“ Billionaire”

Song by Bruno Mars

During the 17th and 18th centuries, known as the Age of Enlightenment, there were significant cultural
and societal shifts that prioritized reason, analysis, and individualism over conventional ways of thinking.
Enlightenment intellectuals were renowned for their innovative ideas and their courage to disclose their
research and challenge accepted wisdom. Adam Smith was one of these philosophers. Adam Smith
gained notoriety for his ideas on money and for creating capitalism, a new type of economic
organization. Adam Smith's thoughts can be summed up, in my opinion, by the modern song
"Billionaire," performed by Travie McCoy feat. Mars, Bruno.

Billionaire" is, first and foremost, a song about money and wealth. Since the economy is built on
finances, Adam Smith's theories on the subject of economy are still important today. Second,
the lyric of this song by Bruno Mars can be interpreted as a farmer discussing his financial
situation. "I wanna be a billionaire so freakin' bad," he sings in his songs. Purchase everything I
never had. I want to be featured on Forbes magazine's cover. Smiling next to Oprah and the
Queen" could be seen as a low class individual lamenting how things like the government
prevent them from realizing their dreams of grandeur and greatness.

The Smeezingtons, Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence, and Ari Levine, were scheduled for a week of
writing sessions for Lupe Fiasco, B.o.B, and Travie McCoy in the summer of 2009.[1] The first
song the group worked on and recorded with McCoy was "One at a Time," which was released
as a charity single for MTV's Staying Alive Foundation.[2] Mars and Lawrence would typically
hum melodies, but former Atlantic Records A&R representative Aaron Bay-Schuck[3] pushed
them to develop the best of those, like "Nothin' on You" and "Billionaire." They just had "scratch
chorus demos" of "Nothin' On You" and "Billionaire" at first, with Mars singing over a guitar
backing track.[1] It was the first song McCoy started working on.

A clip of McCoy driving a Mini Cooper with Mars in the passenger seat is intercutted into the
film. Mars and McCoy are seen riding various scooters, with Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy on the
back. In addition, Mccoy is seen assisting four individuals and a sizable group at the conclusion.
Live performances of the song by McCoy and Mars were featured on Late Night with Jimmy
Fallon and Jay Leno's The Tonight Show. In 2014, it was used in Mars's Super Bowl XLVIII
halftime extravaganza. Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte rerecorded the song, and it performed
better than the original single, peaking at number three on the Billboard Brazil Hot 100 Airplay
list. The song was featured on the soundtracks of the television shows American Housewife and
Beavis and Butthead.