“We weren’t trying for it to end up in the vein of Mickey, that was unintentional!”: The Toni Basil influence on Bruno Mars and Rosé’s APT was accidental, says co-producer Cirkut, as he explains how the song was written and recorded

Bruno Mars and Rose APT video.

He might not have released a new solo album since 2016, but for Bruno Mars, the hits just keep on coming. In fact, when Anderson .Paak collaborated with him on their hugely successful An Evening With Silk Sonic album in 2021, he said that getting Mars on your team was like having a “cheat code” for success.

That code was deployed again in 2024, when Mars scored massive hits with both Lady Gaga - Die with a Smile - and, later in the year, Blackpink’s Rosé, via APT. Named after a Korean drinking game, this is a three-minute pop-punk energy shot, with echoes of Toni Basil’s Mickey - the writers of that song, Mike Chapman and Nikki Chinn, are given credits - and British band the Ting Tings.