To be honest, anytime a Bruno Mars song comes on, I have the immediate compulsion to skip it. I don’t know what causes this, but the beginning of each song and just seeing that it’s a Bruno Mars song sets me off. I would like to note that sometimes I’m not able to skip the song, and I do end up enjoying it. 

To begin this song, lyrics and instrumentals-wise, sound very similar to Bruno’s other songs from this album. The tune is an upbeat synth sound that conveys a tone of excitement and hope. “Somewhere in Brooklyn” is about a woman the narrator meets in the middle of a train stop. They begin a conversation, but she disappears on the train to go to Brooklyn. The narrator spends countless days searching for the woman, asking every person he meets if they’ve seen her. Although the song keeps a fun beat throughout the whole song, the lyrics are neutral enough that the tone can easily be changed to one of sorrow and yearning with the right instrumentals.

The narrator mentions “little miss perfect” in reference to the woman. This song is meant to be one of those “meet-cutes” everyone experiences at least once in their life. You meet someone that immediately makes your heart flutter, and you create a whole “perfect” person in your mind through just this one interaction. Because the narrator loses the woman before he gets to know more about her, he imagines what could’ve been.  

It’s very important that the woman is specifically going to Brooklyn. Brooklyn represents youth and creativity and often marks the beginning of an adventure. 

I think this song is a perfect representation of the “Manic Pixie Dream Girl” that is more seen in movies. This character is an archetype of the male-mind’s perfect woman that is mystical and unique, like a fairy. She is unpredictable and spontaneous which creates adventure and excitement for the male protagonist. This character often doesn’t have many other personality traits, other than what the male protagonist dreams up in his mind. The woman in this song that doesn’t even have a name is the most perfect woman in the narrator’s eyes. She’s a gorgeous, mysterious, and adventurous woman that disappears which creates a whole storyline for the narrator to search for this perfect girl.  

This song will not be added to my playlist. This song is fine, but it sounds like every other Bruno Mars song. Someone could easily switch out this song with any of the other songs from the same album, and I wouldn’t notice a difference. Sorry! 

Work Cited: 

Bruno Mars – Somewhere In Brooklyn. genius.com, https://genius.com/Bruno-mars-somewhere-in-brooklyn-lyrics. Accessed 28 Jan. 2023. 

Images: 

https://open.spotify.com/album/1uyf3l2d4XYwiEqAb7t7fX 

https://www.discogs.com/artist/1357693-Bruno-Mars 

https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2020/11/bruno-mars-redesigns-selvarey-rum/