Billionaire (song)

"Billionaire" is the debut single by American recording artist Travie McCoy, featuring guest vocals from Bruno Mars. It is the lead single from McCoy's debut studio album, Lazarus. The song was produced by The Smeezingtons, which consists of Mars, Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine. Lyrically, McCoy imagines what would happen if he became a billionaire, referencing all the good he would do to others with the money along with his desire to be on the cover of Forbes magazine, "smiling next to Oprah and The Queen". As of July 2011, the song has sold 3 million digital downloads, making it Mars' third single to do so.

Background

Bruno Mars came up with the lyrical concept for "Billionaire" during a trip to London in which he was given £240 ($350) by his record label to spend for 11 days. He found the amount of money to be insufficient, and explained "We were like, 'Is this the biggest mistake we've ever made? We thought we were broke in California; what are we going to do here?' So we've got no money, and I'm walking the streets and came up with, 'I wanna be a billionaire, so freakin' bad.'" With the song, McCoy intended to avoid "superficial" lyrics in the wake of an economic recession, and added "There’s something to sing about here; if I was in the position to have a ridiculous amount of money, would I be selfish or selfless?’ I just took that concept and ran with it."

Billionaire

A billionaire, in countries that use the short scale number naming system, is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000; a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually major currencies such as the United States dollar, the euro, or the pound sterling. The American business magazine Forbes produces a complete global list of known U.S. dollar billionaires every year, and updates an Internet version of this list in real time. The American oil magnate John D. Rockefeller became the world's first confirmed U.S. dollar billionaire in 1916; as of 2015, there are over 1,800 U.S. dollar billionaires worldwide, with a combined wealth of over US$7 trillion.

Current U.S. dollar billionaires

According to the Forbes report released in March 2015, there are currently 1,826 U.S. dollar billionaires worldwide, from 66 countries, with a combined net worth of $7.05 trillion, which is more than the combined GDP of 152 countries. The majority of billionaires are male, but there are 197 female billionaires as of 2015. There are currently seven black billionaires and ten LGBT billionaires. The United States has the largest number of billionaires of any country, with 536 as of 2015, while China, India and Russia are home to 213, 90 and 88 billionaires respectively. Among American billionaires, the average age is 66 years; there are 46 billionaires under the age of 40 globally as of 2015.

Song

A song is a single (and often standalone) work of music intended to be sung by the human voice with distinct and fixed pitches and patterns using sound and silence and a variety of forms that often include the repetition of sections. Written words created specifically for music or for which music is specifically created, are called lyrics. If a pre-existing poem is set to composed music in classical music it is an art song. Songs that are sung on repeated pitches without distinct contours and patterns that rise and fall are called chants. Songs in a simple style that are learned informally are often referred to as folk songs. Songs that are composed for professional singers are called popular songs. These songs, which have broad appeal, are often composed by professional songwriters, composers and lyricists. Art songs are composed by trained classical composers for concert performances. Songs are performed live and recorded. Songs may also appear in plays, musical theatre, stage shows of any form, and within operas.

Bruno Mars

Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985), professionally known by his stage name Bruno Mars, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and choreographer. Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, by a family of musicians, Mars began making music at a young age and performed in various musical venues in his hometown throughout his childhood. He graduated from high school and moved to Los Angeles to pursue a musical career. Mars produced songs for other artists, co-founding the production team The Smeezingtons.

Mars had an unsuccessful stint with Motown Records, but then signed with Atlantic in 2009. He became recognized as a solo artist after lending his vocals to the songs "Nothin' on You" by B.o.B, and "Billionaire" by Travie McCoy, which were international successes, and for which he co-wrote the hooks. His debut studio album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans (2010), was anchored by the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping singles "Just the Way You Are" and "Grenade", as well as the number-five single "The Lazy Song". His second album, Unorthodox Jukebox, released in 2012, peaked at number one in the United States. The album spawned the international singles "Locked Out of Heaven", "When I Was Your Man" and "Treasure".