The songs of Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars helped define the music of the 2010s and beyond. A duet between the two legends should have been the best thing since sliced bread. Instead, it’s about as good as the moldy sourdough that’s rotting in the back of your fridge.
Of course, all disasters deserve a good autopsy, so here’s a look at why “Die with a Smile On” fails so hard. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ ‘Die with a Smile On’ hearkens back to ‘Grenade’ Mars once made a song about loving someone so much that you’d be willing to die for them. That track was called “Grenade,” and there’s a reason why you don’t hear it as much at the mall anymore.
It has a loopy, lyrical premise that doesn’t work. Anyone can say that they’d due for someone, but unless you are in a war zone, that sort of talk is cheap. In contrast, “Die with a Smile On” is about wanting to be with someone you love when you die.
That’s a better sentiment than the one in “Grenade,” but it’s still awkwardly morbid. Writing a love song about death is tricky, and if Gaga and Mars were going to pull that off, they should have written something less middle-of-the-road. “Bloody Mary,” Gaga’s Gothic pop ballad of Mary Magdalene’s supposed love for Jesus Christ, works so much better than “Die with a Smile On” because it embraces its own darkness.
‘Die with a Smile On’ is deathly boring The other reason “Die with a Smile On” fails is because its instrumental has all t.