If giving the people what they want is a crime, you’re going to have to throw Bruno Mars in populism jail. Music is full of romantics, but only Bruno is so on-the-nose about his heart-on-sleeve intentions — and his ace showman’s ability to pull them off — that he’d actually call his record The Romantic. His new LP is his first new music since 2021’s An Evening With Silk Sonic, the throwback R&B duo with Anderson .Paak, and it’s his first as a solo act since 2016’s massive 24K Magic. A lot has happened in the decade since that album gifted us with hits like “That’s What I Like” and “Versace on the Floor,” and on The Romantic, Bruno is here to argue that his precision-tuned retro-pop vision is timeless and endearing in any moment.

- Rolling Stone