For those who think a soul album couldn’t dominate 2026’s top charts, think again.
Global superstar Bruno Mars released The Romantic, his first solo album in nearly 10 years, on Feb. 27. Despite his beginnings as a pop artist, Mars has since expanded to include funk and soul elements in his music, with his 2021 collaborative album with Anderson.Paak, “An Evening With Silk Sonic” takes inspiration from classic 70s soul music. On The Romantic, Mars blends not just pop and soul, but also Latin music genres like salsa and bolero on songs like “Risk It All” and “Cha Cha Cha.”
For The Romantic, Mars worked with collaborators such as D’Mile and James Fauntleroy, who previously contributed to his albums An Evening With Silk Sonic and 24K Magic, respectively, to create an ornately well-produced project. The concise nine-track album debuted at #1 on the charts, with lead single “I Just Might” debuting at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Mars is also currently the #1 artist on Spotify following his release.
Mars is set to headline a stadium tour for the album from April to Oct. 2026, bringing prominent R&B musicians Anderson.Paak, Victoria Monét, Leon Thomas, and Raye alongside him. Monét reposted the tour announcement on her Instagram, stating that the opportunity to join Mars was “a dream come true” and that she has “been manifesting this one for years.” Many fans on social media expressed their excitement for the tour and especially for the guest artists, and their enthusiasm was clear with how Mars broke Ticketmaster records, selling 2.1 million tickets on the first day. Mars is set to begin the tour in Las Vegas, NV, the same city where he had a concert residency at Park MGM, performing over 100 shows from Dec. 2016 to Dec. 2025.
The Romantic was met with mixed reviews, with Mars receiving both acclaim and criticism from publications and fans alike. Many reviewers praised the album’s amazingly pristine production, and many fans ran to social media to share their favorite songs off the album, declaring that Mars “never misses.”
Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone gave the album 4 stars, calling it “an undeniable half hour of deeply felt music” with “dance-the-night-away bubblegum fun, steeped in the Seventies disco classics.”
“If giving the people what they want is a crime, you’re going to have to throw Bruno Mars in populism jail,” wrote Dolan.
On the other hand, other writers described the “populism” energy with less fondness. Brittany Spanos of Pitchfork rated the album a 5.8/10, critiquing Mars for giving people what they expect from him as opposed to daring to experiment. Spanos called the songs “about as romantic as an influencer’s staged proposal on Instagram Reels” and stated that “the lyrics are schlocky, empty, and more anonymous than usual for Mars.”
Spanos is not alone in her thinking, with many fans expressing their beliefs that The Romantic does not compare to his old albums. Fans also perpetuated the claim that Mars specifically seeks out commercial success, even going so far as to spread a conspiracy theory that the musicians’ many recent song collaborations (and even a brand collaboration with Hello Kitty) prior to his album release were a cash-grab as they baselessly theorized that Mars had gambled away much of his fortune during his Vegas residency.
Fans also more legitimately criticized The Romantics’ seemingly generic songwriting alongside Spanos. Though all of the songs on the album are about romance, none of them offer unique details or specific storytelling that Mars included on previous songs like “Grenade” or “Talking to the Moon.” This lack of specificity and lyrical risk complements Spanos’ critique of giving the people what they want. If you aim for popularity and try to make music everyone can relate to, you can lose what makes a song truly special – the distinctiveness that draws in a curated audience that understands it on a personal level.
However, this critique of Mars does not hold ground when considering the production, genre, and musical flair of the album. In a world where the pop landscape is dominated by artists who rigidly stick to pop and dance sounds, Mars’ enthusiasm for experimenting with genre is commendable. Whether he was dabbling in reggae on Doo-Wops & Hooligans’ “Our First Time,” collaborating with K-Pop group BLACKPINK’s ROSÉ on APT, or featuring on rapper Gucci Mane’s “Wake Up in the Sky,” one thing has been clear over the course of Mars’ two-decade career: he is unafraid to explore new sounds.
This has been especially clear on both The Romantic and his second-most-recent project, An Evening with Silk Sonic. Both albums pay a clear homage to Motown, soul, and funk, genres that have in recent decades sunk from being home to the country’s most famous artists to now a more underground scene. In the 1960s and 70s, Motown artists like The Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder were prominent on top charts and among the legendary artists of their respective decades. On the other hand, while current soul and funk artists excel within their genre and niche audience, in recent years, after the end of Soul Train, they have struggled to make it to the top of the US charts.
Therefore, Mars’s work is revolutionary in the way that it has revived these genres, and its commercial success should, in turn, be celebrated. Not only did Silk Sonic’s Leave the Door Open win a clean sweep of Grammy Awards, but it also spent two weeks at #1 and 18 weeks within the top 10 on the charts. This kind of success for a soul song in the 21st century is a feat in and of itself.
It is also important to recognize that soul, Motown, R&B, and funk music all have origins deeply embedded in Black history. For example, 1960s-soul-artist Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” was an anthem for the American Civil Rights Movement. Commercial success for these genres is not only significant as a rebirth for the genres themselves, but also for the celebration of Black music as a whole.
Mars himself has shared how Black artists have inspired him. In an interview with Latina Magazine, he stated that he “wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for these artists who inspired (him)” and that Black artists showed him “what it takes to sing a song that can get the whole world dancing, or give a performance that people will talk about forever.”
“When you say ‘black music,’ understand that you are talking about rock, jazz, R&B, reggae, funk, doo-wop, hip-hop, and Motown. Black people created it all. Being Puerto Rican, even salsa music stems back to the Motherland (Africa). So, in my world, black music means everything,” said Mars.
On the subject of his Puerto Rican identity, currently, the mariachi-infused bolero ballad “Risk It All” from The Romantic has reached #1 as well, which yet again speaks to Mars’ ability to uplift genres from beyond the American pop mainstream into commercial success. This specific incorporation of bolero and salsa in The Romantic also holds extra importance, considering that when Mars first started his career, embracing his Puerto Rican roots would’ve caused labels to force him to only make Latin music or only be signed to sing Spanish songs.
Now, Mars is able to not only effortlessly blend the music of his culture into his signature blend of soul and funk, but also cement this fusion of cultures into commercial success, making a statement that daring to blend cultures and genres is what makes music successful. Mars’ re-birthing of genres implies that it is vital to pay homage to the different cultures and people of color who have shaped modern music, and it is even more important to keep this music alive today.
Since Mars’ exploration of soul in recent years, other artists have also stepped into the limelight to embrace the genre. For example, Olivia Dean, 2026 Grammy Winner for Best New Artist, skyrocketed to stardom with her soulful sound. Furthermore, bands like Thee Sacred Souls have also embraced the classic 60s soul sound, with their songs going viral on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Along with garnering fame for modern soul artists, TikTok in the past year has also found classic soul songs like “Watcha Gonna Do” by The Valdons finding new life. So, Mars’ exploration of the genre is not merely a personal endeavor to satisfy his own musical interests – he is one of the modern pushers of soul into the mainstream.
Whether The Romantic will receive the same critical success during awards season as An Evening With Silk Sonic (which cleanly swept awards for all four Grammy Award categories it was nominated in) or his previous solo album 24K Magic (which won seven Grammys), only time will tell. However, one thing remains clear – with his courage in not only blending genres and reviving cultures, but also chasing success, Mars is bringing soul back.
