Bruno Mars Performs A Table-Stomping Acoustic Version Of ‘That’s What I Like’ On ‘Charlie Rose’

Bruno Mars has been chopping it up with a wide range of famous figures lately. First, he finally came face-to-face with the wrestler his father named him after, and last night, he got to sit down with legendary interviewer Charlie Rose. He performed on last night’s episode, but instead of a traditional rendition, he sat down at a table and got humanistic with the percussion.

Playing what was called an “acoustic remix” of his hit single “That’s What I Like,” Mars, accompanied by guitar, bass, piano, and backing vocals, Mars and his background singers played all the percussion with their hands, stomping on the table, snapping their fingers, and clapping. The more minimal take on the song gave it a sort of ’90s R&B vibe, and helped prove that there’s substance beyond the high pop production value of Mars’ massively popular music.

Mars also sat down for a broad 25-minute interview with Rose, during which he talked about the process of writing a hit song, and while he said he doesn’t know how it works: “If I knew how to do it, I’d do it every day. He also talked about his dress-for-the-job-you-want approach to working in the studio that helped with the writing of “Versace On The Floor”:

“Sometimes you get into the habit of going into the studio, and you start losing yourself, and you don’t care. You go in there and your hair’s looking crazy and you’re wearing sweatpants, and sometimes that affects the way you feel creatively. So I said, ‘Alrighty, from now on, we’re coming into the studio, and we’re coming in hot. You gotta put on the best stuff you got on, and we’re going to have a challenge of who can be flyest when they come to the studio.

I actually wore Versace, I put on this brand new Versace jacket I got, and it made me feel like I was fancy. It made me feel like I wanted to have some silky Versace sex [laughs]. […] We had the title, ‘Versace On The Floor,’ and it was important that it sounds like that, it needs to sound like that, a romantic… silky sex song.”

Watch Mars’ performance of “That’s What I Like” above, and check out his entire interview below.