Bruno Mars has risen from his 10-year slumber and delivered a crowd-pleasing, cruisy set of Latin-inspired love songs titled The Romantic—a fitting name given his flirty persona. The pop legend has already amassed over 300 million listens on Spotify between the album’s two headlining songs, “I Just Might” and “Risk It All”. For the average Bruno-loving listener, this album gets the heart skipping and jaw dropping with the sheer amount of sweet talk spouted by his honeyed, dulcet tones. However, some critics have raised that the album lacks the level of daring required for it to assert itself in Mars’ already pristine discography. It doesn’t urge his career in a new direction, sticking close to his strengths rather than risking it all (ha!). 

Despite being his first solo album for a literal decade, Mars’ return was not hotly anticipated by the public. Mars never went cold turkey as many artists (Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, and Lady Gaga, to name a few) on a break do. He has been on a roll with his chart-topping releases since 24K Magic in 2016. His studio debut album as a member of Silk Sonic was soulfully received in 2021; his duet with ROSÉ on “APT.” had people jumping out their seats; “Die With A Smile” in 2024 left Lady Gaga fans buzzing with her impending return; and finally, his work on “Fat Juicy & Wet” with Sexxy Red turned everyone’s heads and raised eyebrows. In short, we have not been left wanting content from the popstar during his “break”, and in the face of such musical diversity, the return to his usual solo style in The Romantic feels lacklustre. 

Let’s now turn to the album itself. The fresh Latin inspo is upbeat and fun, perfect for singing in the car on the way to work. Whilst I don’t believe it was intentional, the release of the album is impeccably timed with the rise of Bad Bunny. It is safe to say that Mars will be riding the wave of popularity with the globe’s sudden interest in Latin music. Mars also maintains the iconic soulfulness he has carried throughout his career with sparkling ballad-like vocals and storytelling lyrics. Premier track “Risk It All” draws on Bolero music, originating in Eastern Cuba, setting the rhythm for the other tracks to follow (though none quite as on the nose title-wise as “Cha Cha Cha”). Sultry sentiments and a flirtatious touch present Bruno as a true showman and have me wondering if he secretly has a team of ladies feeding him all our heart-melting triggers. After all, he has hit the mark with the BookTok subcommunity with his songs “Why You Wanna Fight?” and “On My Soul”, which portray a narrator who truly yearns for his woman. 

The only major drawback of this album is how similar several of the tracks are to pre-existing pop songs. Listening to “I Just Might” for the hundredth time made me realise how its toe-tapping beat was eerily reminiscent of “Move Your Feet” by Junior Senior. It was also a bit of a shame to notice that “On My Soul” had more than a few nods to Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up”.  There are also clear similarities with some of the tracks and Mars’ own pre-existing songs; namely, “Nothing Left” sounds more than a little like “When I Was Your Man”. Critics seem to have jumped on these similarities without taking a couple of things into account.

The seeming copying of pre-existing songs is too prominent in current pop music to merely be a coincidence. My proposition is this: more and more songs will feel like copy-and-paste replicas in a content-saturated digital world, where originality is virtually unattainable, but newness is the ultimate craving. This is simply a movement into a new age of pop music. Can it be argued that this is lazy songwriting? Of course, and unfortunately, the continuous repurposing of popular music is what gets clicks. Perhaps we can relate our habitual nature to how humans are inevitably creatures of comfort. In this age of content saturation and idea starvation, repeated rhythms and melodies are hard to avoid—especially if we prize what sells over what is truly experimental and confronting. At the very least, Mars’ musical copycatting is less obvious than Doechii’s striking repurposing of “Somebody That I Used To Know”. 

The Romantic may have felt anti-climactic and lacking in its daring, but nobody can deny that Mars has, once again, brought listeners to their knees. Mars’ loyal fans always come back to scream their hearts out to songs about falling in love over and over again. If you’re on the fence about listening to the album, be reassured that you’ll be swooning left and right and rendered starry-eyed by Mars’ vocal and storytelling talents despite a lack of virtuosity.