Bruno Mars Represents Earth, Wind & Fire In “Treasure” Video

Bruno Mars didn’t just “borrow” the sounds of Earth, Wind and Fire and Michael Jackson for his Unorthodox Jukebox album, he’s also unapologetically “adopting” their songs’ visual accompaniments—music videos and live performances—for his act too.

Similar to his “Locked Out of Heaven” and “When I Was You Man” videos, the video for “Treasure” packs a nostalgic punch. It goes a retro step further than those videos actually—he streams the video in 480p and letterbox format. Oh, the horror!

Screen cap from Bruno Mars’ “Treasure” video

Put simply, the video is a re-enactment of Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Let’s Groove” video. Triangular beams of light, transparent cutouts, dance sequences, aura trail effect, single lady for a group of men (what’s that about?)…all of these elements are implemented in Bruno’s video.

Screen cap from Earth Wind & Fire’s “Let’s Groove” video

Perhaps this is Bruno’s way of paying homage to the true musical geniuses; however, I think it’s an extreme disservice to Bruno’s talent to perpetually deliver unoriginal songs, live performances, music videos and style, regardless of how well executed, entertaining and refreshing they are. Furthermore, if you’re going to basically recreate someone else’s work, at least have the decency to credit them.

According to the liner credits, only one song on ‘Jukebox’ contains a sample, although every single one bears a striking resemblance to a song recorded by your parents’ favorite artist.

It’s quite hypocritical and discriminatory for mega-media outlets like Billboard to harshly criticize Beyoncé for copying and pasting her career, yet Bruno’s mooching is concealed.

While Bruno has us chillin’ in the past, let’s rewatch MJ’s “Rock With You” video too.