At the start of this year, if you told me that Bruno Mars, the man who is notorious for taking long breaks in between his projects, would come back in a massive way, collaborating with two of the biggest stars in music to create two of the best songs of the year, I would’ve called you insane. 

But here we are, 2 months after his record-smashing single “Die With A Smile” with Lady Gaga, Bruno is back again. This time, in collaboration with ROSÉ to create “APT.” 

ROSÉ made a name for herself as a member of the K-POP band Blackpink with fellow members Jisoo, Jennie, and Lisa. Each member has had their own individual success in the field of K-Pop, but together, they created and have become one of, if not the most famous K-Pop bands in history. That’s a story for another article. For now, let’s focus solely on ROSÉ.

ROSÉ is the last member of Blackpink to officially enter the solo music world. Her fellow band members each have hadat least one album to their names. While “Apt.” is a single release, it is coming from her upcoming studio album “Rosie”. 

To understand how this song fully came to fruition, we have to go back a few months. 

Our story starts on August 16th at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles California. There, Mars was holding a concert. Who was in attendance? Our woman of the hour herself, ROSE. Later that night on social media, she shared a photo of her in attendance with a Bruno Mars shirt on. 

Two months later to the day on October 16th, She shared a Polaroid photo of the two. According to the caption of that post, ROSE taught Bruno the Korean drinking game named which the song is named after. Mars also shared a story thatthe singer supposedly tried to kiss him that night, promoting a possible upcoming release.

The next day, ROSE officially announced the release of the song. An accompanying artwork was revealed alongside the announcement, featuring a black-and-white rose-tinted photo of Mars behind a drum set and Rosé lying in front of the set with a black leather jacket and skirt on. The next day, the song officially came out. 

The track is named after the drinking game “APT.” It also uses the game’s rhythmic chant of ‘apateu’ to create a chorus that is both playful and addictive. 

In an interview with Vogue, ROSÉ revealed that she was initially nervous about how the song would be received given its title. “I remember going home [from the studio] kind of freaked out,” She said. “Is this OK, that I’ve written a song about a drinking game?”. Furthermore, Rosé “asked her team to delete the song from their phones”, only to find out “that they were already obsessed with it”

Rose spoke about the song’s origins in an interview with Stereogum. “‘APT’ is actually my favorite Korean drinking game that I play with my friends back home. It’s so simple, puts a smile on your face, and breaks the ice at any party. One night in the studio, I taught my crew how to play the game. Everyone was fascinated, especially when I started the chant, so we played around with it, and I said we should make a song out of it… and after Bruno joined the track, the rest became history!

The music video the song is paired with, fits well into the vibe the song gives off. You’ll frequently see very sped-up and fast moments throughout the song as well as moments that give a very early 2000’s/Y2K-type feel to it. 

For Mars, this is a very welcome change of pace. We’re used to the R&B/Soul feel from him in most of his music. ‘APT’ Takes a very sharp left turn, venturing into the pop-punk/pop rock feel that is unique to both Rosé’s and Bruno’sdiscography. 

Rosé’s album “Rosie” comes out later this year on December 6th. It’s unknown as of now if Mars will make more appearances on the album.