D minor · Camelot 7A · 144 BPM
Locked Out of Heaven
by Bruno Mars
- 144
- BPM
- D minor
- Key
- 7A
- Camelot
- 73
- Danceability
- 5
- Acousticness
The single reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, holding the top spot for six consecutive weeks and becoming Bruno Mars's fourth chart-topper in the country. "Locked Out of Heaven" also led the Canadian Hot 100 for three straight weeks and landed inside the top ten across several other countries. The Recording Industry Association of America and Music Canada eventually certified it diamond, while it went seven times platinum in both Australia and New Zealand.
The song came out of a jam session backstage after a show, where Mars sang the phrase "Locked Out of Heaven" in a greenroom. Philip Lawrence recalled that the track gained meaning as the writing progressed, describing it as being with someone who shows a new way to love. The Smeezingtons traveled to New York to work with Jeff Bhasker, Emile Haynie and Mark Ronson, and it was there that Mars built the riff on drums, bass and guitar. Early versions sounded like a cha-cha-style duet reminiscent of Santana's "Smooth", and Ronson brought in the Dap-Kings to help lock down the groove. Horn parts recorded by Michael Leonhart never made the final cut.
Mars said the Police were the band that influenced him to write the song, and critics compared his vocals to Sting's. The track earned three Grammy nominations and picked up several awards. It later featured in his Super Bowl XLVIII halftime show set list.
Locked Out of Heaven runs at 144 BPM, the tempo of dubstep and trap counted in half time, and hardstyle. In classical terms it sits in allegro territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 1.67 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 417 ms. It is in D minor, Camelot 7A, which shares its notes with F major and mixes cleanly with G minor and A minor.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.