The Problem With... Bruno Mars' "The Lazy Song"

I've never really considered Bruno Mars' music to be especially industrious. I just imagine that, one morning, some music-industry toady stuck a bunch of magnetic letters on a fridge, spelled out Jason Mraz, shuffled all the letters around and got the name "Bruno Mars."

The whole idea behind Bruno seems a bit lazy like that.

So I give credit to Mars' new single, "The Lazy Song," for being honest -- because all of Bruno's hits are sorta effortless pop tunes.

This particular track has a Sublime-ish, Pacific ska flair, complete with a ukulele and everything. (Thanks, Train, for bringing that back.) Mraz's track "I'm Yours" also comes to mind.

But this one has both of those songs beat on at least one front: The lyrics, while, indeed, quite lazy, are rife with perishable cultural references. I somehow doubt that lines about Snuggies and P90X will hold up over time. Consider this: If Bruno wrote a song referring to the Sobakawa cloud pillow, Tae-Bo and the Macarena, would you still listen to it?

Plus, if you're working out and doing P90x, aren't you kind of doing something? Isn't that the whole premise of their infomercials?

Meanwhile, the video for "The Lazy Song" follows a pseudo-viral video theme, cribbing from OK Go's playbook of thrifty, choreographed, single-cut videos. Yet, Bruno's video doesn't have any cool tricks like dogs with buckets or treadmills. Comparatively, it's just a lazy attempt.

So lazy, in fact, that I'm gonna spite it by getting up and doing something today. Take that, Mars.