Bruno Mars spoke about the claims of cultural appropriation he faced throughout his career in a new interview.
The musician – who is Filipino, Puerto Rican and descended from Ashkenazi Jews – was accused of appropriating black music through his work.
During an appearance on the New York radio program The Breakfast Club Last week (March 5), Mars defended itself against these accusations. “I would say that you cannot find an interview where I am not talking about the artists who came before me,” he said. “The only reason I’m here is because of James Brown, Prince, Michael [Jackson] – that’s the only reason I’m here.
“I’m growing up as a child watching Bobby Brown, saying, ‘OK, if that’s what it takes to do that, then I have to do the running man, I have to learn how to do the moonwalk’. That’s it. This song comes from love and if you can’t hear it, then I don’t know what to say to you. “
He added: “What’s the point if we, as musicians, can’t learn from the guys who came before us? Why did they do that? I hope that later on the road there will be a band taking what we did and inverting it and going crazy and putting their own touch on it, because if they don’t do it, what’s the point of us doing it?
Mars recently launched a new group, Silk Sonic, with Anderson .Paak, releasing their debut single ‘Leave The Door Open’ last week. The track will be part of the duo’s next collaborative album, ‘An Evening With Silk Sonic’.
The project follows the two artists on tour together on Mars ’24K Magic world tour in 2017, while the album will mark Mars’ first studio album since the 2016 album that gave the tour its name.