24K Magic (song)

In September 2014, Bruno Mars tweeted "Now it's time to start writing chapter 3", hinting he was working on new music. Following the release of the successful Mark Ronson and Mars's single "Uptown Funk" (2014), the latter headed to the studio to record more songs. Mars said he had no plans to release a new album "[u]ntil it's done". It was due in March, but his appearance at the Super Bowl halftime show postponed it for several months. At the time, seven songs were already recorded. On October 3, 2016, Mars revealed the song title and release date through his Instagram account after he uploaded nine photos. They showed the singer looking down wearing a white hat with "XXIV k" inscribed on it. Mars wrote, "You can call it my first single, but I call it the invitation to the party". The Stereotypes had known Mars and worked with him since 2007, however, after the singer signed a deal with Atlantic Records they did not collaborate very often. Nevertheless, in 2015 Jonathan Yip talked with Mars about working together. Since the singer was already recording 24K Magic, Mars asked for "some beats" and Yip sent them. Later, he asked for more beats and the Stereotypes sent them, but they never heard from him, "nothing came of it". In June 2016, Yip touched base with Mars. He asked Yip if they would like to help him finish a song for his album, to add a little "seasoning". He needed another song with a certain tempo and key. Yip sent Mars an idea that caught his attention, and he asked the Stereotypes to come to the studio. Once in the studio, it took them some time to "get the groove" on the track. They spent the first couple of hours catching up and having fun. When they began working, Ray Charles McCullough II was "getting scared". He felt this was a "make-or-break moment"—they needed to help Mars with the song. In an interview with NME, Mars said he wrote "24K Magic" when "Uptown Funk" (2014) was "number one", so the songs share the same "spirit". In another interview with Zane Lowe for Beats 1, Mars explained that the album was going to be a movie and the lead single was its opening. He wanted the song "to get the party started". To achieve that it needed to sound genuine and that he was having a good time, so he used his emotions and feelings to guide him. He also admitted that "24K Magic' was influenced by West Coast hip hop artists like "Dr. Dre, DJ Quik, Suga Free ... [they represented] a time when it was okay to party, to be flashy, to get on the dance floor". In November 2017, Mars was a guest on the Charlie Rose Show sharing that the song was the vision he had intended for this album "I saw us having fun on stage. I saw us draped in silk and gold and me and my friends going up on stage and having the best time. It was important that we had the content to do so". ==Production and release==

Mars, Philip Lawrence and Christopher Brody Brown wrote "24K Magic". They handled the production under the name Shampoo Press & Curl with additional production by the Stereotypes. Mars, Lawrence, Brown and James Fauntleroy provided the background vocals. Dave Foreman played the guitar, while Byron "Mr. Talkbox" Chambers and Mars provided the vocals on the talk box. Charles Moniz, with engineering assistant Jacob Dennis, engineered and recorded the song at Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank. Serban Ghenea mixed "24K Magic" at MixStar Studios in Virginia Beach, with John Hanes serving as the mix engineer. It was mastered by Tom Coyne at Sterling Sound, NYC. Atlantic Records released the single on the same day for digital download and streaming. The album was made available for pre-order worldwide via Mars's official site, with the song as an instant download. Warner Music Group also issued the track for radio airplay in Italy on the same date. Subsequently, the song was released to US contemporary hit radio stations on October 11, 2016. On May 26, 2017, Atlantic Records made a remix version by Dutch DJ R3hab available for digital download and streaming. ==Composition==

"24K Magic" is a funk, disco, and R&B song, heavily influenced by hip hop. It is composed in the key of F minor at a tempo of 94 beats per minute. The song begins with a talk box intro, performed by Byron "Mr. Talk Box" Chambers and Mars. Eventually, they concluded that it was a talk box, developed by Roger Troutman and Zapp, which heavily influenced the single. Forbes and Entertainment Weeklys music critics noticed the resemblance between the "robotic-sound" intro on "24K Magic" and Tupac Shakur's "California Love" (1995). It also features bass lines similar to The Gap Band's style. Its structure borrows from "Uptown Funk" as Mars raps while singing the track with a "call and response" composition. Critics found the sound to be closer to that of the 1980s electronica, hip hop and R&B, than the 1970s style of "Uptown Funk". The track reaches its "ebullient" and "infectious" chorus where Mars sings, "Put your pinky rings up to the moon, What y'all tryna do? 24K magic in the air". Many reviewers felt "24K Magic" condensed a playlist's worth 80's electro-R&B into one song, with a modern twist on its lyrics. ==Critical reception==

"24K Magic" has received generally positive reviews from music critics. Entertainment Weekly Eric Renner Brown gave "24K Magic" an "A" note. He praised the lead single, saying it is on the same level as Mars's earlier, "Just the Way You Are" (2010) and "Locked Out of Heaven" (2012), and maybe even better due to its "detail and finesse". According to Brown, these qualities along with "world-class vocals", allow "24K Magic" to "levitate". He felt Tupac Shakur's "California Love" (1995) and Michael Jackson's Off the Wall (1979) influenced it. Jay Willis of GQ called the song "delightful"— the second part of "Uptown Funk". Willis praised Mars for using the same formula as the earlier single and described the intro as "reminiscent of mid-1990s K-Ci & Jojo". Carl Williott of Idolator rated the song a nine out of ten, comparing it to "Pure Funk compilations, West Coast G-funk and to Midnight Star". Williott said the track did not bring anything new, but it came at a time when there were not enough party songs. In the same review, Mike Wass awarded the song 8 out of 10 feeling that it is a mash-up of the 70's, 80's and 90's R&B into "a nuclear-power party anthem" to be played in discos over the next years. Time Tekendra Parmar called the title track "delicious". Patrick Bowen, reviewing the album for Idolator, said "24K Magic" has the best chorus Mars ever wrote, being superior to "Uptown Funk" in every detail. On the list of the 101 best songs of 2016 compiled by Spin, the publication ranked the song at number 61 and Winston Cook-Wilson said that Mars emulated the style he listened to while growing up and was nothing but impressive. On the Billboard 100 Best Pop Songs of 2016: Critics' Picks list, the single was placed at number 64. Taylor Weatherby wrote that Mars was able to "create another bonafide hip-shaker" like "Uptown Funk" thanks to "24K Magic"s "infectious beat and James Brown-worthy vocal exhortations". The Village Voices annual year-end Pazz & Jop critics' poll selected it as the 48th best song of 2016, tied with Childish Gambino's "Redbone" and Beyoncé's "All Night". In 2017, "24K Magic" received a nomination for International Hit of the Year at the 2017 Danish GAFFA Awards. It was nominated by the 48th NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Song, Contemporary. In the same year, "24K Magic" won Top 40 Single of the Year at the New Music Awards. In the same year, at the 30th Annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards the track received a nomination for Favorite Song, and a nomination for International Hit of the Year at the MTV Millennial Awards. At the 2017 Radio Disney Music Awards, the single won the award for Best Song That Makes You Smile. "24K Magic" received the accolade for Top 10 Gold International Gold Songs at the RTHK International Pop Poll. In the same year, it was nominated for Best R&B Song at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards. The song was nominated for Choice Music: Pop Song at the 2017 Teen Choice Awards, but lost. In 2018, "24K Magic" won Record of The Year at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony. That same year, it lost the award for International Work of the Year at the APRA Music Awards. The song won an award for excellence in Record Production/Single or Track at the 2018 TEC Awards. Mediabase, in their year-end list of 2017, had "24K Magic" as the third most played song at Urban AC stations. In 2017 and 2018, the track was one of the winners of Most Performed Songs at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards. In 2018, at the Rhythm & Soul Music Awards it was one of the winners of R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. ==Commercial performance==

In the United States, "24K Magic" debuted at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 with 101.000 downloads, 12.8 million streams and 65 million radio impressions in its first full tracking week. At the time, it was Mars's highest debut on the Hot 100 chart. On the week of December 10, 2016, the single reached its peak of number four on the Billboard Hot 100. "24K Magic" debuted at number one on France's Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP) chart for the week ending October 15, 2016. The song reached the top five of the Spanish Top 100 and later received a double platinum certification by Productores de Música de España (PROMUSICAE), and peaked at number six in the Dutch Top 40. In Switzerland, it entered the top ten by peaking at number nine on the Singles Top 75 and received a gold certification by IFPI Switzerland. In Italy, the song was certified two times platinum, despite only peaking at number 16 on the FIMI Singles Chart. The track peaked at number two on the South Korea International Chart, number three and four on the Lebanese Top 20 and Brasil Hot 100 Airplay. It also peaked at number two on the Hungarian Rádiós Top 40 and at number nine on the Philippine Hot 100. ==Music videos==

Development and synopsis The song's official music video was filmed in Las Vegas, Nevada. Some of the filming locations included the Fountains of the Bellagio hotel and the Fremont Hotel and Casino. Mars and his frequent collaborator Cameron Duddy directed the video released on October 7, 2016. Then, Mars is seen wearing Versace, designer minks and a baseball cap with XXIV written on it as he starts to put on his golden jewelry that consists of rings, necklaces chain, and sunglasses. His band, The Hooligans, feature in the music video wear lightweight tracksuits. It has been described as the fusion of a "homemade music video and a Victoria's Secret ad". Reception Raquel Rose Burger of Billboard noticed the 1990s hip-hop trends included in the music video, including the likes of tracksuits, gold chains and snapbacks, among others. At the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards, it received nominations for Video of the Year, Best Direction and Best Art Direction. That same year, the video received a nomination for Outstanding Music Video at the 48th NAACP Image Awards. At the 2017 Soul Train Music Awards, the music video won Mars Best Dance Performance and Video of the Year. As of August 2025, the video has received over 1.7 billion views on YouTube. ==Live performances==

Mars first performed the song live on Saturday Night Live on October 15, 2016. His performance was well received by critics. Daniel Kreps of Rolling Stone magazine praised the "electric performance" describing it as a "fluid, full-scale spectacle as the camera followed Mars and his singers down a hallway and into the audience" throwing an "epic dance party". Christina Lee of Idolator praised the performance, writing that it was a party with a "California Love" vibe for the "Nae Nae generation". She added that Mars and his band came from backstage, "West Side Story-style, to join a crowd that was already dancing". He also performed "24K Magic" live on The X Factor UK, on October 30, 2016. The Daily Expresss Becca Longmire found the performance "epic". It caused some controversy as he and his band were accused of "miming". The singer was "insulted" by the accusations and denied them. The singer performed "24K Magic" on November 6, 2016, at the MTV Europe Music Awards. Adelle Platon of Billboard praised his show, saying it was "an illuminated performance" thanks to the pyro used. He was also complemented on his "disco moves ... synched with lights on the stage floor". Later that month, he performed the single on the Norwegian television talk show Skavlan and on the following day at the 2016 NRJ Music Awards. Mars also performed the single at the 2016 American Music Awards on November 20. His band joined him on the stage, which featured an electric blue background and pyro. The performance included a break dance. On November 30, the singer performed it on the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2016, aired on CBS. His performance was part of the "Bright Night Angel" segment. During The Late Late Show with James Corden on December 13, 2016, Mars included "24K Magic" on the popular segment Carpool Karaoke. Mars also performed the single on top of the Apollo Theater marquee alongside the majority of the 24K Magic album for his CBS prime time special titled Bruno Mars: 24K Magic Live at the Apollo, which aired on November 29, 2017. The track was the second song on the set list of his third tour—24K Magic World Tour (2017–18) and also as the second song on his concerts of Bruno Mars Live (2022-24). ==Use in other media==

In 2017, Conor Maynard and Alex Aiono covered "24K Magic" in a sing-off. Kendrick Lamar's single "Loyalty", featuring Rihanna, on his album Damn (2017), sampled the song's intro reversed. In early 2017, Heidi Klum used the track in the trailer announcement for the next season of ''Germany's Next Top Model, where she is one of the judges. "24K Magic" ended up being used on the 12th cycle of Germany's Next Topmodel''. Hershey featured the song in a 2018 commercial for its Hershey's Gold chocolate bar. The track is featured in the video game Just Dance 2018 and on the film Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation. ==Formats and track listings==

Credits adapted from the liner notes of 24K Magic. • Bruno Mars – lead vocals, songwriting, background vocals, talkbox • Philip Lawrence – songwriting, background vocals • Christopher Brody Brown – songwriting, background vocals • Shampoo Press & Curl – production • The Stereotypes – additional production • James Fauntleroy – background vocals • Byron "Mr. Talkbox" Chambers – talkbox • Dave Foreman – guitar • Charles Moniz – recording, engineering • Jacob Dennis – engineering assistance • Serban Ghenea – mixing • John Hanes – mix engineering • Tom Coyne – mastering ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==