Piano Man Steve's Blog

Just the Way You Are (Bruno Mars)

Feb 26, 2025

I have a bit of a personal connection with this song, which I'll get into below after I give you the stats and data points. This was a HUGE hit single in 2010, at a time when we actually could sort of measure it accurately. It was a little bit before streaming services took over the industry, but after CDs had mostly died. As such, it was almost exclusively download purchases, and it sold a BOATLOAD. "Just the Way You Are" hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as in Canada, the UK, Ireland, Scotland, Austria, The Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, and Venezuela, as well as hitting the Top 10 in 15 other countries, and the top 40 in several more.

Bruno likened it to songs like, "You Are So Beautiful" by Joe Cocker, or "Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton....lyrics that get right to the point....no attempt at mind boggling poetry or social commentary, just a clear expression of love and affection. I find the record unique in that it features mostly pretty traditional instruments (piano/guitar/bass/drums/strings), but with a modern dance beat.

Now...if you know me it all, it shouldn't surprise you in the least that this song completely took over the world right under my nose and I had no idea whatsoever about it. I am about the least dialed into pop culture a human being in show business can be, and the vast majority of my repertoire is classic hits, so I'm rarely aware of what is happening "right now" in the music scene. So it's fitting that when my sister got engaged in 2011 and emailed me this song title to learn so I could play it at the wedding, I just assumed she meant the classic Billy Joel hit from 1977. I didn't even know this song existed, even though it had literally been the biggest song in the world just a few months earlier. So, I put zero practice in, because I've been playing "Just the Way You Are" by Billy Joel since 1990...I could do that in my sleep.

When I got in the car with my parents to make the 15 hour drive back to Nebraska for the wedding, my mother asked me, "Did you come up with something you like for that new song?" I was puzzled. I asked, "What new song?" She replied, "Just the Way You Are." I laughed and said, "Mom, for heaven's sake, you've heard me play that at least a hundred times." She then turned the radio up because the reason she thought to ask was that it was playing. She said, "This one?!" At this moment, I got a sinking feeling....my sister was getting married in two days, and I hadn't even remotely attempted to learn the song she wanted for the candle lighting, and it was a song I had literally never heard before, and didn't own....before Spotify, Apple Music, etc., and before you could completely count on YouTube to have it other than cover versions.

If I had been at home, this wouldn't have concerned me...there was plenty of time....but I was going to be in a hotel without a piano and a place I could comfortably make noise, and I was going to need to put in some reps both listening and playing to get the form, melody, and cadence of the lyrics in my head. I might have had a bit of a freakout....not too bad, but still more diva than I usually am. To Molly's (my younger sister) credit, she was as cool as could be and said, "Just play the Billy Joel song...I love that one too." But I couldn't do that to her....for Pete's sake, she was my sister, and I'm a frigging professional! So, called up a friend in town, got him to let me set my keyboard up in his garage, and I started woodshedding. I didn't want to do it "mostly okay"...I wanted to NAIL it for her. I told her that come hell or high water, I was going to play that song for her ceremony. She did me a great solid by sending me a YouTube cover by a first rate group called Boyce Avenue, whose channel you should absolutely check out because they are amazing and have accumulated ridiculous view counts for their material....Molly thought their version would give me an easier template to work with than Bruno Mars' original recording, and she was right.

So, after watching that video about 60 times, and putting in at least than many reps playing through the song (once I established the right key for my voice) I was ready to kick its ass at the wedding ceremony, and I did. Now everytime I hear that song, I immediately think about the adrenaline fueled 24 hours I spent learning it for Molly's wedding because I was too lazy to click a link for a song called "Just the Way You Are", thinking for sure I already knew it.

Usually I don't do a lot of shameless shilling for my piano courses in these blog posts, but I have to say, if it weren't for the Piano Man Approach method that I teach people with my 5 step Song Learning Formula, there's no way I would have been able to pull that off. It's definitely the fastest way to learn a new song I've ever encountered and it rescued that situation for me.

But let's be clear and honest about one thing....I STILL pay no attention to current pop culture, and I doubt that will ever change! LOL

Enjoy my cover of this song from a livestream concert I did on July 15, 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and then check out a special acoustic performance of it by Bruno himself at the "Grammy Nominations Concert in 2010, as well as the Boyce Avenue Cover I mentioned in my story above.

If you'd like to explore my piano method more deeply, my best students use my video courses and join me for conversation and twice monthly Q&A Livestreams in my private community...you can find it all HERE. Thanks.

If the video doesn't show above, use THIS LINK to see it on YouTube