Before Bruno Mars became a massive superstar, he was just a member of the Smeezingtons. Sure, Bruno nabbed a couple of hits under his belt with a songwriting credit on Flo Rida’s “Right Round” and a production credit on K’naan’s 2010 World Cup song “Wavin’ Flag”. But as a solo act, things hadn’t quite proved fruitful yet. Insert Travie McCoy of Gym Class Heroes fame. He was looking to make his mark as an artist on his own, too. Eventually, the pair came together for McCoy’s one-hit wonder “Billionaire”.
The infectious hook came as a byproduct of Bruno scraping for change at the time. In a 2010 conversation with Billboard, the pop star reflected on the inspiration behind “Billionaire”. At the time, he was working in London and had to grapple with the exchange rate between American and British currencies. Consequently, Mars quickly realized just how little money he actually had after everything transferred.
“Me and [production partner] Ari Levine went out to London to work on producing and writing for an artist. We had per diems, so they gave us £250 [a few hundred dollars] each to live off of for 11 days,” Bruno Mars said. “And everything there was so expensive. We were like, ‘Is this the biggest mistake we’ve ever made? We thought we were broke in California; what are we going to do here?’ So we’ve got no money, and I’m walking the streets and came up with, ‘I wanna be a billionaire, so frickin’ bad.’”
Being Broke in London Sparked The Bruno Mars Hook for One-Hit Wonder ‘Billionaire’
Bruno Mars betting on himself obviously paid off in a huge way. Back in 2009 and 2010, he quickly became a household name after “Billionaire” and B.o.B’s “Nothin on You”. All of this came because Elektra co-president John Janick knew he heard money when he heard those hooks. “Every song sounded like a smash,” Janick told Billboard. “As soon as they walked out of the meeting, I said, ‘We have to sign these guys.’”
Travie McCoy had a similar response when he heard the “Billionaire” hook. Initially, the songs were simply played for him as reference points for another singer to eventually hop on. However, off of sheer talent, McCoy felt compelled to keep Bruno Mars on board. “The first time I heard that dude belt, it was like people hearing Michael Jackson for the first time,” he recalled to the publication. “There was one other prospect for the hook. But after he went in and laid down the final vocals, it was a no-brainer. We had to keep him on the record.”
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