Bruno Mars Covers BILLBOARD: Talks New Album ‘Unorthodox Jukebox’

 

Bruno Mars rocks a curly fro on the cover of Billboard. The “Grenade” launcher tells the magazine that he will release his sophomore album, Unorthodox Jukebox, on December 11th, preceded by his “energetic” lead single, “Locked Out of Heaven,” due out on October 1st.
He enlisted producers Mark Ronson, Jeff Bhasker, Emile Haynie, Diplo and Supa Dups for the record. Like his Doo-Wops & Hoolians debut, his songwriting and production team, the Smeezingtons, contributed heavily to ‘Jukebox’.

“This is me going into the studio and recording and writing whatever I want,” Mars says confidently. “This album represents my freedom.”
“I’ve had big record label presidents look me in the face and say, ‘Your music sucks, you don’t know who you are, your music is all over the place, and we don’t know how to market this stuff. Pick a lane and come back to us,’” he says. “That was disgusting to me, because I’m not trying to be a circus act.”
“I listen to a lot of music,” he says, “and I want to have the freedom and luxury to walk into a studio and say, ‘Today I want to do a hip-hop, R&B, soul or rock record.’”