Songfacts®:

• A perm is a series of chemicals that African-American girls (and some guys) use on their hair to make it longer and straighter. The process is also known as a hair relaxer, and Mars uses the term as a lyrical metaphor for the way he wants his women to be on the dance floor: relaxed and sexy.
• Mars wants girls to forget about social media in his company.
  
  What you can't dance? Ain't got rhythm?
  What you got a man? I don't see you with him
  Put your phone down, let's get it
  Forget your Instagram and your Twitter
  
  "I say it in my shows after the first song," he told NME. "I try to tell people, like, 'Put your cameras down!' It's just, why I wanted to do music my whole life is because I fell in love with holding a microphone and being the Master of Ceremonies. And with that, seeing the reaction… that's the art! That is the art – to feel the room. That's what we get addicted to, this unexplainable feeling where you have the power to give people a night that they'll never forget."
  
  "But the phone thing created this wall," Mars added, "where I'm going, 'Man, I can't see no faces. I don't know if you're smiling, and you can't dance because you're worried about the shot so you're not moving.'"