Chunky

Album: 24K Magic (2016)
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Songfacts®:

  • Here, Bruno Mars praises beautiful, voluptuous women who have their life together.

    She got to shake her little something
    (Shake her little something)
    Throwing that thing from left, right, side to side
    She got to have her own money


    Mars tells us his dream women are independent and stylish. He also has a very specific body type: they must have curves.
  • Mars debuted the song on the October 15, 2016 episode of Saturday Night Live.
  • This song was produced in its entirety by Shampoo Press & Curl, who are a reformed version of The Smeezingtons, Bruno's longtime production/songwriting trio. The Smeezingtons were a group comprising Mars, Philip Lawrence, and Ari Levine, who were responsible for most of the singer's first two albums. They also penned a number of other hit tunes including "Nothin' on You" by B.o.B featuring Mars and "Right Round " by Flo Rida. Shampoo Press & Curl also comprises Mars and Lawrence, plus Brody Brown, a songwriter from California music collective 1500 Or Nothin', who previously co-wrote a few of the Hawaiian-born stars songs, including "Grenade."
  • Singer-songwriter James Fauntleroy (Jordin Sparks'"No Air," Justin Timberlake's Take Back The Night") also contributed to the writing of the song, whose chorus has drawn comparisons withThe Gap Band's 1983 R&B hit "Outstanding."

    It was James Fauntleroy's description of an awards show after-party that got Mars thinking about the sound he wanted for this song and the rest of the 24K album. The singer recalled to NME that Fauntleroy told him that at the party, "Everybody [was] hugged up against the wall, everyone's being too cool, everyone's being tough...The vibe is a little..tight."

    "But the DJ drops The Gap Band's 'Outstanding,'" Mars added, "and James said that he'd never seen anything like it."

    "Everybody just rushed to the dance floor, guys are holding girls' hands, singing to them," he continued. "And that story just kind of inspired me and reminded me of what I want to do and the kind of music I want to write."

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