Bruno Mars – Risk It All

Ten Years, One Mariachi Band, And The Album That Could Not Stay Unfinished

At midnight on February 27, 2026, Bruno Mars ended a ten-year solo silence. The Romantic — his fourth solo studio album and first since 24K Magic in 2016 — dropped simultaneously with the music video for its second single, “Risk It All.” The video found Mars fronting a full mariachi band, getting married on screen, and revelling in the kind of sunny domestic bliss that the song’s lyrics earn honestly. It was a deliberate, pointed statement about where he had arrived — emotionally, artistically, and culturally — after a decade away from solo work.

The lead single “I Just Might” had already debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 9, 2026, signalling that the return was going to be anything but quiet. “Risk It All” arrived as the album opener — the first thing listeners hear on a nine-track, 31-minute record that has already drawn comparisons to the most unguarded work of Mars’ career. AllMusic gave it four out of five stars, calling it “a well-dressed set of nine finely crafted love songs.” Billboard called it his “most straightforward throwback yet.” The Guardian took two stars and called it “fundamentally lazy.” Some songs land that way — they split rooms down the middle the moment they exist.

The song is, at its core, Mars operating in the territory he made his own a decade ago — the grand romantic gesture, delivered without irony. “Say you want the moon / Watch me learn to fly / Ain’t no mountain you could point to / I wouldn’t climb” isn’t subtle. It isn’t meant to be. Mars described his intention for the record simply: a collection of love songs that feel timeless rather than trend-conscious, built to outlast the moment they were released. The production — Philly soul strings meeting contemporary R&B percussion, co-produced with D’Mile — gives the track an analogue warmth that sidesteps current pop entirely.

The music video, co-directed by Mars and Daniel Ramos, is the most personal visual statement he has put his name to in years. The mariachi setting pays direct homage to his Latino heritage — Mars was born Peter Gene Hernandez in Honolulu, the son of a Puerto Rican father and a Filipino mother — and the imagery of commitment, ceremony, and belonging running through the clip maps directly onto the song’s lyrical obsessions. The result is something rare in contemporary pop videos: a visual that deepens the song rather than simply illustrating it.

The decade between 24K Magic and The Romantic was not silence so much as detour. Mars and Anderson .Paak released their debut album as Silk Sonic in 2021; Mars won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 2025 Grammys for “Die With a Smile” with Lady Gaga; he performed at this year’s Grammy Awards in February, two weeks before this album landed. He also partnered with more than 200 record stores worldwide to host listening parties on February 25 — two days before the official release — giving the album a physical, communal launch that streaming-era releases rarely attempt.

The Romantic Tour begins April 10 in Las Vegas and runs through 71 shows across North America and Europe, closing in Vancouver on October 14. Victoria Monet, RAYE, and Anderson .Paak are among the supporting acts. Ticket demand, by all accounts, has been extraordinary — a reliable indicator that ten years in the wilderness, for some artists, simply makes the audience hungrier.

Mars told collaborators during the making of the record that he wanted songs capable of making someone feel something real — not clever, not ironic, not referential. Just real. “I’d risk it all for you” is the oldest line in the book. In the hands of one of the most technically gifted vocalists of his generation, delivered over a mariachi arrangement on the opening track of his first solo album in a decade, it sounds completely new. Some artists earn the right to mean exactly what they say. Mars has earned it.