#reservoirhooligans

[rhapsodyincolour]

Do you think Bruno and Diplo were talking about new song they're working on? I tried to find song with that title or lyrics but found nothing.

I have absolutely no idea. I usually do a quick google for tweets that look like lyrics (from songs I don't know) but I got zero for this. I'm curious though!

[rhapsodyincolour]

Discussion about Bruno's race is always complicated :D I'm from Indonesia and know the feeling. People from SEA like Bruno's mom and me pretty much mixed of some races from mainland Asia, even Africa and Europe. If foreign people ask us what's our race, it's more simple to say our nationality lol. Bruno's skin tone is something you can easily find here. That's why I don't understand why some people need to put him or anyone in the black and white box. Races is more than just a color of your skin

Yeah, my ethnicity is pretty clear cut (although I do sometimes get asked a multiple choice of Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Filipino) but I get a similar situation where people ask where I’m “~from~ from”. I was born and have lived in England my whole life, so I just answer with my parents’ origins. 

[rhapsodyincolour]

Exactly. They can't accept celebs have many side of personality, not just one dimensional. They expect them to have perfect personality, have no flaw, almost inhuman. Media also take a big part of this. They build particular perfect image of every celeb and will be so happy to ruin that image with blowing up stupid unnecessary story. I see WMG took down that video. It's for greater good. There's no need to make people overreact to this and draw attention from Bruno's music and talents.

It happens to every celebrity and I'm sure we're all guilty of having been taken in by a media headline to be swayed one way or another just based on how something has been written. In being a fan of Michael, I went through that education about the way media works. It hits you hard and I've come to take everything with a pinch of salt. Even the most respected news outlets get things wrong at times. Mostly, the tabloid media isn't nice because sensationalism and negativity is what sells and attracts views (even if it means exaggerating or embellishing upon truths). It's not just media either. I see so many people online making total shit up on message boards to create these images of celebrities - complete fan fiction type fabrications put out as "real life". But unlike fanfics, these so called accounts are detrimental to the image of the particular individual because surprising, there are people who actually fall for these sweeping fantasies. It's slander. I get really annoyed and heated up whenever I talk about this topic so I'm going to stop here or otherwise I'll be typing another essay ;) As for Bruno, damage control by removing the video was probably for the best. It wasn't meant to get so blown up like that and he certainly doesn't want to attract any media attention - he doesn't even attract media in normal circumstances. The only thing now is that the written accounts make it sound so much worse. People write what he said as if he was serious about being shocked and upset, rather than joking and putting on an act about it. Sure, he's not the most "politically correct" person but he does what he does to have fun. Sadly the words and ways that he does things can occasionally cause offence by accident (e.g. the debacle with the dolphin picture and the removal of it from all his social pages). 

[rhapsodyincolour]

It's not the 1st time I see people thing Bruno is a douchebag because of his fake cocky personality. It's always from people who is not a fan and don't know anything about him. I've seen people think he's pretentious, egocentric, etc. They just can't get that Bruno has dark sense of humor, being sarcastic and totally joking with his words. It's not helping that he likes to curse lol. But it's fine. This will make Bruno looks edgy and less like a clean cut guy, because we know he's not ;D

It's a shame that celebrities get one snapshot of what they do that gets presented to a more generic audience...and that's what causes an impression of their personality. There's no background knowledge of what they're like and what their sense of humour is. It's difficult when you're not a fan of the person because you just don't know what to expect from their image.

[rhapsodyincolour]

I'm with you. I like the scarf. It's just Bruno wear it with gold chains and that make there're too much going on around his neck. He should get rid the chains and just wear his cross like usual. His tank top and scarf are the same color. It'd better if it was different. Another thing, the scarf looks better with polkadot shirt than pattern one. His scarf has pattern already and wear it with pattern shirt make it look crowded. That's what I thought. This make me acted like fashion critic lol.

I didn’t even pay attention to the chains. Probably because my brain thinks it’s just a part of his body now ha!

I think the overall ensemble looks fine actually. The chains and the red scarf complement the red tank top he has underneath. Always love when he wears red with black too - a sharp and sophisticated colour palette :D As you probably saw with my tag comments, I would agree with that. Polka looks more pleasing to the eye when paired with the scarf. I don’t even know what’s going on with the black/white print. Very unique and eye catching but it confuses me with the busyness of it…But I have to say, it appears to be growing on me with each succesive photo ;)

Don’t even know why I spend so much time spilling out random fashion comments or ‘critiques’ either! Don’t know shit about it :P

Alsooo just to add: If he plans to continue wearing the scarf..I’m just concerned for his wellbeing with two things. Sweat drench. Hot as balls in summer.

[rhapsodyincolour]

If I wasn't in this forum where most members stan for pop girls, I wouldn't aware about Rita at all lol. She's irrelevant in my country. For making impression that could last in public especially here,foreign artists should do it with their music. Those fashion things won't last long. Gaga used to can balance her image and music. Now,not so much. Artpop is lackluster. Her fashion's more interesting now. Bruno has made impression with his music. He could expand it easily outside music if he wants

Her debut was pretty good here in the UK with a couple of hits but yeah, as you say, there probably wasn't much impact worldwide. It'll be interesting to see where she'll take her second album. It does look like her market is expanding to the US with her public appearances there. When it comes to it, I guess it's down to your choice as an artist for what you want to achieve at the end of it all. Some will want to create an entire brand for themself, enter social circles, do a bit of everything in the business...and others will just focus solely on their music by putting it out there and letting people enjoy without interference.

For Bruno, personally, I just hope that he utilises his promotion powers just a tiny bit more. He doesn't have to become a tabloid darling, give interviews or be the most active on social media platforms, but just a few more direct official messages about what's going on with his work would give that boost to his singles. Locked Out Of Heaven got major promo work but the latter singles didn't. For those releases, it's just a shame that they're getting overlooked because they weren't pushed to their full potential. Sometimes it's not even certain which song is the current single (e.g. Young Girls/Moonshine worldwide). Perhaps he doesn't want to push anything and it's just part of Atlantic Record's plan but even Gorilla, with basically a short film to complement it, hasn't gotten the attention that I think it should have - and that's his favourite. 

But anyways, talky talk over ;)

[rhapsodyincolour]

Oh yeah totally agree with you. We all know Bruno is a musician and artist first and for most, and that's what exactly he cares about. Many popular pop stars' image and behavior overshadowed their music and makes people not aware of their work. With Bruno it's the other way around. But of course when an artist's music could be known enough and affect people's live, that's also making an impact.

Yup yup! :D

Actually about cultural relevance, there was an interesting retweet that I saw last night. It was a comment about Rita Ora's publicity (I think they were implying success in that department). She's got all these deals with being the face of Rimmel make-up, hosting awards and going to these high profile events etc. but the twitter user also said that they couldn't manage to name Rita's last single. Rita gets her face out there and is photographed a lot so she's always in the consumer's eye in some way. It terms of business, Rita has achieved quite a fair amount. I'm not commenting on her music, because I don't particularly listen to much (you all know I'm picky/obsessive with my faves lol) but it was an interesting point raised.

I think out of everyone today, Lady Gaga probably has the best balance. People recognise her as a massive figure in music and culture. She produces the music that she wants (it's not about accommodating to the "suits") and gives out the image that she wants people to see and talk about. Gaga is in control of her media persona and her art. Regardless of what critics think of Artpop, she's 100% invested in her creation. 

[rhapsodyincolour]

Wait, why did you put tag about cultural relevant on that SNL clip? It's actually something that some users in this pop forum I joined like to bring up when they tried to come after Bruno's achievement. They said he has no impact on pop culture. Mostly I defend Bruno there with passive aggressive way and use sarcasm lol.

On the whole, I personally don’t feel that the public see Bruno as a cultural icon - just yet anyway. At this point in time, he does make impacts on the music industry but he doesn’t do so directly with massive statements/pieces. For example, we can see that certain songs have had cultural success in being a part of people’s life, especially with Marry You, Just The Way You Are and The Lazy Song. For this era, the massive singalong piece is When I Was Your Man. In terms of being a cultural figure, unlike other “icons”, Bruno doesn’t necessarily have a quirk or something very unique for the public to identify him with. What people do is re-create the image of him in a hat, sometimes with a guitar and mostly with a pompadour. As Hooligans, we of course know his sense of style with fashion and live performance but I don’t think the audience has the same knowledge. And while I’m talking about fashion…Bruno wears high end labels but they’re simple pieces and sometimes you don’t even recognise that they’re designer (as with the Saint Laurent casual gear). 

Even though Bruno has kept (and refined) his original format over the years anyway, with the success of the Super Bowl this year, I think it has definitely helped (In the US particularly) with getting the masses to really think about his image - of him being a talented, well rounded live performer who’s backed by a very skilled band. I hope that when people see a full band performing in the way the Hooligans do, with slick footwork and matching outfits, they’ll think of Bruno Mars. 

I think Bruno has potential to become a massive cultural figure but I don’t think he wants that whole package. He lets things manifest naturally. Success isn’t forced, it just happens because it’s right and things fall into place. He stays out of the tabloid media and doesn’t draw much attention to himself unless he’s actually on the stage performing. To be a cultural icon, I think there needs to be some play with the media involved - at the end of the day, that’s what consumerism is. Media is what gets people talking and excited (and on the flip side, also brings out the negativity and criticism of celebrity status). Interestingly, just a couple of years ago (in the drought at the end of DW&Hs era), I remember talking to my friends about Bruno and they actually had no idea what he looked like. They could sing his songs, but just couldn’t picture him.

Having cultural references made about you, like on SNL, will obviously help but being respected as a musician and performer is what matters here. The art and passion for the stage is what comes first and foremost for Bruno. I think most people will know that ‘Bruno Mars’ is a name associated with songwriting and vocal credibility. Other singers in the business know and respect that, and so do many of the public.