Music Review: Bruno Mars "Gorilla"

Bruno Mars

Gorilla

Album: Unorthodox Jukebox

Year: 2013

            Bruno Mars has rough sex with his girlfriend in the carnal “Gorilla.”

           Stark bass opens the single, setting an unassuming tone. Their night began at the bar. After several rounds, he called his driver and they left for his home. Lemon, pineapple juice, honey, and vodka slosh around in his belly. She trills that she’s waiting. From his bathroom, he calls out “ok” and he takes out his cocaine vial. Inside a cabinet, he gets a mirror, cuts it and snorts. He returns to find her on his bed naked except for a necklace. He bends down, in between in her to legs and starts to kiss. He whispers to her to talk dirty and how much she wants him. (“ Oh I got a body full of liquor with a cocaine kicker and I'm feeling like I'm thirty feet tall/So lay it down, lay it down/You got your legs up in the sky with the devil in your eyes/Let me hear you say you want it all/Say it now, say it now.”)

            In the pre-chorus, she strutted into the bar in a strapless, neckline plunging dress and played with her necklace. . She found him right away in the crowd. Throughout the night, she rubbed his arm and back. He would try to give her a kiss and she pull her neck or arm away from him. Then she would lock eyes with him. He tells her to be prepared. He has no plans to be gentle tonight. (“Look what you're doing, look what you've done/But in this jungle you can't run/Cause what I got for you/I promise is a killer, you'll be banging on my chest/Bang bang, gorilla.”)

            In the chorus, he says the sex will be primal. (“You and me baby making love like gorillas/You and me baby making love like gorillas.”)

            As he kisses her on the mouth, he grabs a handful of her hair. She doesn’t yelp or make a motion for him to stop. She’s ok with it. She’s usually the one to tell him to press harder. She screams in her ear, piercing his eardrum. (“Yeah I got a fistful of your hair/But you don’t look like you're scared/You're just smiling tell me daddy it's yours/Cause you know how I like it you's a dirty little lover/If the neighbors call the cops, call the sheriff, call the SWAT we don't stop, we keep rocking while they knocking on our door/And you're screaming give it to me baby/Give it to me ************.”)

        The pre-chorus and chorus are sung again.

        In the bridge, even after she stops seeing him, she will be forever spoiled by his touch. Her arm shakes on his back as her fingers dig in and he knows she will be satsified once the night is over. (“I bet you never ever felt so good, so good/I got your body trembling like it should, it should/You'll never be the same baby once I'm done with you.”)

         A final chorus is sung to end the single. (“Oh you with me baby making love like gorillas/You and me baby we'll be fuckin'/Like gorillas/You and me baby making love like gorillas.”

         Mars’ coveting, raw vocals burn, reddening and swelling forming a painful bubble. Despite the eroticism, the single has a somber undertone to it.  He’s a tortured and fragile individual, turning to cocaine to numb herself. He allows himself to be the submissive. What is he hiding from? What’s caused him all the pain? It brings up questions that have more to do with his personality. The sex is a cover for his many demons.

          The erotic “Gorilla” smashes the competition without even moving a muscle. It also has the potential to be huge.