| “Just the Way You Are” | ||||
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| Single by Bruno Mars | ||||
| from the album Doo-Wops & Hooligans | ||||
| Released | July 20, 2010 | |||
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| Length | 3:41 | |||
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| Bruno Mars singles chronology | ||||
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“Just the Way You Are” is the debut solo single by American singer-songwriter Bruno Mars. It is the lead single from his debut studio album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans (2010). The song was written by Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine, Khalil Walton and Needlz and produced by the former three, under their alias, The Smeezingtons along with Needlz. It was released in the United States to Contemporary hit radio on August 10, 2010. The track was released in the United Kingdom on September 19, 2010, as “Just the Way You Are (Amazing)“. The song’s lyrics compliment a woman’s beauty.
The debut single received mixed reviews from music critics, who praised The Smeezington’s production, but dubbed its lyrics as sappy and corny. It won a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 2011 ceremony. The song peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and in the United Kingdom charts and peaked in the top five in other countries. It was certified nine times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), seven times by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) and six times byMusic Canada (MC). “Just the Way You Are” was the best selling digital single of 2011, selling more than 12.5 million copies, thus joining an elite group of best-selling singles worldwide.
The music video, directed by Ethan Lader, was released on September 8, 2010 and features Peruvian born Australianactress Nathalie Kelley. The official remix features rapper Lupe Fiasco and is included on the deluxe edition of Doo-Wops & Hooligans. Mars performed “Just The Way You Are” on The Doo-Wops & Hooligans Tour (2010–2012), on the Moonshine Jungle Tour (2013–2014) and on the 24K Magic World Tour (2017-2018). He also included it during his performance at the Super Bowl XLVIII halftime show. “Just the Way You Are” has been covered by various recording artists and it inspired Meghan Trainor‘s debut single “All About That Bass“.
Mars 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?!” Mars’ A&R was responsible for finding the original idea from producers/ songwriters Khalil Walton and Needlz. Mars originally sang the hook that Khalil and Needlz wrote for a feature on a Lupe Fiasco record. Needlz allowed Mars to use the idea for his album.[5][6] This was all facilitated by Aaron Bay Shuck, who told HitQuartersthat as soon as “Just the Way You Are” was finished they knew they had the first single, saying:
“It had a massive chorus, an instantly memorable melody and lyric, and was a natural transition from the B.o.B and Travie McCoy songs … [Also] it didn’t sound like anything else on the radio. It had everything we could want in a first single for Bruno.”
Ari Levine explains: “Needlz had a track with a melody idea by Khalil Walton that was presented to us by one of the A&R guys. Bruno and Phil came up with the chorus, and then Needlz sent us the files and we replaced a bunch of sounds with our sounds and I programmed drums in the MPC, and we wrote the rest of the song. I never met Needlz or Walton”. The song was supposed to be for Lupe Fiasco but at this point, Bruno decided to keep it.
“Just the Way You Are” was co-written by Mars, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine, Khalil Walton and Needlz, while production was handled by the former three production-team, The Smeezingtons. It was mixed at Larrabee Sound Studios in Hollywood by Manny Marroquin, while Christian Plata and Erik Madrid served as mixing assistants. Levine, Needlz, and Mars played all the instruments on the track and recorded them. Ari was also responsible for engineering the song at Levcon Studios in California.
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