From Spin: Earlier this month, at New York City’s Roseland Ballroom, we caught up with chart-topping heartthrob Bruno Mars and cult cosmonaut Janelle Monáe as they kicked off their 24-date Hooligans In Wondaland tour.

For a pair of blossoming stars in their early-20s, their two performances couldn’t have been any more different — Monáe and her band approximating a frenetic retrofuture mosh pit and Mars passionately strumming a guitar in the key of screeching girls. But both artists share a deep bond as friends and pop vanguards blurring the lines between liquid R&B, blustery rock, and vintage soul. SPIN chatted with the pair backstage and found out what they joke about, why their Grammy performance almost fell apart, and what living legend was seen sneaking around the show.

SPIN: You closed the first show of the tour. Congrats! What were you nervous about?

BRUNO MARS: Well, this was also the first show where we had production values. With lights and everything. We just wanted to make sure the cues were on.

JANELLE MONÁE: I don’t really get nervous once I’m on the stage. I knew Mick Jagger was here… I met him at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Gala. [Vogue editor] Anna Wintour introduced me to him. I told him I was performing and he said, “I wanna come. Gimme four tickets. I love you.” That was cool.

SPIN: When was the last time you two really hung out? As friends?

MARS: We hung out all day today, actually! We’re always picking at each other. She’s always commentating on me. She said, “Bruno, man, ever since I started tweeting about you, all your fans have been coming at me saying, “You’re so lucky to hang out with Bruno.”

MONÁE: He laughs, I love laughing; he jokes, I love teasing. He’s like a little brother. Everyone wants us to see us date. It’s so funny.

SPIN: Who wants to see you two date?

MONÁE: Name it.

What do you two bond over besides music?

MARS: I love wearing her dresses every now and then [laughs].

- Read entire interview right now @ Spin.com