The Romantic

the take

I'll admit it: on my first listen of Bruno Mars' first solo album in damn near a decade, I wasn't really rocking with it. It may have to do with my half-focusing on it while playing it at work, but I felt like I didn't vibe with it at first. Then I remembered how it takes me more than a few listens to fully understand the sound Bruno Mars was going for. Then it hit me. During my second listen, I finally began to appreciate the album's sound a bit more, with more understanding with each additional opportunity. I've been listening to a lot of soul oldies as of late, some of it being Latin soul from the 1960's and 1970's, so taking what I've heard so far from the older music helped me grasp Bruno's take on the sound now. As we all know, Bruno's vocals are still as sharp as ever, as he doesn't miss a beat whatsoever. The songwriting on here is a bit too generic at times via its simplicity and a slight lack of sincerity at times (in other words, somewhat surface level to me), but still comes off convincing as someone who's maturing along with their career as such. For me, the main drawback is the production on here. As a whole, it's not bad at all by any means; it's just that it kind of sounds like a basic knockoff of soul music from decades ago. It still makes for great material on here (such as "God Was Showing Off", "Cha Cha Cha", and "Risk It All"), but it eventually became a bit stale by the album's end. Still, I enjoyed this album more than my initial listen. Is this my new favorite album by Mr. Mars? Nope, far from that. But I'll die on the hill that this is slightly overhated.