Every week, Consequence’s Songs of the Week column looks at great new tunes from the last seven days and analyzes notable releases. Find our new favorites and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist, and for other great songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, we try and parse out if Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ new collaborative track “Die with a Smile” is actually good.
Is Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die with a Smile” Good?
Honestly, It’s Pretty Good!
Bruno Mars has always been the throwback showman, and he really reached the apex of his nostalgia-core soul alter-ego with Silk Sonic, his collaborative project with Anderson. Paak. His last three albums, An Evening with Silk Sonic, 24K Magic, and Unorthodox Jukebox, were so intent on living in the past that it genuinely seems too late for Mars to reverse course and make something that feels contemporary — not to mention “Uptown Funk,” the seismic hit that confirmed his status as the ultimate nostalgia crooner.
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On “Die with a Smile,” Mars’ first single since the Silk Sonic days three years ago, he does not trade his classic, organic Smeezingtons pop for dance beats and a Chromatica-esque sheen. He’s also not belting like the cocaine-addled, funkadelic sideman he played on An Evening with Silk Sonic. Instead, Mars shows up and does what he does best: simple, satisfying love ballads.
For many (like my colleague Mary), this simply isn’t good enough — especially compared to Lady Gaga’s wildly ranging catalog and chameleonic persona. But he sounds emphatic and towering on “Die with a Smile.” It’s hard not to believe him when he croons, “I’m gonna love you every night like it’s the last night,” over the drums pounding and a reverb-ridden electric guitar washing about.
Lady Gaga, predictably, blends gorgeously with Mars’ crystal clear topline, and her vocal charisma is on par with her duet partner through and through. After all, Gaga is no stranger to a throwback sound, and can seamlessly shift roles and eras like she’s flipping through a fashion catalog. As we saw in Silk Sonic, Mars thrives when he has someone to work off of in real-time — while Gaga doesn’t bring the same kind of cheeky attitude that .Paak provided, she does have powerhouse belts and delectable harmonies.
But the question remains: Is this a step forward for both artists? Or is it yet another pointless retreading of the past, a mining of the bygone era of power duets a la “Endless Love,” offending no one but satisfying only a select few? I’m hesitant to say the latter, if only for the crisp, anthemic production of “Die with a Smile,” which is immaculately mixed and just plain pretty. While not a leap, it is a collaboration that lives up to its star-studded package. — Paolo Ragusa