"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. The former three produced the song under the name of Shampoo Press & Curl with the latter four, as the Stereotypes, co-producing it. 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 is a hip hop soul, pop, and R&B track. The song's lyrics address extravagance, a luxurious lifestyle, and love.

"That's What I Like" received mixed reviews; some music critics considered the song to be one of the best on 24K Magic, while others criticized its lyrical content. The song was a commercial success in the US, where it peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100; it reached number three in Canada and number four in New Zealand. It has been certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), nine-times platinum by Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ) and diamond platinum by Music Canada (MC). The song was also certified diamond by the Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique (SNEP). It is the highest-charting single in the US from the album and was the world's fourth-best-selling digital single of 2017. It sold 9.7 million units, ranking among the best-selling singles worldwide.

The accompanying music video, which was directed by Jonathan Lia and Mars, depicts the latter reciting the song's lyrics and combines choreography with black-and-white animation. Mars performed the song on awards shows such as the 2017 Grammy Awards and the 2017 Brit Awards, and included it on his 24K Magic World Tour (2017–2018) and Bruno Mars Live (2020-2022). It received several nominations and awards, winning Song of the Year at the 2017 Soul Train Music Awards, as well as Song of the Year, Best R&B Song, and Best R&B Performance at the 2018 Grammy Awards. The song has been covered by various singers.

Background and development

In September 2014, Bruno Mars tweeted, "Now it's time to start writing chapter 3", hinting he was working on new music. Following the release of the successful Mark Ronson's single, "Uptown Funk" (2014) featuring Mars, the latter headed to the studio to record more songs. Mars affirmed he had no plans to release a new album "until it's done". It was due in March 2016, but Mars's appearance at the Super Bowl half-time show postponed it for several months. At the 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 did not collaborate very often. In 2015, Jonathan Yip talked 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; "nothing came of it". In June 2016, Yip contacted Mars, who asked Yip if they would like to help him finish a song for his album; he needed another song with a certain tempo and key. Yip sent Mars an idea that caught his attention; he asked the Stereotypes to go to the studio. After they helped Mars finish "24K Magic", Mars challenged the team to help him with 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. Mars, however, 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" that he wanted. The team started to change the rhythms and the drums of the song, and Mars danced along to it and stopped when he could not move to a chord or drum. Once the programming of the drums was finished, the song had a different feeling; despite its slow tempo it had a "danceable double-time". This is due to the trap beats, which modernized the track and gave it "bounce". Then, the Stereotypes tore everything else apart, giving the track new chords and a new pre-hook, B section, and bridge.

In November 2017, Mars was 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 that 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 "That's What I Like" was written by Mars, Philip Lawrence, Christopher Brody Brown, Fauntleroy, Yip, Romulus, Jeremy Reeves, and Ray McCullough II. It was produced by Mars, Lawrence and Brown under the alias Shampoo Press & Curl; and co-produced by Yip, McCullough, Romulus, and Reeves as the Stereotypes. Eric "E-Panda" Hernandez played the live drums while Mars, Fauntleroy, and Lawrence performed background vocals. At Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, California, Charles Moniz recorded and engineered the track with assistance from Jacob Dennis. It was mixed at MixStar Studios in Virginia Beach by Serban Ghenea, with John Hanes serving as mixing engineer. The track was mastered by Tom Coyne at Sterling Sound, NYC.

"Versace on the Floor" was scheduled to be the second single released from Mars's third studio album 24K Magic (2016). In early January 2017, however, AllAccess reported that "That's What I Like" was being sent to Top 40 radio stations as the second single instead. 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 and to American contemporary hit radio and rhythmic contemporary stations on the next day. BBC Radio 1 began adding the song onto 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 with four remixes of the song was released for digital download in various countries.

Composition

"That's What I Like" is a hip hop soul, pop, R&B, and funk song. It was composed in the key of B minor at a tempo of 67 beats per minute. The song features Mars in the center of the track, supported by enthusiastic backing vocals, Boyz II Men-style finger-snaps, a "silky pre-chorus", and "punctuating ad libs". Bill Lamb of ThoughtCo described the single as an "R&B groove, giving a nod to the new jack swing music of the late 1980s and early 1990s".

Billboard Andrew Unterberger said the song is reminiscent of the R&B from the early 1990s, infused with New Jack Swing and a little hip-hop, comparing it to the "harmonies and Uptown production of early Jodeci". Christopher Weingarten of Rolling Stone wrote that the track "brings the silky vibes" of R. Kelly's 12 Play (1993) "into the boom of modern trap". Chris Molanphy from Slate defined "That's What I Like" as a mix of the "80s-into-90s styles like New Edition pop-and-B and New Jack Swing" infused with "the skittering, thumping 808 drums of a modern trap" song. He compared Mars's vocals to those of Bobby Brown, especially in his "high-register vocal". Katherine St. Asaph of Pitchfork compared its sound to that of The 20/20 Experience (2013) by Justin Timberlake. Vulture Craig Jenkins noted a resemblance between the composition of "That's What I Like" and The Neptunes' production of "Kitty Kat" (2006) by Beyoncé. The lyrics of the song have been described as "playful" and "opulent"; they were written from the point of view of someone "who loves himself" and luxury ("strawberry champagne and ice bucket") as much as his lover, with her being promised everything she wants, being allowed to "dictate the pace of the night". Mars references "Julio" from "Uptown Funk". On February 26, 2019, West Java's Indonesian Broadcasting Commission placed a daytime ban on the radio broadcast of several songs, including "That's What I Like", due to their adult, offensive and obscene lyrics.

Critical reception "That's What I Like" received mostly positive reviews from music critics. Andrew Unterberger, writing for Billboard, and Rob Arcand of Spin found the single to be one of the best on 24K Magic. Vulture Jenkins said the track is one of the best on the album and sonically one of the "most modern" songs due to "a killer vocal and tasteful trap drums". Peter Helman of Stereogum said the recording is one of the "catchiest" tracks on 24K Magic. Caroline Sullivan from The Guardian praised the song for paying homage to R Kelly, calling it a "resurrection". Karen Gwee from Consequence of Sound commended Mars's vocals and said the singer takes his vocals to the limit. Gwee dubbed the track "giddy". The Observer Kitty Empire praised the lyrics, saying Mars is able to give "conspicuous consumption with more charm than boorishness". In a mixed review Nick Levine, writing for NME, said he did not enjoy the track's lyrics, despite finding them playful.

Jonathan Wroble of Slant Magazine criticized the lyrics, saying they appear to be "written with a dollar store's rhyming dictionary". He chose the rhymes between "beach house in Miami" and "Julio, serve that scampi" as an example. The Independent Andy Gill and Patrick Ryan from USA Today both found the lyrics on "That's What I Like" to exhibit a list of "unimaginative" and "obnoxious" hedonism.

"That's What I Like" was listed as the second best song of 2017 according to Associated Press's Mesfin Fekadu. She said, "Bruno Mars is perfect. That is all." It was the 34th among Billboard's 100 Best Songs of 2017: Critics' Picks list; Ross Scarano wrote that Mars "is a pop star of total hospitality" showing several clichés of a luxurious life, such as "sex in front of the fireplace and champagne with strawberries", "waking up inside clean sheets without any clothes on", and "the private chef, Julio, preparing shrimp scampi for dinner". In late 2017, Bill Lamb of ThoughtCo considered the single the fourth-best song by Mars. Minou Clark from HuffPost called the single "the ultimate cuffing season anthem" due to its "sexy smooth melody". In 2026, Walaa Elsiddig writing for Billboard felt the song holds "a polished, timeless feel."

Accolades 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. That same year, the song was also nominated for Song of the Year at the Telehit Awards. The single received the awards for Favorite Soul/R&B Song at the 2017 American Music Awards and for Song of the Year at the Soul Train Music Awards. In 2018, "That's What I Like" won Song of the Year, Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song at the 2018 Grammy Awards. The track received a nomination for Favorite Song at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and won R&B Song of the Year, whilst being nominated for Song of the Year at the 2018 iHeartRadio Music Awards. It also received a Titanium Award from iHeartRadio for reaching a threshold of 1 billion total audience spins. In the same year, Cabuizee's version of the song was nominated for Best Trap Remix at the Remix Awards.