Bruno Mars for GQ US April 2013

Photographed by Peggy Sirota

On writing a hit song: “You know how hard it is to write a big song? That s–t is hard, man. It’s so hard to do. Might be one of the hardest things to ever do. I don’t ever want to come out with something safe and get away with ‘It sounds good!’ It’s got to be more than sounding good. The music I like are events. F–king ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’is my favorite song—that song’s an event. And that’s what I want to do. I’m sure that shocked the world, that song. ‘Billie Jean’ shocked the world. ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit.’ Those songs are events. That guy put everything he got into that, and he meant it. It’s that unexplainable high. Why I keep doing it. That feeling that you keep on chasing and chasing. Because it’s nothing, man. It’s taking the air and turning it into something. That’s the feeling.”

On impersonating Elvis in his father at age 4: “I don’t remember much. I probably couldn’t even speak that much. But I was f–king great at it. …It was like turning into Batman. I’d go to school and kids are calling me Peter and we’re playing baseball and kickball and shit, and then—‘All right, guys, I’ve got to go!’—you put on a sequined jumpsuit, and all of a sudden you’re Bruno, the world’s youngest Elvis impersonator!”

On where he wants to be once he retires: “On a beach, drinking out of a coconut, watching some kids running around in the sand, looking at the ocean… And then planning a reunion tour, overweight.”

On his single level house near the crest of a hill in Los Angeles: "I don't like two stories. I like one story. I never grew up with stairs. I like to stick to what I know."

All images @ Peggy Sirota/ GQ

Courtesy of GQ