This week’s cover star Bruno Mars is about to spend the next five months crisscrossing the globe on his massive Moonshine Jungle Tour — and man cannot live on backstage catering and laptop DVDs alone. He needs music!

We got Mars to tell us about the songs and albums that soundtrack his life on the road, and put it all in a Spotify player after the jump so you can tour the tunes for yourself.

JAKE BUGG
“He’s kind of got an Arctic Monkeys thing, who I love, but there are also some parts that remind me of Elvis. I think his song ‘Lighting Bolt’ has a very rockabilly, ‘50s like Elvis [vibe], and I like ‘Slide.’”

 WAKA FLOCKA FLAME
“We’ll put on the most ratchet music you can think of backstage. ‘O Let’s Do It’ by Waka Flocka was kind of our anthem for the last tour — every night before the show it’d be that one, so we’ll probably do it again, just for comfort reasons. We’ll jump around, taking shots — ‘Alright, let’s go!’ and then the curtain opens on a bunch of 14 year old girls. [laughs]“

JACKSON 5
“There’s a lot of that backstage, too. My favorite? That’s, like, the hardest question. ‘I Wanna Be Where You Are’ is a good one. Or something from Michael’s Off The Wall album: ‘Burn This Disco Out,’ you know that one? I play that a lot at rehearsal, just jam that.”

SMOKEY ROBINSON
“For ballads, it has to be something special. I listen to a lot of Smokey, especially ’60s Smokey. So let’s go with ‘Being With You.’ That one makes me feel extra smooth.”

ALABAMA SHAKES
“I love them — ‘Hang Loose’ is my favorite. I’m from Hawaii and that’s a term I grew up with; it’s, like, the state motto. And I really like [frontwoman Brittany Howard's] voice and her delivery, especially on the verses.”

BOOKER T AND THE MG’s
“Earlier, I played ‘Green Onions’ three times in a row because I wanted to feel cool. I want that to be the soundtrack whenever I walk into a room. I want that to come on…and then immediately get into a fight by the pool table [laughs]“

Source: Music Mix

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US pop sensation Bruno Mars will make his Middle Eastern debut in Dubai.

The ‘Just the Way You Are’ hitmaker is set to perform at Dubai Media City on Friday April 12.

One of the biggest names in pop right now, Hawaiian-born Mars was named the world’s best-selling digital artist of 2011. Since bursting onto the charts a year earlier, the 27-year-old star has clocked three US Billboard number ones, shifting a total of 40 million singles.

As well as scoring smashes with ‘Grenade’ and ‘Locked Out of Heaven’, Mars has proved a hit with the critics, winning Best International Male Solo Artist at the UK’s BRIT Awards last year.

Tickets, starting at Dhs295, are available from www.brunomars.ae

Source: Time Out Dubai

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Alicia Keys has hailed Bruno Mars as a “great comedian” after getting to work with the US star on a song from her new album ‘Girl On Fire’.

The two artists wrote Alicia’s song ‘Tears Always Win’ last year for her latest record, and the ‘Brand New Me’ singer has praised Bruno for being both an incredible artist and a surprisingly funny man.

“Yeah definitely,” Alicia told Capital, when asked whether she is a big fan of the ‘Locked Out Of Heaven’ singer. “I believe this is like his second record and I think that he’s a really great artist and writer as well.

“He’s a very unique personality, he had me laughing the whole time,” Alicia recalled. “He’s really funny!

“I didn’t expect him to be that funny but he’s like borderline comedian,” she added. “So not only is he a great writer and a great artist but he’s also a great comedian.”

Bruno recently scored a huge number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 with his latest single ‘Locked Out Of Heaven’ .

Alicia Keys was speaking to Capital fresh from playing US President Obama’s inauguration ceremony last week.

Source: Capital FM

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Bruno Mars stays atop the ARIA Albums chart this week with his “Unorthodox Jukebox” album.

The album has played at the top of the Australian charts for a third week, and in doing so it is now the equal-second longest running No.1 album by a Male Solo Artist this decade.

There have been many Male Solo artists achieve a No.1 album this decade, but a majority of them have only stayed at the top for a single week. Jack Johnson, Drapht, Gotye, Keith Urban, John Mayer, Ed Sheeran and Guy Sebastian have all stayed at the top of the ARIA Albums chart this decade for a solitary week, with Justin Bieber having a two weeks (My Worlds) and a single week (Believe) at the top. And with Bruno Mars staying for a third week, he is now equal second for the decade, with the list below…

Wks|Albums – Artists
9 | Recovery – Eminem
9 | Christmas – Michael Buble (2011 & 2012 combined)
3 | Crazy Love – Michael Buble
3 | Unorthodox Jukebox – Bruno Mars
2 | My Worlds – Justin Bieber

“The Heist” for Macklemore & Ryan Lewis is up a place to a new peak of No.2, and Ed Sheeran rebounds two places to No.3 with his “+” album. The “Les Miserables” soundtrack is down two places to No.4, but is now certified Gold (●) in sales, with Pink’s “The Truth About Love” down a place to No.5 this week, its lowest position during its 19 weeks inside the Top 5. Of Monsters and Men climb two places to a new peak of No.6 with “My Head is an Animal”, with “Red” for Taylor Swift and “Armageddon” for Guy Sebastian both down two places each to No.8 and No.9 respectively. Back up one place to No.10 are Mumford & Sons with “Babel”, spending an eleventh week inside the Top 10.

US rapper Rakim Mayers is better known by his moniker A$AP Rocky, and he enters at No.7 with his debut album “Long Live A$AP”. The album debuted this past week at No.1 in the USA, Canada and the UK R n’ B Album Chart, and features guest artists such as Drake, Santigold, Kendrick Lamar, 2 Chainz and Florence Welch.

NEW PEAKS & MOVERS: The Lumineers self-titled album is up one place to a new peak of No.14, and Emeli Sande’s album “Our Version of Events” (former peak No.32 Feb 2012) returns to the Top 100 at No.17, helped by her current Top 10 duet with Labrinth, “Beneath Your Beautiful” (TW-8), plus she appeared on The Graham Norton show last week performing her new upcoming single “Clown”.
Big Day Out headliners Red Hot Chili Peppers leap up twenty-four places to No.19 with their “Greatest Hits” collection, with their most recent studio album “I’m With You” up six places to No.77. Alt-J are up twelve places to a new peak of No.22 with their album “An Awesome Wave”, whilst Tame Impala climb up six places to No.33 with “Lonerism” now certified Gold (●) in sales.

“The Best of – All for You” from Cold Chisel is up nine places to No.36, and the self-titled album for The Rubens is back up ten places to No.39, whilst Gary Clark Jr. leaps fifty-nine places to No.40 with his “Blak and Blu” (HP-34) album. And with his stint on American Idol now on local TV, Keith Urban is back up eleven places to No.42 with “The Story So Far” (HP-1×1).

DOWN DOWN: Leaving the Top 10 albums this week are the “Pitch Perfect” (HP-9) Soundtrack, down three places to No.12 after two weeks inside the top ten, and leaving for the first time is the One Direction album “Take Me Home” (HP-1×2), also down three places to No.13 having spent ten weeks inside the Top 10.

The Rolling Stones’ “GRRR!” (HP-7) drops seven places to No.16, but down ten spots to No.28 is Flo Rida with “Wild Ones” (HP-5). Samantha Jade’s self-titled (HP-3) album drops seven places to No.34, but down twelve spots to No.37 are Fun with “Some Nights” (HP-2). After leaping back up last week thanks to their tour, The Killers album “Battle Born” drops back twenty-seven places to No.48, The Seekers again drop ten places, this week to No.50 with “The Golden Jubilee” and Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” set falls sixteen places to No.53.

The big new entries from last week all tumble this week, with the Dropkick Murphys “Signed & Sealed in Blood” down from No.23 to No.63, but the highest entry from last week “Wretched & Divine” for Black Veil Brides is down fifty-two places (17 to 69), with the Sunny Cowgirls’ “What We Do” dropping out of the Top 100 from No.42 and the “Girls” Soundtrack leaving from No.60 after one week each.

The Wolfe Brothers were the 2012 Australia’s Got Talent runner-ups, and they enter at No.18 with their debut album “It’s On”. The two brothers Nick and Tom Wolfe are from Neika in Tasmania, and along with their two band-mates have been playing at the Tamworth Music Festival this past week.

Whilst another act who has been playing Tamworth are husband and wife duo O’Shea, who see their second album “One + One” enter at No.24 this week. The former Dalby, QLD couple are now based in Nashville, Tennessee, and this second album becomes their highest charting album here, beating the No.39 peak of their debut album “Mr. and Mrs.”(first charted at #90 in Oct 2011, peaked in June 2012).

Lower 50: Alabama Shakes beat their May 2012 peak of No.61 for “Boys and Girls” by jumping up thirty-seven places to No.52 this week with that album. Thanks to the Tamworth Music Festival on at the moment, Lee Kernaghan is back up nineteen places to No.58 with his latest album “Beautiful Noise”. Lisa Mitchell’s “Bless This Mess” (HP-7) is up thirteen places to No.66, with returning albums from The Bee Gees at No.79 for “The Ultimate Bee Gees” (HP-7), “Mirage Rock” (HP-21) for Band of Horses back in at No.81, “Born and Raised” (HP-1) for John Mayer returning at No.91 and the “Jersey Boys” (HP-32) cast recording back in at No.95.

British Indie rock band Everything Everything debut at No.70 with their second album “Arc”. This becomes their first chart entry in Australia, with the album recently hitting No.5 in their home country. Also making their first chart entry here is 2012 American Idol winner Phillip Phillips who sees his debut album enter at No.93 entitled “The World from the Other Side of the Moon”, featuring the current No.56 single “Home”.

Source: Noise 11

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It was a strong year for music with artists old and new making music that resonated deeply. Below are my top 10 albums of the year along with another 10 that could have been contenders. To see my Top 10 singles, go here. My colleague Katie Hasty prepped a video package of her top albums as well. To view that, go here.

1. “Channel Orange,” Frank Ocean: A striking debut from an artist who seemed to arrive fully formed. It’s not just his writing or singing or musicality, it’s also the unguarded emotion that he brings to every song. He examines love in all its forms. His influences, including Stevie Wonder and Prince, are along for the ride, but he still delivered a collection that felt unique.

2. “Babel,” Mumford & Sons: Bolstered by Marcus Mumford’s furious guitar playing and Winston Chambers’ ringing banjo work, “Babel’s” tells of the search for grace and redemption are all the church you needed in 2012.

3. “Three Pears,”Dwight Yoakam: In his first album of original songs in seven years, the neo-honky tonk pioneer creates some of his most soaring, jangly melodies, referencing all of his idols, from the Beach Boys to Elvis Presley to, of course, Buck Owens. Beck produced two cuts to help get Yoakam started, but the album comes from a singular, still resonant voice and heart.

4. “Little Broken Hearts,” Norah Jones: Working with Danger Mouse brought out a previously hidden recklessness and menace to Jones’ work. Sweet melodies are juxtaposed against murderous thoughts, such as on “Miriam.” It’s a stunningly dark album that covers betrayal, debilitating hurt, shame, the desire for revenge, and, ultimately, the ability to walk away, bowed but not broken.

5. “Wrecking Ball,” Bruce Springsteen: The foremost chronicler of America once again sums up the current national zeitgeist in all its beauty and horror and gives voice to our hopes and fears.  Full of cathartic anthems, Wrecking Ball” sets it sights on the devastation and destruction wrought on the middle class and increasingly growing lower class, by Wall Street and venomously takes prisoners.

6. “Some Nights,” fun.: The trio sounds like Queen crossed with Barenaked Ladies. Each of the songs are several songs wrapped up in one, unified by Nate Ruess’s sweeping, supple vocals. From the big drums to the big melodies to the big vocals, fun. exemplified what’s best about pure pop music this year.

7. “The Carpenter,” Avett Bros.: A glorious look at life and death, with the focus on death. The North Carolina brothers run the gamut of human experiences on their seventh album, a rambunctious, largely acoustic affair,  with a joy and depth missing in so much of today’s music.

8.  “Unorthodox Jukebox,” Bruno Mars: This would have been higher on the list if it weren’t for Mars’ occasional lapses into bitterness and misogyny on such songs as “Natalie” and “Money Make Her Smile,” but those blights are overcome by the extremely well-crafted melodies and Mars’ song craft. Leave out the tunes about the golddiggers and focus on beauties like “When I Was Your Man,” “If I Knew” and “Locked Out Of Heaven.” 

9. “Looking 4 Myself,” Usher: There’s really nothing Raymond Usher can’t do, whether it’s bust out a full dance or contemplate what it means to become an adult. The reflective “Looking 4 Myself” finds Usher in a thoughtful mood about love and his life, especially on the gorgeous “Climax” (just listen to his searing falsetto). His confidence as a performer leads him to an embrace of many different music styles and adventurousness missing from some of his past work.  An underrated effort that will hopefully find a more appreciative audience as years pass.

10. “Red,” Taylor Swift: While not an album I go back to frequently, “Red” makes the list because of the abandon and artistry Swift took when creating it. Her musical evolution since her debut six years ago is nothing less than staggering and on “Red” she exhibits a fearlessness when it comes to embracing different styles.  Almost every song features drums way upfront in the mix and an aggressiveness of purpose. Sure, the singles are catchy, but album cuts such as her atmospheric duet with Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody and the Cranberries-like “State of Grace” are worth rooting out.

Source: Hit Fix

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On Friday Bruno Mars Remains On Top of Singles Chart and Makes UK History was a top story. Here is the recap: Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out Of Heaven” has topped the Billboard’s “Hot 100″ for the second consecutive week.

The single comes from Mars’ just-released sophomore album, “Unorthodox Jukebox,” which has made its SoundScan/Billboard 200 debut at No. 2 with sales in excess of 192,000 – marking the his highest first week sales debut.

“Unorthodox Jukebox” has topped British album charts, making history as the United Kingdom’s fastest selling solo album of 2012.

The album’s success follows the equivalent popularity of Mars’ 2010 debut, “Doo-Wops & Hooligans,” which proved the U.K.’s third best-selling album of 2011 and also entered the charts at No. 1.

“Locked Out Of Heaven” is currently sitting at No. 1 on the European Airplay Chart – making it the most played song on the European continent.

Source: Anti Music

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It seems that it is not only young girls that become obsessed with music stars and the songs they release. Singer Bruno Mars has many fans around the world but it appears that he has won over a more mature fan in the form of actress Eva Longoria.

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ALL ACCESS sends a big thank you out to ATLANTIC RECORDS EVP/Promotion ANDREA GANIS, TIM DALBEC, BRIAN CORONA, WARREN GESIN, DAN POSNER, TRACY KREUTZER and the entire label staff who welcomed their radio and record friends out to to meet BRUNO MARS and his SMEEZINGTONS partner/producer PHILIP LAWRENCE.

The event took place in a secret “undisclosed location” at a fancy local studio where we were treated to a private listening party with BRUNO introducing selected tracks from his new album “Unorthodox Jukebox,” scheduled for release on TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12.

Those in attendance included: CBS SVP Programming KEVIN WEATHERLY along with KAMP/LOS ANGELES APD JOHN MICHAEL and MD MICHELLE BOROS, KPWR/LOS ANGELES VP Programming JIMMY STEAL, KYSR/LOS ANGELES PD and KIIS APD/MD JULIE PILAT along with KIIS middayer SISANIE, KMVQ/SAN FRANCISCO APD/MD JAZZY JIM ARCHER, KHTS-KMYI/SAN DIEGO PD HITMAN HAZE, KEGY/SAN DIEGO PD CHRIS PATYK, KPLZ/SEATTLE MD ALISA HASHIMOTO, KRSK/PORTLAND PD BRIAN BRIDGMAN, KSXY/SANTA ROSA PD DRAY LOPEZ, KFYV-KCAQ/OXNARD-VENTURA MD JOEY BOY, ALL ACCESS’ JOEL DENVER, ED BROWN and MARK STRICKLAND.

Source: All Access

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Around here, we are big fans of Peter Gene Hernandez, the 27-year-old known to most as Bruno Mars. The pint-sized pop star wowed Saturday Night Live audiences (with help from Tom Hanks) this past weekend in his double duty as both host and musical guest. In doing so, he gave the show its best ratings since Lindsay Lohan appeared in March, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

So what’s next? A brand new album, for starters. Bruno is dropping his sophomore album Unorthodox Jukebox on December 11, 2012 – his first full musical project in two years. Bruno spent almost all of that time on what was his first worldwide tour. He even shared a cool South American Tour Diary in May 2012.

We now have the first taste of what Unorthodox Jukebox will sound like, via the first single “Locked Out of Heaven,” in which he channels the Police circa “Message In A Bottle.” Bruno also performed a stripped down version of the ballad “Young Girls” on SNL – also from the new album and available on iTunes starting Nov. 6.

His style is evolving, too – gone is the Elvis-style pompadour and in we have more natural curls, reminiscent of a teenage Michael Jackson. His penchant for hats is at an all-time high, apparently, judging by recent on-camera interviews.

But don’t expect Bruno to debut other singles on TV after SNL — he’s a much bigger fan of delivering the goods straight to his fans online. Leading up to the video premiere of “Locked Out of Heaven” on VEVO on Oct. 15, he jokingly tweeted: “Everyones telling me to wait for a big primetime premiere on TV but you know what i says to em? I says NO! My fans desoyve to see it foist!”

With an eclectic roster behind the new project that includes Mark Ronson, Diplo, and his own songwriting/production trio The Smeezingtons, it’s bound to live up to the jukebox theme.

Bruno recently told Billboard mag in a cover story that this next album purposefully doesn’t belong in any particular musical lane.”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, likely referring to the period in his life when he was signed to Motown Records, before being dropped by the label and moving on to Atlantic, his home and under which he released his debut album. “That was disgusting to me, because I’m not trying to be a circus act.”

Will he take on any acting gigs beyond SNL? No word back from his reps yet on that one, but his next big primetime TV appearance will be performing at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on Dec. 4.

Source: ABC News

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Bruno Mars‘s second studio album contains “genius pop music”, according to producer Diplo.

The DJ, who worked with the singer for his own Major Lazer record Free The Universe, insisted that Mars’s second studio album will be a massive hit.

“Bruno is the coolest guy I’ve ever hung out in a studio with,” Diplo told the Daily Star.

“He’s so funny and he doesn’t give a s**t. His next album is going to be the biggest thing on the planet. It’s genius pop music.”

Mars has been working on the follow-up to 2011′s Doo-Wops and Hooligans for most of the year and recently indicated that fans will hear new material in October.

Meanwhile, Major Lazer’s new album Free The Universe will be released on November 5 and contain collaborations with Mars, as well as Vampire Weekend and Shaggy.

Source: Digital Spy

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