Bruno Mars: '90s' music taught me it was cool to fall in love'

Bruno Mars relived his flirty school years while recording album 24K Magic.

The singer drops his new record on Friday (18Nov16), featuring the title track and latest single Versace on the Floor. He’s previously crooned about sex for songs like Locked Out of Heaven and Gorilla, and admitted in a new chat with NME that love is the reason he got into music.

"Those ‘90s songs are what I was singing to get the girls in school, the songs that the girls like, what we were dancing to as children. New Edition. Boys II Men. Blackstreet. Mint Condition. Babyface. Jimmy Jam. Terry Lewis. Teddy Riley,” he listed.

"I think that the reason why that music resonates so much for me is that it made it OK to dance - it was cool to dance. It was cool to be joyous, to have fun and wear some flashy s**t. It was cool to fall in love and smile and flirt on the dancefloor."

While he’s all for encouraging women to listen to his love songs, Bruno is against fans pulling holding out their mobile phones at his show. He’s previously explained it ruins the connection between him and the crowd, and he reiterated to NME that he urges all his concertgoers to put their gadgets away after the first song.

“Seeing the reaction (to my performance...) that's the art! That is the art - to feel the room. That's what we get addicted to, this unexplainable feeling where you have the power to give people a night that they'll never forget,” he added.

"But the phone thing created this wall, where I'm going, 'Man, I can't see no faces. I don't know if you're smiling, and you can't dance because you're worried about the shot so you're not moving.'”