Music Review: Bruno Mars "Young Girls"

Bruno Mars

Young Girls

Album: Unorthdox Jukebox

Year: 2013

            Bruno Mars revels in his hard partying lifestyle in the  agonizing  “Young Girls.”

           An offkey synth opens the single, setting a jittery tone. He finalizes the order with the salesman over the phone. He tells him to expect the Lamborghini in a month. The cost of the car was almost equal to the amount of an several appearances. But it will be worth it to impress the women waiting by the backstage door. They kiss him, filling him up on liquor and drugs. When he finally rests from the night before, it’s 7 am. Each night, he wants more. But it’s never really enough to satsify him. He knows it’s not healthy for him to continue and it will lead to trouble in the future. Nonetheless, it’s become a need. (“I spent all my money on a big ol' fancy car/For these bright eyed honeys/Oh yeah you know who you are/Keep me up till the sun is high/Till the birds stop calling my name/I'm addicted and I don't know why/Guess I've always been this way/

             In the pre-chorus, he knows it’s not healthy for him to continue and it will lead to trouble in the future. Nonetheless, it’s become a need. (“All these roads still be wrong/But I still drive them all night long, all night long.”)

         In the chorus, he can’t resist the lure of a beautiful girl. They whisper in his ear and tease him by touching their body. He can no longer speak. He is willing to do their bidding. It may get to the press and his management may get angry with him. But they are the first ones to grab his attention. (“All you young wild girls/You make a mess of me/Yeah you young wild girls/You'll be the death of me, the death of me/All you young wild girls/No matter what you do/Yeah you young wild girls/I'll always come back to you, come back to you.”)

          Sometimes he wonders who he is. He’ll remind himself the stress will go away. It will stop. But none of makes sense anymore. He’s thought about walking away, living anonymously in Arizona somewhere. He’ll have a loving wife who could careless how many top 10 singles he’s had. None of the women, though are looking to love him. It’s all money and sex. (“I get lost under these lights/I get lost in the words I say/Stop believing my own lies/Like everything will be okay/Oh I still dream of simple life/Boy meets girl, makes her his wife/But love don't exist when you live like this that much I know, yes I know.”)  

              The pre-chorus and chorus are sung again.

              In the bridge, after his vacation, there are several women he’s meeting up with. They can convince him to do anything, even if it’s something he knows he’ll regret it later. (“You, you, you, you/Yeah you you you/You you you you.”)

             The chorus is sung again to end the single.

             Mars self-loathing vocals yearn to change and not to let his weaknesses control him anymore. The women are only part of it. He doesn’t want to become a part of the 27 Club. He would like to overcome his struggle but he’s not quite ready to break from the cause of it.  Like “Gorilla,” there’s a much darker issue bubbling underneath that he seems to be trying to work out. Women is the cover for it.

          The concerned “Young Girls” is aware there’s a problem and cries out for someone to listen.