"That's What I Like" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bruno Mars from his third studio album, 24K Magic (2016). The song was written by Mars, Philip Lawrence, Christopher Brody Brown, James Fauntleroy, Johnathan Yip, Ray Romulus, Jeremy Reeves, and Ray McCullough II. Mars, Lawrence, and Brody Brown produced the song under the name Shampoo Press & Curl, while Romulus, Reeves, Yip, and Fauntleroy co-produced it as Stereotypes. Atlantic Records released the song to Hot AC radio in the United States on January 30, 2017, as the second single from the album. The song blends hip hop, soul, pop, and R&B styles. Its lyrics talk about luxury, a rich lifestyle, and love.
The song received mixed reviews. Some music critics praised it as one of the best tracks on 24K Magic, while others criticized its lyrics. It was a commercial success in the United States, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. It also reached number three in Canada and number four in New Zealand. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the song diamond, while Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ) certified it eight times platinum, and Music Canada (MC) certified it diamond platinum. The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique (SNEP) also certified it diamond. It was the highest-charting single from the album and the world’s fourth-best-selling digital single of 2017, selling 9.7 million units.
The music video, directed by Jonathan Lia and Bruno Mars, shows Mars performing the song’s lyrics while combining dance moves with black-and-white animation. Mars performed the song on shows like the 2017 Grammy Awards and the 2017 Brit Awards. It was also part of his 24K Magic World Tour (2017–2018) and Bruno Mars Live (2020–2022). The song won Song of the Year at the 2017 Soul Train Music Awards and received nominations for Song of the Year, Best R&B Song, and Best R&B Performance at the 2018 Grammy Awards. Many other singers have covered the song.
Background and development
In September 2014, Bruno Mars tweeted, "Now it's time to start writing chapter 3," suggesting he was working on new music. After the release of Mark Ronson’s successful single, "Uptown Funk" (2014), which featured Mars, he went to the studio to record more songs. Mars said he had no plans to release a new album "until it's done." The album was scheduled for release in March 2016, but Mars’s performance at the Super Bowl halftime show delayed it for several months. At that time, seven songs were already recorded.
The Stereotypes had known Mars and worked with him since 2007, but after he signed a deal with Atlantic Records, they collaborated less often. In 2015, Jonathan Yip spoke with Mars about working together. Mars was already recording 24K Magic and asked for "some beats," which Yip sent. Mars later asked for more beats, and the Stereotypes sent them, but they never heard from him again; "nothing came of it." In June 2016, Yip contacted Mars, who asked if they would like to help finish a song for his album. He needed another song with a specific tempo and key. Yip sent Mars an idea that interested him, and he asked the Stereotypes to go to the studio. After they helped Mars finish "24K Magic," Mars challenged the team to help him create two more songs.
At this point, Mars had already shown the Stereotypes two songs, including a fully written and produced demo of "That's What I Like" that sounded like a ballad, according to Ray Romulus. However, Mars told the Stereotypes he wanted the song to make him move in a certain way and that it was missing a certain "bounce." He wanted them to focus on the "groove, shifting and fine-tuning" until they found the "precise ingredient of danceable joy" he wanted. The team changed the rhythms and drums of the song, and Mars danced along to it, stopping when he could not move to a chord or drum. Once the drum programming was finished, the song had a different feeling; despite its slow tempo, it had a "danceable double-time." This was due to the trap beats, which modernized the track and gave it "bounce." Then, the Stereotypes changed other parts of the song, adding new chords, a pre-hook, B section, and bridge.
In November 2017, Mars appeared as a guest on the Charlie Rose Show. He said the album was intended to make people feel fabulous: "I'm talking about eating shrimp scampi and lobster tails and drinking strawberry champagne." Romulus said the lyrical concept came from Mars, adding, "All that about the Cadillacs and champagne… that's how Bruno is. He's giving you a day in the life." During a phone interview with CBS, Mars said he second-guessed the song, having to listen to it "for over a year to make sure it's all right." It was the first song that Mars asked James Fauntleroy to help him write.
Production and release
The song "That's What I Like" was written by Mars, Philip Lawrence, Christopher Brody Brown, Fauntleroy, Yip, Romulus, Jeremy Reeves, and Ray McCullough II. Mars, Lawrence, and Brown produced the song under the name Shampoo Press & Curl. Yip, McCullough, Romulus, and Reeves helped produce the song as Stereotypes. Eric "E-Panda" Hernandez played the live drums, and Mars, Fauntleroy, and Lawrence sang background vocals. At Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, California, Charles Moniz recorded and engineered the track with help from Jacob Dennis. The song was mixed at MixStar Studios in Virginia Beach by Serban Ghenea, with John Hanes as the mixing engineer. Tom Coyne mastered the track at Sterling Sound in New York City.
"Versace on the Floor" was planned to be the second single from Mars's third studio album, 24K Magic (2016). In early January 2017, AllAccess reported that "That's What I Like" would instead be sent to Top 40 radio stations as the second single. Atlantic Records released the track on January 30, 2017, to adult contemporary, hot adult contemporary, and modern adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The next day, the song was also released to American contemporary hit radio and rhythmic contemporary stations. BBC Radio 1 added the song to their playlists on February 24, 2017. In Italy, the song was sent for radio airplay on March 3, 2017, through Warner. On April 21, 2017, a package containing four remixes of the song was released for digital download in several countries.
Composition
"That's What I Like" is a song that blends hip-hop soul, pop, R&B, and funk styles. It was created in the key of B flat minor and has a tempo of 67 beats per minute. The song centers on Bruno Mars, with backing vocalists adding energy. It includes finger-snapping similar to Boyz II Men, a smooth pre-chorus, and added sounds that emphasize parts of the song. Bill Lamb of ThoughtCo described the song as having an R&B rhythm that reminds people of new jack swing music from the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Andrew Unterberger of Billboard said the song is similar to early 1990s R&B, with New Jack Swing and some hip-hop elements, like the harmonies and production style of early Jodeci. Christopher Weingarten of Rolling Stone wrote that the track brings the smooth feel of R. Kelly's 12 Play (1993) into the sound of modern trap music. Chris Molanphy of Slate described "That's What I Like" as a mix of 1980s and 1990s styles, such as New Edition's pop-and-B and New Jack Swing, combined with fast, rhythmic 808 drum beats from modern trap songs. He compared Mars's singing to Bobby Brown's, especially in his high-pitched parts. Katherine St. Asaph of Pitchfork noted similarities to Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience (2013). Craig Jenkins of Vulture said the song's structure resembles The Neptunes' work on Beyoncé's "Kitty Kat" (2006).
The song's lyrics are described as fun and luxurious, written from the perspective of someone who loves himself and luxury ("strawberry champagne and ice bucket") as much as his lover. The lyrics promise the lover everything she wants and let her set the pace of the night. Mars mentions "Julio" from "Uptown Funk." On February 26, 2019, Indonesia's Indonesian Broadcasting Commission banned the song during daytime radio broadcasts because of its adult, offensive, and explicit lyrics.
Critical reception
"That's What I Like" received mostly positive reviews from music critics. Andrew Unterberger of Billboard and Rob Arcand of Spin said the single was one of the best songs on the album 24K Magic. Vulture's Jenkins called the track one of the best on the album and noted that it sounds very modern because of "a strong vocal performance and well-chosen trap drums." Peter Helman of Stereogum described the song as one of the "most catchy" tracks on 24K Magic. Caroline Sullivan from The Guardian praised the song for referencing R. Kelly, calling it a "revival." Karen Gwee from Consequence of Sound complimented Bruno Mars's singing, saying he uses his voice in a powerful way. She called the track "excited" or "enthusiastic." Kitty Empire of The Observer praised the lyrics, saying Mars expresses "luxury and enjoyment with charm rather than rudeness." In a mixed review, Nick Levine of NME said he did not like the lyrics, even though he found them playful.
Jonathan Wroble of Slant Magazine criticized the lyrics, saying they seem to use simple rhymes from a basic rhyming dictionary. He used the lines "beach house in Miami" and "Julio, serve that scampi" as an example. Andy Gill of The Independent and Patrick Ryan of USA Today both said the lyrics show "unimaginative" and "annoying" descriptions of luxury and enjoyment.
"That's What I Like" was listed as the second best song of 2017 by Associated Press's Mesfin Fekadu. She said, "Bruno Mars is perfect. That is all." It was ranked 34th on Billboard's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2017: Critics' Picks. Ross Scarano wrote that Mars shows many common ideas about a luxurious life, such as "sex by a fireplace and champagne with strawberries," "waking up in clean sheets without clothes," and "a private chef, Julio, cooking shrimp scampi for dinner." In late 2017, Bill Lamb of ThoughtCo called the song the fourth-best song by Mars. Minou Clark from HuffPost said the song is "the perfect song for the season when people are looking for a romantic partner" because of its "smooth, sexy melody."
In 2017, "That's What I Like" was nominated for Choice Song: Male Artist, Choice Music: Summer Song, and Choice Music: R&B/Hip-Hop Song at the Teen Choice Awards. It was also nominated for Song of the Year at the Telehit Awards. The song won Favorite Soul/R&B Song at the 2017 American Music Awards and Song of the Year at the Soul Train Music Awards. In 2018, it won Song of the Year, Best R&B Performance, and Best R&B Song at the 2018 Grammy Awards. It was nominated for Favorite Song at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and won R&B Song of the Year, while being nominated for Song of the Year at the 2018 iHeartRadio Music Awards. It also received a Titanium Award from iHeartRadio for reaching 1 billion total audience spins.
The song was nominated for Top Hot 100 Song, Top Streaming Song (Video), Top Radio Song, and Top R&B Song at the Billboard Music Awards, winning in the Top R&B Song category. It was one of the Top 10 Gold International Gold Songs at the RTHK International Pop Poll Awards. In 2018, it received the first award for Outstanding Song, Traditional category at the NAACP Image Awards. "That's What I Like" received two awards from ASCAP: one for Most Performed Song at the Pop Music Awards and another for Top R&B/Hip-Hop Song at the Rhythm & Soul Music Awards. In the following year, it won Most Performed Song again and was one of the winners of Winning R&B/Hip-Hop Song at the same events.
Commercial performance
When the album was released, the song "That's What I Like" first appeared at number 79 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week of December 10, 2016. In February 2017, Bruno Mars's performance at the Grammy Awards helped the song reach the top 10 of the Hot 100, where it stayed for two months. The single reached number two on the chart, staying there for four weeks behind Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" (2017). After several remixes featuring artists like Gucci Mane and PartyNextDoor, the song climbed to number one in its fifteenth week on the chart, replacing Kendrick Lamar's "Humble" (2017). Both songs spent one week at number one, and "That's What I Like" became Mars's seventh number one single on the Hot 100. The track spent ten weeks at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. It spent 24 weeks in the top five of the Hot 100, becoming one of five singles to spend at least 24 weeks in the top five and 28 weeks in the top ten. As of 2018, Mars, Sheeran, and Jewel were the only artists with two songs that spent at least six months in the top 10 of the Hot 100. The song spent 52 weeks on the chart and ranked number three on the Year-End Billboard Hot 100.
On the Radio Songs chart, "That's What I Like" reached number one and stayed there for nine weeks, becoming Mars's longest run at the top as a solo artist. It surpassed his previous seven-week number-one runs for "Just the Way You Are" (2010) and "Locked Out of Heaven" (2013). On the Mainstream Top 40 chart, the single reached number one, tying Mars with Justin Timberlake for the highest total among solo males with eight number-one songs on the chart. For the week of July 22, 2017, the song returned to the top of the Hot R&B Songs chart, staying there for 20 weeks. It tied with The Weeknd's "Starboy" (2016) and Drake's "One Dance" (2016), featuring WizKid and Kyla, for the most weeks at number one. In August 2020, this record was broken by The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" (2019). "That's What I Like" reached number one on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart and topped the Year-End Chart in the format. The track reached the top spot on the Rhythmic chart. The single was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It became the fourth best-selling song of 2017 in the US, with 1,673,000 downloads and 835,856,000 streams. In August 2025, Billboard revealed the "Top Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs of the 21st Century," with "That's What I Like" ranked number six on the chart.
On the Canadian Hot 100, the song peaked at number three on April 17, 2017, spending 38 weeks on the chart and was certified diamond by Music Canada (MC). The song ended 2017 at number seven on the Year-End Charts in Canada.
"That's What I Like" peaked at number 12 on the UK singles chart and was certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), meaning it reached 1,800,000 units in sales and streams. On the Belgian charts, the single debuted at number 34 on February 25, 2017, on the Ultratop 50 in Flanders, peaking at number three for two consecutive weeks in April. On the Ultratop 50 in Wallonia, the song debuted at number 34 on March 25, 2017, and reached number eight in May. It was certified platinum by the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA). The track peaked at number seven on the Portuguese Single Charts and earned a platinum plaque from the Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa (AFP) for 20,000 units. "That's What I Like" entered the Official New Zealand Music Chart at number 26 on February 20, 2017. In its sixth week, the track reached number four, where it stayed for two weeks. It ranked fifth on the 2017 Year-End List and received an eight-time platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of
Music video
On March 1, 2017, Mars shared a message on his Twitter account about filming the music video for "That's What I Like." He wrote, "Just finished shootin it! I'm gonna edit it, take a bubble bath & then we party. Gimme 2 hours! Let the count down begin #TWIL." The video was directed by Mars and Jonathan Lia. The choreography was created by Mars and Phil Tayag before filming began, which allowed Lia and Mars to make animations before recording the video. Some animations were added later by GenPop. The music video was filmed on a grey background in Los Angeles using a camera that stayed in one place for the entire shot. Several hand-drawn animations that connect to the song's lyrics appeared and disappeared off-screen. To create this effect, Lia filmed Mars while the song played at half-speed. Then, he doubled the speed of the footage, making the "synced playback" feel strange or dream-like. This was done in a single, eight-minute take. Mars and Lia had a different idea for the video, but after a test shoot, they decided to use only one light. When Mars began dancing, he and Lia realized "that was the video." The video was released on March 1, 2017, on YouTube.
The video starts with Mars wearing a black, white, and gold-striped silk shirt, black track pants, white sneakers, and sunglasses. During the video, Mars dances alone on a white background with animations that move with him during his choreography. The black-and-white animations include a mirror, a Manhattan condominium, a glass of strawberry champagne, a Cadillac car and its wheels, a trip to Paris, and dancing partners that appear as Mars moves across the screen. The cartoon sketches, which connect to the lyrics, were drawn to show how flexible Mars's dance moves are. Rania Aniftos, a critic, said Mars shows charm throughout the video.
Critics such as Althea Legaspi from Rolling Stone and Minou Clark from HuffPost praised Mars's dancing and choreography. Mike Wass from Idolator and Karen Brill from Vulture compared the video to Drake's "Hotline Bling" (2015) because of its simple style and "unadulterated feeling-yourself-ness." Wass and Rap-Up staff called Mars's footwork "fancy," while Brill said the video is "wondrous" but suggested it should include "the ubiquitous music video cube." J'na Jefferson from Vibe said the video's magic comes from its simplicity because of Mars's performance, visual effects, and editing. Alex Young from Consequence of Sound praised how the choreography and animation work together. Rania Aniftos from Billboard said the video will make viewers smile and want to watch it again. In 2017, it won Best Male Video at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan and was nominated for Best International Video at the LOS40 Music Awards 2017, a category judged by a panel. The video won Video of the Year at the 2017 American Music Awards. In 2018, it won Outstanding Music Video at the NAACP Image Awards and was nominated for Best Music Video at the iHeartRadio Music Awards. The video effects were available on Facebook for users to try; it was the first time the platform created a camera effect based on music. As of October 2025, the music video has been viewed more than 2.4 billion times.
Live performances and use in other media
Bruno Mars first performed "That's What I Like" live at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards on February 12, 2017. During the performance, Mars danced in time with his backup singers. Near the end of the song, he performed a "doo-wop harmonizing" section, interacting with women in the audience and using his high-pitched vocal style. Critics praised the performance. Joe Lynch from Billboard gave Mars's performance a score of 11 out of 20, stating that Mars is "one of pop's finest showmen" who can make a song "sound like a real hit." Billy Nilles from E! News noted Mars's "smooth dance moves and silky vocals," and described how the audience seemed captivated by him. Rolling Stone's Elias Leight said Mars performed in a "seduction mode," using his voice to express this. Leight compared Mars's voice to the "power" of New Edition's Johnny Gill.
Mars performed the song again at the 2017 Brit Awards on February 21. He wore a vintage-style 1990s color-block collared top with navy slacks and performed a choreographed routine with his band. Halfway through the song, Mars sang directly to the audience. At the 2017 iHeartRadio Music Awards, Mars performed the song as part of a medley with "Treasure," a track from his 2012 album Unorthodox Jukebox. Andrew Unterberger from Billboard called this performance the best of the night because Mars made the medley "seamless." An acoustic version of the song was performed on the Charlie Rose Show, where Mars and some bandmates used a table as a soft drum set. Mars also performed the song at the Apollo Theater as part of his 24K Magic album for his CBS special Bruno Mars: 24K Magic Live at the Apollo, which aired on November 29, 2017.
"That's What I Like" was also performed during Mars's 24K Magic World Tour (2017–18) and included in the set list for An Evening with Silk Sonic at Park MGM (2022), a concert residency with Anderson .Paak as Silk Sonic. Mars performed the song as a medley with "Wake Up in the Sky" and "Please Me" during his Bruno Mars Live tours (2020–2022). Starting on October 4, 2024, the medley included "That's What I Like" and "Please Me."
Kurt Hugo Schneider and Mario Jose released a cover of "That's What I Like" for download on July 13, 2017. Macy Kate also recorded a cover of the song, which is now only available on YouTube.