‘In my Oppa era’: Bruno Mars is reportedly making his debut at K-pop’s biggest award show and we need to know if he’s started working on his aegyo yet

Bruno Mars meant it when he said he was in his “Oppa” era. The singer is in talks to perform at the 2024 MAMA Awards, a large-scale three-day event celebrating the biggest achievements in Asian music over the last year.

Per the K-pop website TenAsia, the American singer is considering appearing on the show, which will kick off in L.A. on Nov. 21 and move on to Osaka in Japan the following days. The same report suggested Mars will be a part of the Japanese broadcasts, unlike his Silk Sonic band partner Anderson .Paak, who has long been confirmed to perform at the L.A. date alongside the prolific Korean artist and label executive J.Y. Park.

Bruno Mars has one of the biggest Korean songs of the year

Mars’ first-ever collaboration with a K-pop act, “APT.” with Blackpink’s Rosé, is a certified smash hit that has been topping charts ever since its release on Oct. 18. In America, the song’s success turned Rosé into the first female K-pop solo artist to debut on the Billboard Hot 100 top 10, coming in at number 8. The single also made it to the top of the Billboard Global 200 and the Global Excluding U.S. charts.

In Korea, “APT.” was the two musicians’ first “perfect all-kill,” meaning it charted at number one on the country’s principal chart, the Instiz iChart, in its hourly, daily, and weekly lists simultaneously — it maintained the PAK position for over 11 days or 270 hours.

The song also gave Mars his first Korean music show win, prompting Rosé to congratulate him on Instagram, quipping “You made it!” The “Uptown Funk” singer replied with a message written fully in Korean where he thanked the fans and his collaborator and joked that he had cried “all morning” after receiving the news. He signed it, “Love, Bruno Oppa” (the Korean honorific used by younger women to address older men). Before that, Mars had left a comment under a video where Rosé attempts to teach him Korean, saying he was “in [his] Oppa era” and that he “loved that for [himself].”

With Rosé gearing up to release her debut solo album Rosie in December, it would make perfect sense for the two global juggernauts to join forces on K-pop’s biggest stage and perform “APT.” live as a duo for the very first time. What better place for Mars to flex the Korean language skills he learned from his song partner, including the part where he sings “gunbae, gunbae,” meaning “cheers, cheers” in English?

Also, he better be working on “aegyo” by now, because that’s a fundamental part of any Korean entertainment show and we’d personally love to see Bruno Mars puffing his cheeks and dragging his vowels.

“APT.” was inspired by Rosé’s favorite drinking game

The title of the song (short for “apartment,” and pronounced “apateu” like the Korean version of the word) is inspired by a Korean drinking game where participants place their hands on top of one another, resembling an apartment block.

The rules are pretty simple. After deciding which player will call out a number, everyone chants “Game start!” and then sings three times the “APT.” jingle that Rosé used as inspiration for her song. After they’re done, participants place their hands on top of each other as the chosen player calls out a number. Then the person whose hand is at the bottom of the pile brings it to the top, followed by the next person at the bottom, and so on, until they reach the number that was called out. Whoever places their hand on top of the tower last loses and has to take a shot. But, just in case you found that confusing, let the Blackpink singer herself guide you through it.