As if the 4th quarter release schedule wasn’t looking juicy enough, soulful crooner Bruno Mars has announced that he’ll be joining the list of major releases slated for this Fall.
The news comes courtesy of Billboard, who exclusively revealed that the singer’s sophomore set has a confirmed title of ‘Unorthodox Jukebox’.
Full story below…
Preceded by single ‘Locked Out Of Heaven’, which arrives on October 1st, the set hits stores on December 11th via Atlantic Records.
Having shifted over a million copies of his debut ‘Doo-Wops & Hooligans’ in both the US and UK, Mars has enlisted an All-Star team to ensure his second effort enjoys similar success. Featured contributors include Mark Ronson (Amy Winehouse), Jeff Bhasker (Beyonce), Supa Dups (John Legend), and Mars’ own songwriting and production trio The Smeezingtons – who are executive producing the project which refuses to “pick a lane.”
Of the album’s diverse sound, the 26 year says:
“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. That was disgusting to me, because I’m not trying to be a circus act.
I listen to a lot of music, 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”.
While many artists tell tales of “variety” to sell albums that are simply hit-seeking versus cohesive bodies of work, Mars is one of the few who is dynamically diverse musically. A fact we’ve known long before his “Bruno Mars” run, a fact dating back to the Electro-Pop he produced for the likes of the Sugababes and co. Needless to say, we can’t wait to hear how he’ll fused alternate sounds this go round after playing it relatively “safe” on his first outing.
For now, though, check out the (unsequenced) tracklist for ‘Unorthodox Jukebox’ below…
“Locked Out of Heaven”
“Young Girls”
“Gorilla”
“When I Was Your Man”
“Natalie”
“Treasure”
“Moonshine”
“Money Makes Her Smile”
“Show Me”
“If I Knew”