BLACKPINK’s Rosé and Bruno Mars recently sat down for a Billboard interview, which was revealed today, December 11, 2025. The pair revealed they met in the summer of 2024 at his Los Angeles studio, when Rosé was gearing up for her solo debut album “Rosie.” The BLACKPINK member showed up to the studio, convinced it would be their first and last meeting. Instead, the moment sparked one of the biggest collabs of these past few years.
Before their record-breaking single “APT.” was born, it was simply Rosé’s favorite drinking game that she jokingly taught to her collaborators, but Mars instantly heard something special in her voice. What began as a casual game ended up becoming a full creative moment, with Bruno insisting they figure out the “puzzle” together.
Bruno Mars on why he chose to collaborate with Rosé on ‘APT’:
“I was like, ‘It’s about drinking? You got me. But truthfully, it was Rosie’s voice, it was her saying this hook that just had this magic to it. And after talking to her it became, ‘Let’s build on this, let’s figure… pic.twitter.com/RigAJFWBoX
— Pop Base (@PopBase) December 11, 2025
“But truthfully, it was Rosie’s voice, it was her saying this hook that just had this magic to it. And after talking to her it became, ‘Let’s build on this, let’s figure this puzzle out.’ That’s what all these songs are, right? And I thought it was beautiful that it was from her culture; she didn’t just send me a pop song talking about love or whatever. She really put me on game,” he revealed.
Their friendship grew as Rosé continued creating “Rosie,” while working with the songwriter Amy Allen. However, it was still Bruno who became her biggest cheerleader and an important collaborator in the studio. The artist co-wrote and co-produced several tracks, including the album opener “Number One Girl,” and several other tracks that didn’t make it to the record, but it was “APT.” that changed everything. Since its release in October 2024, the song has become a massive hit, carrying over its success into 2025 with billions of streams.
Bruno Mars tells Billboard he has worked on more songs with Rosé:
“Oh, yeah, there is. And we love that song that we worked on — I won’t say the title… We’re just trying to figure out when, or how.” pic.twitter.com/IpNRkdKGQh
— Pop Base (@PopBase) December 11, 2025
By September 2025, “APT.” made history again, winning Song of the Year at the MTV VMAs. In November, Rosé became the first lead K-pop artist nominated in multiple major Grammy categories, including Record and Song of the Year for the song. She found out at 2:50 in the morning after brushing her teeth, laughing at the surreal timing. What started as one nervous studio visit turned into a global phenomenon, proving that sometimes all it takes is building up a friendship, an iconic mentor, and an irresistible drinking game to make history.
