In this interview-style video, Bruno Mars shares his personal journey from performing at Hawaiian venues to becoming a global superstar, outlining the ten principles that guided his rise. He emphasizes relentless daily practice, self‑reliance in songwriting and instrument mastery, and the importance of creating music that reflects one’s true personality. Mars recounts moving to Los Angeles with only a suitcase and a few hundred dollars, confronting repeated rejections, and refusing to compromise his unorthodox style despite label push‑back. He cites his musical heroes—Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, James Brown, and Prince—as models of raw talent and innovation. Mars discusses handling ubiquitous criticism, the value of authentic collaboration (notably with Philip Lawrence), and the tension between artistic integrity and industry pressure, illustrated by a candid encounter with songwriter Kara DiGuardi. Throughout, he offers motivational advice to aspiring musicians, urging them to pursue their passion, ignore naysayers, and envision moments of fame such as performing at the Super Bowl or appearing on Ellen. The video blends personal anecdotes, practical advice, and reflections on fame, providing a roadmap for emerging artists.
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It's not about the tabloids. It's about you putting in the work, practicing every day. I just felt like I was just waiting and waiting and waiting for everybody. Waiting for a producer to work with me, waiting for a songwriter to work with me. As soon as I graduated high school, I wanted to take the next step. You know, my music reflects my personality and who I am, so if my music's unorthodox, maybe I'm unorthodox. There's cameras everywhere you go. There's one looking at me right now. It's creeping me out. You know, these guys know how to go up on stage with their band and control their environment, rock the party. And we want to make sure that at the end of the day, we stand by our product. Everybody nowadays has an opinion. Everybody's a critic. Why we want to do music is because that's what brings us joy. I was at the airport, and these huge Irish dudes start pacing around me. And I was like, "All right, it's gonna go down at the airport.
Here we go." He's an American singer-songwriter, producer, and choreographer. He's received many awards and nominations, including 4 Grammy Awards. He's sold over 100 million singles and albums worldwide, making him one of the best-selling recording artists of all time. He's Bruno Mars, and here are his top 10 rules for success.
Any young aspiring musicians out there, if music is what you want to do, if music is what you love and your passion, it doesn't take a fragrance. It's not about the tabloids. It's about you putting in the work, practicing every day, practicing your vocals, practicing your instrument, practicing songwriting. And hopefully one day you write the song, you know, the whole world wants to get down to. And I promise you, I promise you, one day you're gonna have your moment to shine and you're gonna have a lot of people saying that you can't do it and you're not good enough. But I promise you, if you go out there and you sing and you put your heart and soul into it and you follow your dream, One day, you're going to be sitting next to Ellen DeGeneres. You're going to be sitting next to Ellen DeGeneres talking about how you broke records and rocked the Super Bowl. You just said it. Stand up. Stand up. Stand up. Stand up. I did it! I did it! I did it! Let's go! Let's go! I started— I wanted to write songs because I didn't want no one else to write a song for me. I just thought— and I didn't want to wait for anybody else to write a song for me. I think that's more of the reason I was so frustrated, because I got signed at a young age, and I just felt like I was just waiting and waiting and waiting for everybody. Waiting for a producer to work with me, waiting for a songwriter to work with me. You know, I play a little bit of guitar, play a little bit of piano, so why wouldn't I want to just do it by myself? And after you moved to LA from Hawaii, you got there, and what was the reason to leave Hawaii in the first place? I think I needed to take a shot at the big time. I wanted to make my album and start writing my own music. And I've been performing my whole life in Hawaii, Waikiki, parties and weddings and shows and anything you could think of— restaurants, bars, and clubs. And, you know, I feel like I did a lot in Hawaii, and I wanted to— as soon as I graduated high school, I wanted to take the next step and hopefully do it even bigger. So you got there to LA airport with just your suitcase, probably? Wasn't even my suitcase. Any money? Absolutely not. I probably had about $600 I saved up, $700 maybe. What was the plan then? I mean, how did you feel at this special moment, getting there and having no clues about what's going to happen next? It was exciting. I was young. My sister helped me out, you know, she let me stay with her for a year. Then I got signed to Motown Records. That didn't really work out, but I had to learn, you know. It's such a learning process and a lot of rejection. I think people have to understand that that's just a part of the, you know, what it takes to kind of finally come up with your own album is that you need to be rejected over and over and everyone telling you you're not good enough and to kind of break through that, that's what it takes. You know, before I got signed, I used to go and play my songs for record labels and big executive presidents of labels, and that was always what they told me, that my music is too unorthodox, it's too all over the place, and they don't know how to market that. And to me, that was always a hard pill to swallow because, you know, my music reflects my personality and who I am. So if my music's unorthodox, maybe I'm unorthodox. Why should I change who I am for business reasons? So it's more of a statement of my freedom. It's awesome. I've always wanted to be an artist, you know, and you think in your mind, it's like, all right, I'm gonna make an album, then I'm gonna do shows, I'm gonna sleep all day, wake up, do another show, wake up in another city. I'm finding out that it's not like that. Yeah, I'm finding out, you know, you got to put in some hard work and, you know, for people to know who you are. There's cameras everywhere you go. There's one looking at me right now. It's creeping me out. Oh yeah, always. It's my— it's my life. We've always had cameras. That's your life. And that's, you know, it's all getting used to, but I'm living the dream right now, the American dream. The reason why I like Elvis is the same reason why I like James Brown, Michael Jackson, Prince. You know, these guys know how to go up on stage with their band and control their environment, rock the party. No tricks, no smoke, no mirrors, just raw talent and great songs. If you have to pick one that you really admire the most, which would it be? Who do I admire the most? James Brown or Prince or Michael Jackson? I think, I think As far as music is concerned, I think no one has done it in such a big way than Michael Jackson. What do you mean, his own music? Just everything all around, the whole, the whole thing. When it comes down to music videos, the way he dressed, how innovative he was. I think you can go to any country in the world and 5-year-old kids will know who Michael Jackson is because he's such a— he's just such a big part of music. His music just brought the world together, basically. And after that, Elvis? Behind that? Um, that's— man, I never came up with a list before. Uh, yeah, I mean, you know, I like these guys for all different reasons, so it's hard for me to put them in. I'll just, just, just pick a few parts. And Elvis, what, what, what do you admire in him? Like I said, the reason why I like Elvis so much is because, um, You know, if you know the story, he's taking chances. And he grew up listening to music that people weren't allowed to listen to. And I just like the fact that he didn't care and he did it. Prince? Prince. Being extremely innovative. And again, someone that is such an individual, uh, and it's a freak of talent. You know, the guy plays so many instruments and, and plays instruments, you know, he can hang with the best on any instrument— on the drums, on, on guitar, on piano, uh, and an incredible, incredible songwriter. Do you have a hero? Do I have a hero? Yeah. Of course. Who? Superman. All we're trying to do every time we write a song is to just feel an emotion that we've never felt before, or, you know, be shocked that, wow, we did this. And if we don't feel that way, then I don't think it— it's not worthy enough to be on the album that, you know, we're trying to promote. And we want to make sure that at the end of the day, we stand by our product. Harsh criticism. Look, the thing is, you know, in the beginning it's a little funky, but you gotta realize that everybody nowadays has an opinion. Everybody's a critic. And, you know, you could watch my video on YouTube and leave a comment. You can go to iTunes and buy my album and leave a comment. You could tweet, whatever you want, you know, and you're gonna drive yourself crazy if you really take those things seriously. You know, yeah, just everyone— not everyone's gonna love you. It got a little rocky 2 years ago, you know, that's when we were at the bottom. And luckily I found Philip Lawrence, who's a tremendous person and a great songwriter, and me and him just clicked. And I found a friend that understands, you know, because we, we don't take it too seriously, you know, we're happy doing music. That's why we want to do music, is because that's what brings us joy. So we were in the studio just writing and writing and hoping that this is gonna pay off, this is gonna pay off. I was at the airport and these huge Irish dudes start pacing around me. I was like, all right, it's gonna go down at the airport, here we go. And they go, aye! I think they're Australian, so let me change the Australian in action. He said, "Aye, are you Bruno Mars?" I was like, "Yes." They said, "Could you sign our forearms?" So they busted out a Sharpie and I'm signing these like rugby players' forearms. They're like, "Yo, that Billionaire song, you're a legend, you're a legend." Oh, that's so great. Oh my God, signing— any— signed any other body parts? No, thank God. Looking forward to that, man. You know, when you're a kid, you're like, oh, 'One day I'm gonna be signing all these girls,' and then nope, not me. Big brutes. Aussie rugby players. Aussie rugby players. You know, I try to be an artist. I moved up to California to be an artist. So I'm writing these songs and they're all for me. Never wanted to be a producer, never thought about writing with other people for other people. So I'm writing this song for me. I got approached by a label that heard one of these songs and they said, 'Look, we want this song for another artist. We don't want, you know, we don't want to sign you. We want to take your song and give it to another artist. And at the time I was working with Kara for the first time, and you know, as a songwriter she's written so many hits, and I talked to her and I said, Kara, look, I don't know what to do, I really want to be an artist, you know, they want my music, this is my music, this is my art. She looks at me and she says, stop being a bitch. She says, no one knows who the hell you are, you have no story, sell your frickin' song. What is it, the last song you're ever gonna write? You bitch. I was like, Jesus, Kara! And so you did. And I did, and that paid my rent, and that got me to stay up here and got me, you know, so I owe a lot to Kara DiGuardi. And the writing credits that you are mounting since then, she's dead right. Yeah, thank you, Kara, for calling me a bitch.
Thank you so much for watching. I made this video because No Name 11 asked me to. So if there's a famous entrepreneur that you want me to profile next, leave it in the comments below and I'll see what I can do. I'd also love to know which of Bruno Mars's top 10 rules had the biggest impact on you. What changes you're going to make as a result of watching this video. Really curious to find out. Leave it in the comments and I'll join in the discussion. Thank you so much for watching. Continue to believe and I'll see you soon.
