As modern classics go, 2016's 24K Magic, the title track of Bruno Mars' third studio album, is a solid entry in the canon, made all the more surprising by its heavy cribbing from funk and classic 80s musical stylings.
The song is a sum of parts, the result of the efforts of songwriters and producers Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine and production quartet The Stereotypes, as well as Mr. Mars himself, of course.
Written during the flush of success following the release of 2014’s monster-hit Uptown Funk, Mars was honest about the commercial drives which lay behind the making of this track when interviewed by NME. "We wrote 24K Magic when Uptown Funk was No 1. So if you hear the same spirit in that song, that's why. I'd say that it was always in the back of my mind when we were doing it. It was to get me to this record. It's a bridge."
Article continues below
Production team The Stereotypes recalled that, for the initial sessions for 24K Magic, Mars clearly spelled out the feeling he was trying to capture. “He was like, 'Guys, I want to dance,’” The Stereotypes’ Jonathan Yip told Billboard. “[He said] ‘I want it to feel like when I was back in school at a school dance. You know, in the club these days, people aren’t dancing anymore. They’re in their VIP booths with bottles, and they’re standing against the wall, or just looking at the DJ. What about times when we would be with and with a girl, or a guy and a guy, or a girl or whatever, and they’re dancing together? And not just sitting back just drinking. I want that feeling back.' It immediately excited us because we were like, 'Yeah, I remember those times - those times were awesome.'"
24k Magic is a relatively simple song in arrangement-terms, allowing the groove to shine through. As Bruno wanted, the music wills the listener to dance.
To our ears, the rhythm track feels multi-layered, with live and electronic elements implying a total 80s-reverence.
There is a heavy presence from a LinnDrum (or at least samples that bear a significant resemblance). We’ll return to the intro later, in favour of the first main section that we hear - the chorus.
The snare plays a 2 and 4 backbeat (at a tempo of around 107BPM) while the kick emphasises beats 1 and 3, crucially with a ‘skippy’ element that intersects with the bass line.
It’s as punchy as it gets, but there is a classic little musical feature which draws upon the funk influence. At the beginning of each two-bar groove, the first beat employs a kick and elongated open hi-hat for the entire beat.
This has the effect of making us wait for beat 2, before the smack of the snare and the hi-hat closing and continuing its subdivision.
There is some very extensive use of claps too, and even additional drum elements, laid a little further back in the mix, with obligatory drum fills and even the use of some interesting percussion.
The Flexatone is a vaguely comedic instrument, that in this setting is used a little like a cymbal crash. It's identifiable as a metallic rising sound on the first beat of certain sections of the song.
The main constituent components providing the backbone for the song’s harmony are a monophonic synth bass coupled with a huge synth brass patch.
In tune with the producer’s wishes, there is a certain simplicity to the harmonic makeup, but one that is incredibly impactful, thanks to the attack of the synth brass. Being heavily influenced by jazz funk, the harmonies include many chord extensions, which are often repeated or subtly altered.
The first two chords of the chorus are Fm11 and Bbm7(9), which could also be described as Cm7/F and Bbm9, depending on whether you’re a guitarist or keyboard player.
These chords are then repeated, with a chord-per-bar for 6 bars, but at the tail end of the 6th bar, there’s an interesting turnaround; on beats 3 and 4, we hear chords of Dbmaj7 and C7+ or C7alt, which this is where the 5th of the chord is raised by a semitone, so the note G becomes G#.
This raise is a very popular tactic for creating tension, and one that was continually used by Stevie Wonder as a turnaround for that very reason.
A video emerged of Bruno Mars working in his studio, using a couple of classic stalwart synthesizers when making this track.
Firstly, the bassline has all the hallmarks of a Minimoog, although Bruno can be seen playing this on a Moog Voyager, which is just a more up-to-date version.
In the same video, he can be seen playing the synth brass chords on a Roland Juno 106, which also makes perfect sense, being a particularly popular vintage synth for so many artists. If you are trying to recreate this sound in software, look at using a single oscillator-per-voice, and add a healthy dose of chorus, to mimic the architecture of the 106.
Another synth element that we can hear is a short and plucky synth arpeggio, which was also probably created using the 106, with delay, to give the effect of fading out with each outing.
24K Magic is a genre-juggling, hybrid of a song, which also incorporates rap-adjacent themes, thanks to its spoken lyrical content. These lyrics bestow the virtues of opulence and partying.
The high life is not everyone’s cup of tea, but it certainly struck a chord with billions of listeners who lapped up the lavish ideals. It’s also a song about impressing the opposite sex. Again, Mars was highly conscious of this when putting together the song.
“For me, 95 per cent of music is about love. That’s why cavemen were hitting stones to get everybody around the fire and get them feeling sexy,” Mars told NME. “It’s exactly the same principle, the same thing: just get people on the dancefloor, get the girls smiling.”
One highly recognisable element was created using a device called a talkbox, something which is easily confused with a vocoder, which is a different technology.
Not for the faint hearted, talkbox performance requires a degree of knowledge and preparation, as well as a fairly considerable dose of musicality.
To create the talkbox sound, you need a synthesizer to create a tone, a talkbox/pedal (which is in essence a speaker with a plastic tube attached) and a human performer!
By placing the tube to the side of the performer’s mouth, the synth sound is beamed directly in to the players mouth. Here it can be shaped and modulated by the performer, much like a filter on a synth, which includes imprinting words and lyrics on the synth sound. The performance becomes acoustic in nature, requiring the eventual capture via a microphone for either live or recorded performance.
The most notable talkbox performer of our generation had to be Roger Troutman, formerly of the band Zapp.
He made numerous, notable appearances alongside artists such as 2Pac, Dr. Dre and even Scritti Politti. The technology behind his own identifiable sound (or talkbox-of-tricks) was a closely guarded secret during his lifetime, but after his death in 1999, his trademark setup was revealed
His synthesizer of choice was initially a Minimoog, but he migrated to the now vintage Yamaha FM synth, called the DX100. Supplied only with miniature keys, the harsh digital tone of the synth was perfect for the talkbox, so much so, it remains the absolute instrument of choice in talkbox circles.
Byron Chambers (aka Mr Talkbox) is the artist behind the 24K introduction, as well as the various lead and backing harmonies that can be heard throughout. According to Chambers, he has a wardrobe full of DX100 synths (essentially backup instruments) which he used alongside a MXR M222 talkbox pedal.
The coupling of an exceptionally lush talkbox texture with very rich harmony and free-flowing tempo, creates the backdrop for the introduction.
The intro chords are directly associated to the chorus, but taking us on more of a harmonic journey. We start with a chord of Fm9, passing through Abmaj7/C, Dbmaj7, and Gm7b5, before we finally land on the dominant chord of C7#9.
All of this, with the improvised obbligato talkbox line over the top, before we hear a drum break that takes us into the first chorus.
Even as we hear the refrain ’24 Carat’ in a bridge-form toward the end of the song, there are further simple-but-effective devices at play.
A halftime feel plays across the main beats of the bar, displacing the listener’s expectation of where beat one resides. It’s juxtaposed by numerous interruptions from bass glides and flexatones again, all the time playing on the same harmonic devices and similar chords.
There is no doubt that if you look at the constituent components of this song, in terms of harmony and groove, the core elements could be regarded as relatively simplistic. Herein lies the genius, because the hooks are so strong. It’s this simplicity that lets the groove shine through.
“[Bruno] is the first one at the studio, last one to leave,” said the Stereotypes’ Ray Romulus in an interview with Billboard. “Ultimately all of those decisions were up to him - when it was ready to be released and everything like that. He put in countless hours of work even when we were gone just to make sure it was at the standard he wanted it to be”
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.