream & Shout by will.i.am & Brit- ney Spears; Don’t You Worry Child by the Swedish House Mafia feat. John Martin; Beauty And A Beat by Justin Bieber feat. Nicki Minaj; Home by Phillip Phillips; and I Cry by Flo Rida;

One More Night by Maroon 5; Try by Pink; Girl On Fire by Alicia Keys; Some Nights by fun; It’s Time by Imagine Dragons; Die Young by Ke$ha; Don’t Stop The Party by Pitbull feat. T JR; F**kin Problems by A$AP Rocky feat. Drake, 2 Chainz & Kendrick Lamar; The A Team by Ed Sheeran; and Sweet Nothing by Calvin Harris feat. Florence Welch.