Unorthodox Jukebox is the second studio album by the American singer and songwriter Bruno Mars. It was released on December 7, 2012, by Atlantic Records and was made available to listen to in its entirety for a week before its release. It serves as the follow-up to Mars's debut record Doo-Wops & Hooligans (2010). Mars's writing and production team, the Smeezingtons, composed the whole record and worked with several past collaborators, Jeff Bhasker and Supa Dups, while enlisting new producers, such as Mark Ronson and Emile Haynie.
The album was initially planned to be more "energetic" than his previous work, but ended up presenting a wide range of styles such as R&B, pop, reggae, rock, disco, funk and soul music. Lyrically, Unorthodox Jukebox revolves around the theme of relationships, incorporating more explicit lyrics and subjects than his previous material. Critical response to Unorthodox Jukebox was generally favorable; many reviewers compared Mars's work to that of his previous album, while others deemed its lyrics shallow.
It debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, with first week sales of 192,000 copies, and later topped the chart. The record also reached number one in Australia, Canada, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The album was certified six-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), eight times platinum by both the Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ) and Music Canada (MC), and diamond by Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique (SNEP). Unorthodox Jukebox was the fourth best-selling album in 2013 and it has since sold six million units globally as of 2016. In 2014, Unorthodox Jukebox won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 56th Grammy Awards and International Album of the Year at the Juno Awards.
Unorthodox Jukebox was supported by five singles, including two US Billboard Hot 100 number ones "Locked Out of Heaven" and "When I Was Your Man", which also experienced commercial acclaim in various countries, with the former also topping the Canadian Hot 100. Subsequently, three other singles ("Treasure", "Gorilla", and "Young Girls") were made available for consumption in 2013, with each one of them having major to moderate success in the United States. The album was further promoted through The Moonshine Jungle Tour (2013–2014), along with various television appearances.
Background Conception After ending The Doo-Wops & Hooligans Tour, Bruno Mars implied that he was going to take some time creating and perfecting his second full-length album. He additionally confessed that, "It's going to come when it comes" since his production team, the Smeezingtons, felt that they rushed his debut album because of the release's deadline. "We just want it to be perfect", the singer added. Due to the numerous television shows and worldwide performances provided by Mars, he acknowledged that his second studio album needed to display his "raucously" dynamic appearances on stage.
Mars revealed to Billboard in September 2012 on a preview of his cover story that he recorded an album that represented his freedom. On his debut record, Doo-Wops & Hooligans, the singer reportedly had to change some things because of pressure from his label, something he was displeased with. He clarified that Unorthodox Jukebox was more of him and what he stands for, mainly because he didn't have to modify things. He elaborated, "If I'm changing things around because people might think it's a hard pill to swallow then I'm going to feel like a circus clown onstage, selling something fake". The variety of music styles presented on Unorthodox Jukebox resulted in his rejection from his label several times in the past; he also confessed that he had to face criticism by label presidents, who—according to him—expressed, "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". To these statements, the singer added that he felt "disgusted" as he wanted to have the liberty to create his own music and not the music he was told to do.
Mars said that by the time he started to develop his songwriting skills, he learned his "most valuable lesson", "Does it make you move? Make you dance? Whether the song is uptempo or a ballad", adding that "there has to be a heartbeat in back of it. There needs to be a pulse in the song". To American Songwriter, Philip Lawrence recalled sleepless nights during the record's process, as the team was trying to prove that the debut album "wasn't a fluke", which according to Lawrence is "the absolute wrong mind-set to be". He went on expressing that the first four or five months they worked on the record were fruitless, because "nothing would stick". When they decided to leave the studio and have a few drinks, they came to conclusion to relax and not put themselves under so much pressure; it resulted in "the ideas [starting] coming out again."
Recording
Recording took place at Larrabee Sound Studios in Los Angeles, Levcon Studios in Hollywood, Daptone Studios in Brooklyn, and Avatar Studios in New York City. Having worked with record producer and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Bhasker on Doo-Wops & Hooligans, Mars enlisted him and Mark Ronson as he wanted the record to incorporate live instrumentation, but to still be suitable for clubs; Bhasker particularly admitted that it sounded great on the radio. American disc jockey Diplo was able to further push the album from the "safety net" with something for the [strip] club on "Money Makes Her Smile"; Mars claimed that the DJ could make the club go "wild" due to the sounds on his computer.
The development of Unorthodox Jukebox started when Mars wanted to create something unforeseen with the follow-up of his debut album. He began not only by not allowing himself to "get boxed in to any one genre" during the recording sessions for the album, but also by showing the influences of several other music styles "by having the autonomy and luxury of walking into the studio and claim [he feels] like doing a hip-hop, R&B, soul or rock record". Due to the music variety, the singer refused to "pick a lane" for Unorthodox Jukebox. As Mars had a lot of time to create the album, something that didn't happen during his debut, he reportedly had the possibility to develop a musically outstanding product that displayed his music taste and completely revealed his artistry. Because he had been a composer of pop and radio-friendly songs for a long time, it ultimately influenced the style of his debut; however, he didn't have the chance to craft the "sounds and sonics" he wanted to. As a result, Mars hoped to "let loose" and discuss darker, more risqué subject matter, while drawing on the "danger" embraced by pop artists such as Michael Jackson and Prince.
To explore and create a new sound, Mars enlisted the help of Mark Ronson, Jeff Bhasker and Paul Epworth. The singer described this encounter as inviting "master chefs into the kitchen with no master plan" or any kind of outcome, "either a complete disaster or something outstanding". Previously, Benny Blanco, Emile Haynie, Diplo, Supa Dups, as well as Mars's production team the Smeezingtons, have been confirmed to have worked on the album. The first song written for Unorthodox Jukebox was "Gorilla", which "set the tone for the entire project"; Mars explained in an interview granted to MTV News that it became its mascot hence the reason it ended up as the album cover. In an interview for the Rolling Stone, Blanco confessed, "I got a really cool song with him. Me and Paul [Epworth] just got together and Bruno wrote an amazing song on top of it. It kind of all came together". He further explained that "it's like some throwback Nina Simone type shit, like 'Sinnerman'". Additionally, a "piano-laced" track was conceived for the album in its opening session.
Mars explained the meaning behind the album's title by saying that it had become a "soulful, experimental, electronic, hard-to-explain" concept. In order to record an album like that, it was—according to him—mandatory to experiment and not follow any known pattern, resulting the guests enlisted for the record to be unexpected. According to the singer, jazz artist Esperanza Spalding and Diplo were among them. Furthermore, the "pop's most innovative producers" (Bhasker, Haynie and Ronson) had to be taken "beyond their comfort zone". While being interviewed for his Billboard Artist of the Year cover story, Mars complimented Ronson and Bhasker by explaining that "it's not about what's hot on the radio or the fastest way to make a buck, these guys are fearless, doing the music they want to do". Mars additionally felt that "when there are no safe bets, that's when [he feels his] blood move."
Mars also worked with Michael Leonhart on three songs for the album, including on an unreleased version of "Locked Out of Heaven". By the end of September 2012, the singer was reportedly "fine-tuning" the mixing of a track until 5 a.m. with Manny Marroquin, mainly because of his disappointment with "It Will Rain"s final mix. Starting with mid-October, the Smeezingtons were making the final touches on the album at Levcon Studios (their studio); Ari Levine sent a few tracks over e-mail with their final mixes to Mars, who was still in Manhattan after hosting Saturday Night Live.
Composition Unorthodox Jukebox is a pop, R&B, rock, funk, soul, reggae and disco record. The album opens with "Young Girls", a midtempo pop ballad which deals with the idea of indulging in the dubious charms of young girls, even though the singer recognizes that what he is doing is wrong. The song was re-registered in ASCAP with a new writing credit by Mac Davis. "Locked Out of Heaven", a reggae rock and pop rock track that incorporates elements of new wave and funk, is the subsequent track and the lead single. Musically, it contains booming synthesizers, a four-on-the-floor chorus, while lyrically exploring themes of love. Comparisons were established between "Locked Out of Heaven" and the rock/reggae style used by English band The Police. "Gorilla" was described by Mars as being about "good old animalistic sex". The track portrays a midtempo rock and soft rock song, while lyrically expressing male chauvinist sentiments and making reference to his 2010 arrest for cocaine possession. "Treasure", the album's third single, is a disco-pop song, inspired by English duo Wham! and "Baby I'm Yours" (2010) released by French disc jockey Breakbot. The latter similarities led the song to be re-registered with new writing credits, which included Thibaut Berland and Christopher Khan. "Moonshine", the second promotional single from the record, portrays a recording with ample influences of disco, power pop and quiet storm, while being compared to the work done by French electronic duo Daft Punk. Particularly, Chris Martins of Spin wrote that the song "channels the King of Pop, Michael Jackson with a markedly more reverent aplomb.