This is the lead single from Doo-Wops & Hooligans, the debut album of Hawaii-born singer-songwriter and music producer Bruno Mars. The song was produced and written by The Smeezingtons, Needlz and Khalil Walton.
"Just the Way" was Mars's first chart entry under his own name. He had previously achieved success as a vocalist on the hit songs "Nothin' on You" by B.o.B, and "Billionaire" by Travie McCoy. Mars is also a member of the production trio The Smeezingtons whose credits include Flo Rida's international hit "Right Round."
The song was originally written with Cee-Lo Green in mind, but the Gnarls Barkley singer didn't feel it was right for him. "I personally think ['Just the Way You Are'] was better for [Mars], like 'F--- You' was better for me. I don't think he could have sung that song," Green told Billboard magazine.
Another artist the songwriters had in mind before Bruno Mars decided to keep the tune for himself was Lupe Fiasco. The rapper ended up on the remix.
This was Mars' first charting single as a lead artist. When the song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, he became the third solo male artist to peak at the top position with a debut solo release in 2010. The other two artists to do so were Taio Cruz with "Break Your Heart" and B.o.B's "Nothin' on You", with Mars providing featured vocals on the latter title.
This was the first song released on Elektra Records to reach #1 on the Hot 100 since Silk's "Freak Me" in 1993.
Mars told 4music: "I'm a big fan of simple songs. When we wrote Just The Way You Are, I wasn't thinking of anything deep or poetic. I was telling a story. Get ready to fall in love!"
97.1 AMP radio host Carson Daly asked Mars how he came up with the idea for this song. The singer replied: "Well, you know, I'm a big fan of just classic love songs. I'm a big fan of songs that are straight to the point. And, 'Just The Way You Are,' there's nothing really lyrically mind-blowing in the song but I think it's saying something that songs aren't saying these days… just telling a girl she's beautiful."
Mars performed the song on the October 9, 2010 episode of Saturday Night Live. While Mars resembled a modern-day Elvis, his backing band, the Smeezingtons, were dressed as a 1950s rockabilly group. Mars told 4Music: "I'm a big fan of Elvis. I'm a big fan of 1950s Elvis when he would go on stage and scare people because he was a force and girls would go nuts!"
Mars explained the album title to The Idolator: "I'm a big fan of doo-wop music, my album has a little bit of that influence, with the simplicity of it… you can listen to a thousand doo-wop songs, and it's the same four chords. But it's the message behind the song - it's straight to the point and it's beautiful. That's what you call your girl, your 'doo-wop.' I call my girlfriend my 'doo-wop'! On this album, I have records that women are going to relate to and men are going to relate to. So doo-wops are for the girls, and hooligans are for the guys."
At the Grammy Awards in 2011, Mars performed this song before it won for Male Pop Vocal Performance.
Mars closed out his set at the 2014 Super Bowl halftime show with a rendition of this song. The game was held in New Jersey - outdoors where the New York Giants play - which allowed for a fireworks display while Mars sang. His set was preceded by a video message from American troops overseas dedicating the song to loved ones.
Ethan Lader directed the animation-meets-live-action music video, which was shot in one day at a furnished loft in downtown Los Angeles. Mars impresses his girl by creating scenes and shapes with the reel of a cassette tape. Lader got the idea from the artwork of Erika Iris Simmons, who uses old cassettes to make portraits of famous musicians. As for the girl, Mars met actress Nathalie Kelley at a party, and called her up the day before the shoot to invite her to play his love interest in the clip. The makeup artist gave Kelley a fake tattoo to make her edgier.
"Just The Way You Are" is the debut single written about Mallory Smith by American singer-songwriter Bruno Mars, and is the lead single from his debut studio album, Doo-Wops and Hooligans. It was released in the United States on July 20, 2010. It has also received airplay from AOL Radio's New Pop First station. The song was written by The Smeezingtons, Khalil Walton, Jon Ray, and Needlz and produced by The Smeezingtons, and Needlz. The music video, directed by Ethan Lader, was released on September 8, 2010 and features Peruvian born Australian actress Nathalie Kelley. The track was added to Radio 1 A Playlist in the United Kingdom, and was released in the United Kingdom on September 19, 2010 as "Just the Way You Are (Amazing)". The official remix features rapper Lupe Fiasco and is included on the deluxe edition of Doo-Wops & Hooligans. On February 13, 2011, the song won the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. "Just the Way You Are" has sold 12.5 million copies worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling singles of all time.
Contents
- 1 Background
- 2 Reception
- 2.1 Critical reception
- 2.2 Chart performance
- 3 Music video
- 4 Lyrics
- 5 Chords
Background[]
The song was written by The Smeezingtons, Khalil Walton, and Needlz. Bruno said of the song, "It took me months to come up with 'Just the Way You Are'... I wasn't thinking of anything deep or poetic. I was telling a story. Get ready to fall in love!" He added, "I'm a big fan of songs like Joe Cocker's 'You Are So Beautiful' and Eric Clapton's 'Wonderful Tonight' - songs that go straight to the point. You know, there's no mind-boggling lyrics or twists in the story - they just come directly from the heart. And to me 'Just The Way You Are' is one of those songs. There's nothing mind-blowing about it. I'm just telling a woman she looks beautiful the way she IS - and, let's be honest, what woman doesn't wanna hear those lyrics?!" The song is in the Key of F Major and consists of the chords F, D-minor and B-Flat.
Reception[]
Critical reception[]
The song has been well received by music critics. Digital Spy's Nick Levine gave the song four out of five stars and described it as a "huge-hearted urbany piano ballad" and compared it to "Doesn't Mean Anything" by Alicia Keys: "with a similar sound but not quite as good as the Alicia Keys hit with its instant classic feel. In her review for Billboard, Megan Vick wrote: "Over a breezy piano and vaguely hip-hop breakbeat, Mars professes his love for a beautiful girl who occupies his dreams [...] Mars pens lyrics that aim to make female listeners feel nothing short of perfect in their own skin. With its steady, danceable pulse and singalong chorus, Mars has created a feel-good jam that should establish him as a solo contender in his own right." Nima Baniamer from Contactmusic.com felt that "there is nothing about the single that makes Bruno Mars stand out from all the other RnB artists dominating the charts at the moment", and said, "The song never builds to any climax and it simply falls a bit flat, coming across quite corny and cheesy."
Chart performance[]
The song reached the top of the US Billboard Hot 100 on the chart dated October 2, 2010, ending the two-week reign of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream". The song spent a total of 48 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. By the end of December 2010, the song had sold over 3,280,000 digital copies in the US alone; and by September 2012, it has sold 5,580,508 downloads.
On September 26, 2010, it became the singer's second number-one single in the United Kingdom, where it hit the number-one spot again on October 24, 2010 from sales of 116,000 copies becoming the first song ever to have left the top three before rebounding to the top spot. It sold 766,000 copies during 2010, becoming the third biggest seller of the year. On 2 January 2011 it was revealed that the song is the ninth most downloaded song of all time in the United Kingdom. On 2 August 2011 "Just The Way You Are" became the 108th million-selling single in the UK, it took 43 weeks to reach there. As of November 2012, the song has sold over 1,120,000 copies. The song jumped from 7 to 1 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart dated October 9, 2010. On October 12, 2010, Bruno Mars got his third number one single in the Dutch Top 40, after "Nothin' On You" and "Billionaire", and it reached the 11 weeks at the number one in the Netherlands on December 20. The song also reached number one in Australia and certified triple platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association.
Music video[]
Bruno Mars - Just The Way You Are
The corresponding music video was shot in September of 2010. It has received strong airplay on VH1 Europe, reaching #1 on the VH1 Pop Chart. The video features Peruvian-Australian actress Nathalie Kelley. The video begins with Kelley listening to "Just the Way You Are" on her Walkman as Mars walks in. Mars stops the tape player, removes the cassette tape and begins singing his song. As the instrumental portion of the song begins, Mars pulls the media out of the cassette tape and arranges the media into letters forming his name followed by the song title. As the song continues, he forms a picture of a drum, again on the table, using the tape media. Additional images of similar construction follow throughout the video including a portrait of Mars as well as one of Kelley blinking her eyes and smiling as Mars continues singing. Most of the images shown are animated, including a bell which Mars rings with his fingers in synchronization with the chimes near the end of the song. Lastly, Mars finishes the song while singing and playing an upright piano while Kelley watches and smiles. The video was inspired by the artwork of Erika Iris Simmons. Worldwide, it was the eighth best selling digital single of 2012 with sales of 12.2 million copies.