Can Bruno Mars counterprogram his way to another hit album?
Mar 3, 2026
They dissect Bruno Mars's new album and its turn toward Latin styles like bolero, cha cha, boogaloo and mariachi. They trace conga lines, Philly soul touches, and 70s rock and Hendrix flavors across the tracks. They argue he mines underused retro styles to counterprogram modern pop. Short song references and rhythmic breakdowns pepper the conversation.
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Timing Latin Sounds With A Cultural Moment
The album times a Latin-leaning shift to broader culture: Bruno leans into his Latin heritage amid a surge in Latin pop visibility after Bad Bunny's Super Bowl and album dominance.
Nate ties this to Gaga's salsa moment and argues it's an opportune cultural moment to release Latin-inflected music.
insights INSIGHT
Mariachi Bolero Framing And My Way Echoes
Risk It All opens with mariachi/bolero cues and formal structures typical of bolero: long unfolding phrases that delay the title payoff until the end.
Charlie and Nate compare its harmony and phrasing to Sinatra's My Way, revealing an A-A structure and melodic descent that echo classic pop standards.
insights INSIGHT
Cha Cha Cha As A Cross-Genre Mashup
Cha Cha Cha fuses Cuban cha-cha rhythm with Philly soul strings and interpolations from Pete Rodriguez's I Like It Like That and Juvenile's Slow Motion lineage.
Nate highlights the hybrid: light percussion + big string arrangements plus hip-hop/pop interpolations familiar from later hits.
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Bruno Mars is back with a new album called The Romantic, his first solo release since 2016’s 24k Magic. At first listen, the lead single, “I Just Might,” sounds like an outtake from 2021’s collaborative album with Anderson Paak, the Philly soul-inspired An Evening with Silk Sonic. Listen closer though and another element emerges: a fast-paced congadrum line.
The rest of Mars’s nine-track confection chases that Latin influence. This is not just another retread of 70s funk and soul. In fact, The Romantic makes the case that Mars is pop’s great counter-programmer, finding styles of the past that no one else has yet mined.
Charlie and Nate break down all the new territory covered by Mars, from Latin boleros to Cuban cha chas, Nuyorican boogaloo to a mariachi “My Way.” The results may not change your mind about Mars, but they might make you appreciate the finer points of what is sure to be an omnipresent new release.
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