Bruno Mars GQ April 2013 "Style Bible" issue

Pop music superstar Bruno Mars shines on the cover of GQ's second annual April "Style Bible" issue , available on newsstands everywhere March 26th. In the full cover feature now available on GQ.com, GQ's Chris Heath joins Mars in Los Angeles to learn more about the singer's laid-back lifestyle, his approach to his music and sensual lyrics, his career's early start as an Elvis impersonator, the story behind his infamous mugshot, and more. Mars also suits up for GQ in a spring fashion shoot, demonstrating how well a tux jacket can be paired with outfits for almost any occasion.


Bruno Mars on the difficulty of songwriting and what motivates him: "You know how hard it is to write a big song? That shit is hard, man. It's so hard to do. Might be one of the hardest things to ever do. I don't ever want to come out with something safe and get away with 'It sounds good!' It's got to be more than sounding good. The music I like are events. Fucking 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is my favorite song--that song's an event. And that's what I want to do. I'm sure that shocked the world, that song. 'Billie Jean' shocked the world. 'Smells Like Teen Spirit.' Those songs are events. That guy put everything he got into that, and he meant it. It's that unexplainable high. Why I keep doing it. That feeling that you keep on chasing and chasing. Because it's nothing, man. It's taking the air and turning it into something. That's the feeling."

...on his song "Locked Out of Heaven," and his goal of shocking the world with his music: "['Locked Out of Heaven'] shocked me. That it turned out the way it did. I haven't done a song like that. And hopefully every album, I'll get that feeling. And shock the world! Shock the world!"

...on singing about sex: ""It feels good to sing about. It feels...sexy. It puts you in a sexy frame of mind. It feels good to project. Sex is a great party starter."

...on the lyrics of his song "Gorilla": "It was just painting a picture--some animalistic sex. Instead of me singing 'You and me having animalistic sex'--which is a terrible lyric."

...on impersonating Elvis in his father and uncle's variety show at age 4: "I don't remember much. I probably couldn't even speak that much. But I was fucking great at it. ...It was like turning into Batman. I'd go to school and kids are calling me Peter and we're playing baseball and kickball and shit, and then--'All right, guys, I've got to go!'--you put on a sequined jumpsuit, and all of a sudden you're Bruno, the world's youngest Elvis impersonator!"

...on why he is smiling in his infamous mugshot photo: "I have no idea," he says, then laughs before offering the funniest, most poignant answer someone who had just become a pop star could give to this particular question: "It was a picture."

...on why he told cops that it was his first time ever using drugs after he was arrested in Las Vegas for cocaine use: "I don't know where that came from. I was really intoxicated. I was really drunk. So a lot of that is a big blur, and I try every day to forget and keep pushing."

...on where he wants to be once he retires: "On a beach, drinking out of a coconut, watching some kids running around in the sand, looking at the ocean... And then planning a reunion tour, overweight."

Cover PHOTO attached for your use. Credit: Peggy Sirota / GQ.