By Isaak Hewitt
Just nine days into the year, pop superstar Bruno Mars confidently dropped a song that will likely end up being amongst 2026’s best with ‘I Just Might’. Groovy, cheeky, and loads of fun, the single captured everything that makes Mars’ previous output so iconic.
Perhaps it didn’t light the world on fire in the way that 2010s hits ‘Uptown Funk’ (with Mark Ronson) or ‘Just The Way You Are’ did, but that’s not for a lack of quality at all.
Mars again proved his status as one of the best in the business and set titanic expectations for his newest album, The Romantic. The question is: did he meet those expectations? Is this album pure 24-karat magic to listen to, or have we been locked out of the heaven that his usual work puts us in? Thankfully, it’s the former.
Clocking in at 31-minutes and comprising nine tracks, including the second single ‘Risk It All’, The Romantic is filled-to-the-brim with the sensational singer-songwriter’s typical charisma and personality, with catchy choruses and cheesy-yet-ridiculously-charming lyrics.
Some of it is familiar, some of it is entirely new, and all of it is brilliant. Despite releasing the album at the end of winter, Mars clearly never lost the cheery summer vibes and is determined to share them with everyone else three months early; on that, he succeeds with flying colours.
The ‘Grenade’ singer maintains his biggest strength on this record—that his beautiful vocals and rich instrumentation work in perfect harmony to create soundscapes that are nothing short of a joy to listen to.
From the invigorating guitar solo on the penultimate track ‘Nothing Left’ to the gentle, romantic backdrop of opener ‘Risk It All’, Mars ensures that his already strong vocals are consistently complimented to create a final product that truly achieves greatness.
Certainly, some tracks are weaker than others— ’God Was Showing Off’ feels less adventurous and is less memorable as a result—but the highs are spectacularly high.
Alongside ‘I Just Might’, album track ‘On My Soul’ is undoubtedly one of the best songs of Mars’ career. It’s superbly exciting and utterly infectious, and one you’ll be itching to replay again and again.
In many ways, The Romantic feels like an evolution of Mars’ 70s-inspired soul-pop 2021 collaboration album with Anderson .Paak, An Evening with Silk Sonic, which is surely still amongst the best albums of the decade.
For example, ‘Why You Wanna Fight?’ invokes the silky-smooth sounds of ‘Leave the Door Open’, and standout track ‘Cha Cha Cha’ resembles the iconic song ‘Skate’.
However, whilst you can do far worse than emulate such a phenomenal album, comparison ends up being the thief of joy here.
The greatest flaw of The Romantic is that it doesn’t quite reach those towering heights. Particularly considering that this album marks Mars’ return to solo work after Silk Sonic and his 2024 Lady Gaga collaboration ‘Die With A Smile’, it’s unfair to expect anything as good as ‘After Last Night’ or ‘Smokin Out The Window’. Most artists would kill to make anything that good, after all.
Still, it’s impossible not to be reminded of that seminal album and its best hits, and unfortunately, for as excellent as The Romantic is, it does feel like it ends up chasing highs that it never quite reaches.
Don’t let that stop you from giving this album a listen, though. That The Romantic isn’t Bruno Mars’ best album is less indicative of this one’s quality than his absurdly impressive artistic consistency.
If you’re looking for something new to listen to, you’d struggle to find better than this.