Billionaire
The Lazarus single joins McCoy to Mars's featured singing and the Smeezingtons writing and production partnership.
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Travie McCoy & Bruno Mars
Why we feature this artist Bruno Mars inside Billionaire's writing and production Billionaire gives Bruno Mars more than a memorable sung refrain. The 2010 Travie McCoy recording also places him in the songwriting with Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine, the partn…
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The story of Travie McCoy & Bruno Mars
Why we feature this artist
Bruno Mars inside Billionaire's writing and production
Billionaire gives Bruno Mars more than a memorable sung refrain. The 2010 Travie McCoy recording also places him in the songwriting with Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine, the partners behind its Smeezingtons production.
The Lazarus single
Original credits identify all four writers and name the Smeezingtons as producers. The song appeared during McCoy's Lazarus solo-album campaign, with the shared single reaching number three in Britain. Its acoustic-pop setting gives both the singing and the rap a relatively light place to move.
The daydream acquires details
Mars supplies a broad melodic wish, and McCoy fills the space around it with particular images and changes of perspective. The contrast makes the fantasy feel conversational rather than ceremonial. The refrain remains easy to return to because the production leaves its outline clear, while the verses introduce enough individual character to keep the repeated idea from becoming a slogan. The shared writing role helps make that handover feel natural: the chorus belongs to the song's construction as well as to its featured voice.