When I Was Your Man

While working on the album, Bruno Mars said: "I'm never singing another ballad again," but that came from the gut – it's the most honest, real thing I've ever sung". "When there are no safe bets, that's when I feel my blood move." He also shared how important the lyrics to this song are for him when he posted a photograph of Unorthodox Jukeboxs artwork via his Twitter account. "Soon you guys will hear a song I wrote called When I Was Your Man. I've never been this nervous. Can't explain it". Philip Lawrence explained the inspiration of the song: "I think Bruno and I are both huge fans of older music, like Billy Joel and Elton John. We always loved those moments where you can sit at the piano and emote. Those intimate moments when an artist is so naked and vulnerable; you can't help but be drawn to it. We always wanted to find a stripped down song like that, which is how that song came to be. The subject matter was real life; Bruno had experienced that, so we tried to say it in the best and catchiest way we could." "When I Was Your Man" was written by Mars, Lawrence, Ari Levine and Andrew Wyatt, while production was handled by the former three production-team, the Smeezingtons. Mars played the piano, while the recording was done by Levine at Levcon Studios in Los Angeles, California. Charles Moniz was responsible for providing additional engineering to the recording. It was mixed at Larrabee Sound Studios in Hollywood by Manny Marroquin. It was mastered by David Kutch at The Mastering Place. ==Composition and lyrics==

"When I Was Your Man" is written in the key of C major. Mars's vocals range from the low note of G3 to the high note of C5 with chord progressions Am–C–Dm–G–G7–C (verse) and F–G–C (chorus). The pop piano ballad finds Mars singing about a pre-fame heartbreak as he regrets letting his woman get away. It starts with a rolling piano riff; unto a nearly scat "vocal cadence": "Same bed but it feels just a little bit bigger now / Our song on the radio but it don't sound the same", as he laments the "single state" he created for himself. Next, he sings of his failings; to do right by his woman, "I shoulda bought you flowers / And held your hand / Shoulda gave you all my hours / When I had the chance". For Andrew Unterberger of Pop Dust, the song "starts out dangerously close to 'Drops of Jupiter' territory, but luckily, there are no fried chicken or soy latte lyrics to be found here." Melinda Newman of HitFix thought that the song "sounds like a cross between Stevie Wonder and Elton John," also seeing "a touch of Michael Jackson" in his delivery. Sam Lansky of Idolator agreed, writing that "while evoking Elton John, the track sounds like it was recorded live in a piano bar, with audible background noise, like the spooling of film on a projector." The lyrics find Mars regretful of not giving attention to his ex, as he "should have bought her" flowers and treated her better, as he reflects on their past relationship wishing for her new man to treat her better. ==Release==

"When I Was Your Man" was released as the third and final promotional single taken from Unorthodox Jukebox, on December 3, 2012. Later, it was reported by Mars that "Young Girls" was scheduled to be the second single from the album. However, a week later, while performing "When I Was Your Man" on a TV show, he announced that it would be the second official single from the album. To confirm the news, Mediabase also published that the song will be soon released to radio stations. Atlantic Records serviced "When I Was Your Man" to contemporary hit radio in the United States on January 15, 2013. The single was released on the United Kingdom on February 10, 2013, via digital download. On March 8, 2013, Warner Music Group sent the song for radio airplay in Italy. It was released as a CD single in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland on April 5, 2013. ==Reception==

Critical The song has received generally positive reviews from most music critics. Sam Lanksy of Idolator gave the song a favorable review, calling it "an emotional ballad that shows off Mars' sweet vocals." Lansky also praised it, naming it "another exceptional offering from Unorthodox Jukebox, which is shaping up to be one of the year's best pop releases." Johnston praised Mars's vocals as "strong yet sweet". Jason Lipshut of Billboard wrote that "it will make for a killer lighters-in-the-air moment in concert. Although it's not quite an Alicia Keys-esque powerhouse, 'When I Was Your Man' smartly allows Mars to momentarily remove his fedora and bare his soul." The Arizona Republics Ed Masley viewed "When I Was Your Man" as one of Unorthodox Jukebox best tracks and described it as "stripped-down soul". Jim Farber of New York Daily News wrote that in the ballad, "he matches his bravura performance to a tune stirring enough to inspire aspiring stars on the 'X Factor/Idol' axis for years to come." Melinda Newman of HitFix called it a "beautiful piano ballad," writing that "There's not a lot of embellishment, there are no samples and there is not a wasted note." Andrew Chan of Slant Magazine gave a mixed review for the song, writing that "his melody and lyrics end up sounding as slight as they did before— an embarrassment for an artist who's staked so much of his image on sturdy, old-fashioned songcraft." Digital Spys Robert Copsey preferred "Locked Out of Heaven" to "When I Was Your Man", despite being "a kind gesture and all". Awards and recognition In 2013, "When I Was Your Man" won "Favorite Hit" at the 2013 Premios Juventud. It was nominated for Break-Up Song at the 2013 Teen Choice Awards and for That's My Jam at the 2013 NewNowNext Awards. In 2014, the ballad received a nomination for Best Pop Solo Performance at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards and it was also nominated for Favorite Song at the 2014 People's Choice Awards. The single was one of the several winners of the 2014 ASCAP Pop Music Awards for Most Performed Songs, as well as, one of the Top 10 Gold International Gold Songs at the RTHK International Pop Poll Awards. It was the fourth most played song on radio, the eighth most played on Top 40 and on Adult Contemporary radios, according to Nielsen SoundScan Mediabase ranked the song as the 15th most played on Top 40 radio stations in 2013. In the UK, "When I Was Your Man" was the tenth pop track most played in 2013. ==Commercial performance==

North America "When I Was Your Man" was released on iTunes as a promotional single, leading the song to debut at number 69 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The single entered the top 10 the week of February 13, 2013, charting at number nine, becoming Mars's 10th top 10 single. At that time, "Locked Out of Heaven" was at number two, and thus Mars became the first male artist to place two titles as a lead act on the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 simultaneously since "Grenade" and "Just the Way You Are" doubled up for eight consecutive weeks. On February 27, 2013, the song jumped from number 8 to number 3 on the Hot 100 with "Airplay Gainer" honors for a seventh week in a row, tying it with Rihanna's "Rude Boy" (2010), T-Pain's "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')," featuring Yung Joc (2007), and Beyonce's "Baby Boy," featuring Sean Paul (2003), for the longest streak dating to the award's launch. The song reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, in its 16th week after being discounted to 69 cents on the iTunes music store, making it Mars's slowest-peaking single. With "When I Was Your Man" topping the Billboard Hot 100, Mars reached the same mark as Diddy, Ludacris, Prince and Lionel Richie. Elvis Presley was the only male who reached five leaders more quickly. On the Radio Songs chart, "When I Was Your Man" peaked at number one, becoming Mars's fifth number-one on the chart. Among men, Mars tied 50 Cent and trailed Usher, Ludacris and Kanye West, the latter two with six number-ones and the former with seven, since the chart's 1990 start. At that time, Mariah Carey led the list with 11 songs peaking at number one on the chart. On the Mainstream Top 40 chart, "When I Was Your Man" peaked at number 1, giving Mars the highest total among solo males of number one songs (six) on the chart (only Katy Perry and Rihanna lead all acts with eleven number one's each). After a year, Justin Timberlake's "Not a Bad Thing" passed Mars for most number one songs on the Mainstream Top 40. It became the ninth best-selling song of 2013 in the US with 3,928,000 downloads. As of January 2014, it has sold over 4,123,000 copies in the US. International "When I Was Your Man" peaked at number 2 in the United Kingdom and it was certified four times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). ==Music video==

Development and synopsis The music video for the song was directed by Cameron Duddy and Mars, and was released February 5, 2013. The video portrays the taping of a TV special, resembling a CRT variety show. The set and the idea of the video is similar to the one used for Belinda Carlisle's "Love in the Key of C" (1997). Reception Rolling Stone, called the video "powerful" and a found "the final crescendo reaching a breaking point of true sorrow". == Live performances ==

"When I Was Your Man" was performed live for the first time on the season three finale of US The Voice. Mars performed the song back by two piano players. Rap-Up considered that Mars "rocked the stage" during his performance, while EW's Hillary Bussis found the crowd to "go crazy" because of his lyrics or persuading Mars "to ditch those Cee Lo shades". He also performed the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on January 10, 2013. The performance had Mars with piano accompaniment. "When I Was Your Man" was performed at The Jonathan Ross Show after an interview, on March 3, 2013. The song was performed at season five the finale of ''Let's Dance for Comic Relief'', on March 9, 2013. On April 3, 2013, Mars performed the song live on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Carl Williott called the performance "flawless". It was sung on the show Vivement Dimanche, on April 7, 2013. On May 26, 2013, the single was performed at the ''Radio 1's Big Weekend''. "When I Was Your Man" was sung on The Moonshine Jungle Tour (2013–2015), on his debut concert residency, Bruno Mars at The Chelsea, Las Vegas (2013–2015), and during the 24K Magic World Tour (2017–2018). The song was part of the setlist of An Evening with Silk Sonic at Park MGM (2022), a concert residency performed by Mars with Anderson .Paak, as Silk Sonic. They performed it as a medley of "Put on a Smile" of Silk Sonic's debut studio album An Evening with Silk Sonic (2021), and "Make It Better", a song included on .Paak's fourth studio album Ventura (2019) featuring Smokey Robinson. The track was part of the Bruno Mars Live (2022-2024) setlist. ==Cover versions and usage in media==

In 2013, The Voice UK contestant Mike Ward performed the song during the competition. A studio version of his performance was released and peaked at number 60 in the UK Singles Chart. Country singer Thomas Rhett recorded a cover of the song as a 'thank-you' to fans. The song was released for sale on February 3, 2015 and it debuted at No. 27 on the Hot Country Songs chart and despite failing to reach the Billboard Hot 100, it peaked inside of the Bubbling Under Hot 100, which acts as an extension of the former chart, peaking at number 7 there. In January 2023, American singer Miley Cyrus released the single "Flowers"; its chorus is a paraphrase of the one on "When I Was Your Man". Tempo Music Investments, which holds partial copyright over "When I Was Your Man", filed a copyright infringement suit against Cyrus and fellow "Flowers" co-writers Gregory Aldae Hein and Michael Pollack on September 16, 2024. ==Track listing==

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Unorthodox Jukebox. • Bruno Mars – lead vocals, songwriting, piano • Philip Lawrence – songwriting • Ari Levine – songwriting, recording • Andrew Wyatt – songwriting • The Smeezingtons – production • Charles Moniz – additional engineer • Manny Marroquin – mixing • David Kutch – mastering ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==

Promotional release Single release ==See also==