By Joseph Nian
As if “Die With A Smile” wasn’t good enough, Bruno Mars decided to bless his fans with yet another song this year. Featuring in the new hit song, “APT.”, Bruno Mars hits the top of the chart once again, this time as #1 on Billboard’s Global 200. Collaborating with famous K-pop figure, ROSÉ, Bruno Mars expands his musical audience to the Eastern community.
Although the main chorus consists of the word “APT” (pronounced apa–teu) over and over again, the catchiness of the song never strays away. However, some confusion around the word “APT” arose when the song was released. APT is the Korean pronunciation for the term apartment and draws inspiration from a popular Korean drinking game. In the game, players stack their hands into a column-like structure, similar to an apartment building, and whoever’s hand is pulled on the number that is called by the game’s leader or repeats a previously mentioned number, then that player must drink.
Though the song did face some backlash on its initial release for its contrast with Bruno Mars’ usual songs, the success of the song globally topping over the previous hit – “Die With A Smile” – shows why you should give the song a few listens. As they always say, never judge a book by its cover, so don’t judge this song just by a first listen. All in all, “APT.” is a refreshing song for those who have been deprived of Bruno Mars’ music and may be looking to branch out to other artists from the Eastern hemisphere.