Bruno Mars is unforgettable covering Kat Perry's "California Gurls"

Katy Perry's "California Gurls" with it's 80's style production makes me think of "Lets hear it for the Boy" by Deniece Williams. Yes, that one from "Footloose".  In both cases, both songs I just think "dumb ass pop song" and then throw up in my mouth a little bit. Courtesy of BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge, Bruno Mars does a sweet rendition of "California Gurls". He absolutely kills it, in a good way. He actually imbues the song with a kind of summer soul and brings out the pretty melody that was always there but hard to hear in Katy's version.

You will probably never see me plunking down ten bucks for a Bruno Mars CD as his pop music tends to be too sweet for my taste but I cannot deny his amazing talent. Not only does he have just the right combination of smoothness and grit to his voice, he approaches melodies in a sincere way making sure never to over sing or apply vocal gymnastics to melodies that do not require them. You cannot escape hearing him on the radio but live performances like this one or him and Travie McCoy doing "Billionare" at the beach acoustically put a smile on my face. In these casual performances you also get a sense that Mars is just a sweet guy who is fun to be around. Apart from his amazing talent as a singer, songwriter- this likability is one of his best assets.

-- Adler Bloom