At 40, Things Aren't Looking Good For Bruno Mars

At 40, Things Aren't Looking Good For Bruno Mars For almost twenty years, Bruno Mars made success look unusually easy. He could disappear for years, return with one song, and somehow find himself at the center of popular music again. His albums produced enormous hits, his live performances developed a reputation for precision, and even long gaps between releases rarely seemed to damage him. But the position Bruno occupies now is much more dangerous than it looks. After spending nearly a decade without releasing a solo studio album, he returned to an industry that had completely changed around him. Streaming had transformed the charts, younger stars had taken over radio and social media, and the audience now expected Bruno to recreate a level of success that almost nobody maintains indefinitely. Then he made the pressure even greater by taking his comeback into stadiums. The problem facing Bruno Mars is no longer whether he can become successful. It is whether he can continue being Bruno Mars when almost anything less than extraordinary will look like decline.