>> rose: welcome to the program, don't we begin with jeane liu, president of didi chuxing, china and the world's largest ride sharing company, a company that drove uber out of china. >> technology is completely transforming china n my view. 30 years ago as i mentioned, you know, when i grew up, i saw mules, camels on the street as part of the transportation. >> rose: yeah. >> now you see beijing as a modern city and people rarely use wallet even, right, mobile payment everywhere. it's a crazy pace of change. i think part of the reason is china is so huge and it has enough market to energize real invasion. because there are just so many-- innovation because there are so many people wanting so many things. >> rose: and we continue with

i think the most dangerousat thing that can happen for a musician is to think that everything you write is good. that's the most dangerous thing, is to lose yourself in thinking well, i know what i am doing, look how many songs i've written that have been successful. that's when you lose it and you leuses the secret sauce. >> rose: jean liu and bruno mars when we continue. >> funding for charlie rose is provided by the following: bank of america. life better connect the. >> and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and information services worldwide. captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york

city, this is charlie rose. >> rose: jean liu is here, the president of didi chuxing, china and the world's largest ride sharing company, also offers services like bike shairg and car rentals, ago i baba apple and soft bank are among her investors, didi also has stakes in other companies around the world. i'm pleased to have jean liu at this table for the firs time, welcome. >> thank you for having me here. >> rose: we have so looked for to. this you have said a very interesting thing. you said it is really a world-class dilemma how to move around 800 million urban chinese. how are you solving this dilemma? >> yes, actually, that's one of pie biggest motivation, joining this company three years ago. i give you a story right after i joined didi there is this woman

coder coming to my office saying i want to resign. i asked her why, and she said i got pregnant. >> i said you know, you can still work here if you get pregnant. >> she said no, it's commute that's killing me. and you know, she was spending three hours switching between buses and subways every day. and there are many, many people like that in china. 800 million chinese that ride 1.4 billion times every day. so for us, when we know how many people have these much need, we basically design a product for them. so the difference between us and a lot of other players is we offer a full range of services. so not just a private car share like here in the states, but also taxi. >> rose: bicycles. >> bicycle because not a lot of people can afford private car ride in china. so bicycles and minibus, carpooling. there are a lot of very interesting local products we are trying to connect with

people. >> rose: mow-- how many cities in china are you operating. >> 400 cities. yeah. and a lot of them are mega cities, very different from cities here. when you think about cities here, i think new york is a huge city already. but there are more than 15 cities in china that are bigger than new york. >> rose: how many? >> 15. >> rose: 15 cities bigger than new york. >> bigger than new york. and i think in terms of population, there are six cities in the states that are bigger than the 6 million population, but that number in china is 44. here in the states, ride share is nice to have, you know, lyft and ub remember all doing great. but almost every family here in the states have one or two cars. if you don't have ride share, you can still drive yourself, right. >> rose: sure. >> but in china, only 10% people have cars-- did but people still want to have a desent ride. >> rose: right. >> when you spend two hours on the road.

so commute, i would say is number one challenges. and then you know, the pollution, of course, coming out of when you have mega cities, right, the air, i see my kids playing, every day when it's bad weather, it just pains me to see that. and also safety is another thing we should be really mindful about. especially there are so many people on the street, the road accidents, the rate actually just increase higher. so there are just a a lot of issues coming out of it. but we feel, you know, the industry we are in is so impactful that there is something we can do to help to solve this issue. >> rose: you made a speech at the bloomberg business forum. >> yeah. >> rose: at the plaza hotel. about the future cities. >> yes. >> rose: what did you tell them? >> yes, basically you know, the bloomberg forum is for people i understand for people to come together and talk about the world challenges and how we can

collaborate together. and one of the key challenges i see is as we just talked about, your first question, you know, when the cities become bigger, when there is more population, everyone wants a very good quality lifestyle. but at the same time how can we solve the resource issue. how can we know when a city becomes bigger, show we feel there's less space and time for us. everybody, right. and you know, how can we basically utilize the resource more efficiently, right. make people feel living in the city life can still make me feel happy and inner peace. and my key point is the future cities should be around people, should be built around people rather than built around parking lots. rather than built around vehicles. so let's do something, let's adopt some technology to make that happen. >> rose: both in terms of attacking urban problems as well as attacking business

challenges, artificial intelligence, and the use of big data, have become tools, yes? >> yes. >> rose: how so? >> well, you know in our business that puts away the jar begans. let's say a passenger standing in the street, in our business, you know, turn on our app and click a button. and he wants a ride now, as fast as possible, right. but however, always, all the time when it is peak hours, bad weather there is not a car around, right. you cannot get it, so there are two things. number one is the deep learning technology, basically, we are training the system, that can predict in the next 20 minutes in every corner of the city how many rides requests were coming

out. so even before this person pressed this button we dispatch a car to arrive to meet him. so that is the predictive capability. that is part of the artificial intelligence capability. and secondly, a lot of people think oh, why don't you just depatch-- dispatch the closest car to you. but we tell you, you know, on the map it's closest but could be, you know, when a u.n. event, there are roadblocks. in a very difficult road situation there's traffic control, there's one way situation, you know, the closest car may not be the most efficient one, right. so you know, we just know the system keeps learning what is going on in the local of each region. this might sound a bit boring but if you think about it, this technology is really helping everybody to get a ride faster. and if you times that to 25 million rides a day, cuz we are completing 25 million rides a day. that's actually-- . >> rose: are you completing 25

million rides a day. >> 25 million rides a day, so every second in the peak hour, 600 ride, every second there are 600 rides delivered. and there's, you know, millions of, you know, times of calculation underneath it. so i think that is one application when people talk about ai, you know, ai sounds leak a very big word. but you know, in real life, in our industry, the application actually helps, you know, people to commute better. and i think that's the beautiful part of it. >> rose: there was a giant competition between uber and didi in china. so how did you beat them? how did you beat the scary uber? >> well, first of all, i should clarify some thing as china ride share market or china internet market has always been very, very competitive.

>> rose: so you beat other people before you got to uber. >> when we started this business, there were 30 players doing exactly the same thing. >> rose: right. >> but we did relatively well or relatively better because-- . >> rose: how did you do it? >> we understand the local, you know, user's need better than others. a lot of time people get carried away by competition. sometimes competition is so much fun, right. you talk about winning and losing, catch the headline news. everyone is so excited about it. but from my perspective, for our perspective, the real competition is how can you serve your customers better, right? driver or passenger, right. so for our business we see look, there are so many people who can't get a ride share,s that a carpool, let's use ai. even during the competition we launched three different businesses. we see there are people who want to grab a drink after work, but

it's extremely dangerous if you, you know, there's a dui situation. so we say we send you a-- a designated driver to meet you at the bar or at a party and he can drive you back home, so you don't need to drive, right. >> rose: so you just send a driver. >> we send a driver to you. >> rose: take your car here, drive you home. >> park your car and will make his own way back to wherever. >> exactly. it's better for safety, right. so you won't hit any passengers on the road, right. so you know, like minibus, how we can, it is a supercarpooling concept. how we can put more people, so everyone can enjoy more affordable ride, you know. so these are the things we ininnovated or created during the competition. >> rose: there is wonderful stories about. because generally so many of the companies are certainly in your area, transit, transportation, have a relationship to the big three companies.

>> uh-huh. >> rose: tensein, alibaba and bido. >> in one way or another, yes, we actually not only just alibaba and tensin, we also have very nice relationship with apple. >> rose: oh, apple. such fies-- relationship. >> cook signed a billion dollar check to invest in your company. >> yes, we're thankful for that, and also to soft bank, and masai and also to-- . >> rose: this is what tim cook said about you in time magazine 100 list which is an annual list of the people he considers the most influential. jean liu is a disrupter and not only threur her ambitious efforts to change the way people in china commute, travel and connect with one another, with didi chuxing, the ride sharing taxi hailing startup, she leads along side chengwui it its name

meets beep beep, it offers convenience and flexibility. she and her team are succeeding ride innovative big data algorithms that aim to improve the efficiency of didi's service and so ease the congested roadways by analyzing computer patterns the way ocean graphic track the city, didi may help traffic jams go the way of the flip phone. is that possible? you can have-- if you succeed, traffic jams will be eliminated because you are eliminating the number of cars. >> not just that. let me share with you some example. first of all, tim was very nice to give me those comments. >> i would say that too if someone invested a billion dollars in me. >> actually, you know, we are working with 20 cities in china right now. and the mayors, we're working to on some common project. one common goal we have together is how can we cut congestion,

it's a top problem brothering them every day, so we say let's redesign the traffic signal system and the vehicle length system. because the old system was very outdated and with our new technology we can help with you thatz with ai and big data. >> with deep learning, everything. and in the test zone, the result is extremely encouraging, after only three months of work. the congestion time got reduced by 20 to 40%, just after three months of work. think about it, 20% of anyone's time on the road, if you add upping to, that's tremendous. and it's only a short period of time. when we share this result with other cities, everyone feel wow, let's do this too in our city. we want that too. and when we talk to our partners in brazil, as you may know, we have invested in seven local

champions. >> rose: local what? >> champions, we call champions. and they all say why don't you-- you know, come to our city and let's do it together, right. cuz gone guess-- congestion, it kills pollution, it's good. we do believe with the ride application of technology we can kill congestion. >> rose: if you cure congestion are you also curing some of the environmental issues. >> yes, with carpooling as you just mentioned, right. we poll 4 million passengers every day and the number is very fast, 4 million, what does it mean? it means every year it takes away millions of tons of carbon emission when you have, you know, it is very intuitive. so that is why i think why tim mentioned about us. >> rose: one of the other things you do, your company does is that you invest in a lot of startups too. you make global investments around the world. >> yes. >> rose: in terms of people that you believe have a startup that might be successful and

have an impact. >> uh-huh. >> rose: is that the selection process? i mean are you looking for certain kinds of companies you want to invest in other than those that have a very good business model and probability of success? >> sure. actually, we are still very focused on solving the commute issue. -- . >> rose: all the startups have to do with that. >> yes, that's our mission, we feel. we are here to solve the commute issue. >> right. >> so we go around the globe and we see who shares the same passion. who also wants to solve this issue, who is worried about it day and night like us, and also another perspective is this industry is so young. although everyone is talking about the competition, and everything. everyone knows so much about this. but people may not know, this industry is so young. the penetration is only 1 percent. so you know-- . >> rose: in other words, in terms of the potential market you have only penetrated 1 percent. >> only 1 percent.

>> rose: that is a good business to be in. >> it is a good business to be in and if we want more people to benefit from the technology, the algorithm, the good thing about didi is we are based in china. china is a complex market, so huge and also hard case. imagine beijing is such a mega city and the complications in the calculation, in the algorithmim, if we tested the algorithm here, we tested product here, we can share the best practice with a lot of young companies on other side of the world. and also productwise, for example, the minibus is ver well in brazil. so that's the philosophy of this collaboration which we deeply believe in, that's why, you know, we are going global. >> rose: so some people raised the question whether in fact you are investors in other startups that are-- will that in anyway distract from your disrupter edge? >> very interesting, very interesting question.

how we see it, again, is you know, this industry grow faster than the regulation. >> rose: right. >> and you know then the policies. and in each injures diction it is all very, very different. so from our perspective, the key is at the same time you bring top notch disruptive technology but at the same time we need to collaborate as many people as possible. otherwise this industry won't be sustainable. that's why when we started we collaborated with taxi industry. that is the difference between us and a lot of others. taxi, there are millions of taxi drivers getting their income from didi and we charge nothing. we don't charge anything from taxi drivers. we also create our product to tailer make for them. >> rose: what you are doing is providing the information of people, you are giving them information where there are riders. >> not just that. i give you one example. for example, the taxi drivers, one of their biggest headache is

every night the last ride is the biggest problem for them. because if the last ride is going to the opposite of home, then you know, in beijing, then it will waste them a lot of gas to drive empty car back. so a lot of them in order to save some cost they actually sleep in the car for the whole night. and the next morning they can pick up passengers. so it's extremely hard for a taxi driver. so we create this go home button. you know, the driver say okay, you know, i will go home now, i press this button. so the system only dispatch the passengers on their way home to them. and this extremely popular to taxi drivers. so that's-- . >> rose: you push that go home button so the passengers that know about you, are passengers are on the way to where you are going. >> yes, yes, so we basically just send a passenger on the way home to the driver.

so to them. so they like this so much. >> rose: i would like it too, way yns so these are the the collaboration we're talking about. and also other collaboration like you know, we work with the city mayors on the smart transportation system which we just talked about, with local champions. so we believe in this. so i don't think there's a conflict between being disruptive technology provider at the same time collaborate with others. >> rose: okay. china, well, first this. there was news today or yesterday that uber run into a bit of problem in london. what does that say to you? >> yeah, i just learned it from the newspaper as well. i understand uber is appealing. >> rose: yes. >> formally. >> rose: but is this an ongoing conflict between ride sharing companies and local municipalities? >> right. >> rose: i mean is that is always a relationship that has some tension to it or not? >> well, my first sense is that there is in different injures

dictions the rules are very different. and we first need to understand it. and secondly there is always some common ground between us and the policy makers. what is our common ground here. i think for the cities in china what do we find is we both sides worry about congestion, both sides worry about pollution. both sides worry about safety, right. us and the policy makers. so let's do something together. for example, in china you may just know chinese government is promoting the electric vehicle because it is more environmental friendly. so we go talk to the city mayors saying look, didi is the largest fleet of electric vehicles globally. you know why? because drivers love it. drivers drive ten times a day. they think the cost saved from buying an ev makes so much sense, electric vehicle, makes so much sense. they don't need to spend money on too much gas, right.

so we talk to the city policy maker saying let's both promote the ev in this city, right, in this platform. so there are a lot of common ground things we can reach and i think i'm being optimistic in i do believe technology in the long run will transform the transportation industry. >> rose: meaning autonomy? >> autonomy is you know, a very popular topic. i do think you know, let's look at the purpose of autonomy. why autonomy, right? why not with very good human driver. i think the key purpose here is really about safety and i believe in it because there are 1.3 million people die every year from road accidents. that's more than drugs anwars. >> right. and it's not supposed to be like that i think 30 years down the road when we look back we will probably feel that is

ridiculous. >> rose: what were we thinking about. >> yeah, what were we thinking about. when we talk about autonomous driving, it could make driving much safer. but that's a lot of people believe in, but i do believe it's a progress. we need to, you know, make sure it is a gradual progress and it's well tested. it could be geo fencing some area to test it and then let's bring into, you know, bigger market. but let's make sure safety, you know, is the top priority. rather than bring some technology in-- . >> rose: but that is an issue that can probably be handled, i assume, thanked that we are going to simply see more autonomy, more driverless cars on the part of manufacturers, and as well as people who use cars. >> right, i think that -- will be the trend, that could be the trend, yes. >> rose: is it going to be slower than we imagined, do you think, because of conquering safety issues and other factors. >> yeah, i think, you know,

people should be more, you know, focusing on how safe it is than how soon they can come out. because even, you know, it comes out, i think in certain area it can be well used, for example, logistic, right, when it's a geofencing area. >> dowd: how much are you using it now? >> no, we are not using. >> rose: you haven't conquered those questions yet. >> yes. actually for us, but i want to share with you, what we do for safety is, you know, as i mentioned, road average 1.6 deaths per hundred million miles, 1.6 deaths per hundred million miles but our platform is .6 deaths per hundred million miles. so it is significantly lower. >> rose. >> 60%, yes, yes, so what we do is there is safe drive technology. we apply and also, also passengers will race drivers, when there is a dangerous driver

they will give them a very low score, so we remind this driver you can not do this any more. there is a system to risk management for drivers. so that helps a lot. so i think this should be a progressive, progressive process instead of disruptive, that switch to autonomous driving. that's just too dangerous. >> rose: your dad was president or founder of lynn ofo. >> yes. >> rose: which later everybody of a certain age they bought ibm's think pad, was it destiny for you to go into technology? >> well, i think there is always a calling for me. i have to admit. you know, when i grew up. >> rose: do you think are you in technology rather than transportation. >> well, i actually think i'm in both i think i am definitely in both t is not just about technology t is about transporting real people. it's not up in the cloud internet type of technology.

so i'm definitely in both. threw as' always a calling. i was a computer science major myself, you know, it's always part of me. >> rose: where did you go to college. >> pe king university and harvard. >> rose: harvard business. >> computer science. >> rose: how is china doing in terms of offering women opportunities in technology? is it better than silicon valley? >> yeah, i think there are a lot of common challenges. and i will speak for my own experience. i wouldn't say it is very easy journey to be very frank. because there are some culture issue behind. and when i was, when i just started my career, i was always shy one. you know, i can do a lot of work but i decide i don't want to speak at a meeting. i want to sit in a corner-- . >> rose: when did you lose that. >> i worry so much about how other people who look at me will judge me. and but i'm very grateful, actually, in technology world

and also in business world there are a very good female mentor. and also i had some personal experience, i got cancer two years ago. and you know, after that i figured one thing, life is so short. and you know, i think there is a lot of things we need to compromise in this life but don't compromise who you really are. so that actually helped me to to-- i think a lot of women shared that prb same as me, that is why in didi we formed a didi's women's network. actually we get, we have very good mentors to share so that they can go to and get some good advice. and i do believe as long as you can be yourself and you can really not limit your potential, there is a lot of things we can achieve. so i am actually speaking from my own experience, it's actually learning journey. but it's also very rewarding. >> is there still a trug well

cancer? >> i actually-- yes, thank you. i came here for treatment in san francisco. >> rose: yes. >> very good. for those three months, i took lyft most of the time everywhere. >> rose: and then you invested in lyft. >> yes, my mom became a huge fan because she doesn't need to use any ride share back at home but here we have nobody. so it is very good experience. and yeah, so i-- yeah, thank you. >> rose: are you cancer free. >> yes, cancer free now. >> rose: very good. one last question about chiepa today. bill gates was on a morning program i do. >> sure. >> rose: and we were talking about how, you know, still there is a belief that america is the most innovative country in the world. some of that comes from silicon valley, and we sort of been part of the american idea are exceptionalism, but china has become much more than semply copying what other people are

doing. has china in a sense really become more innovative and how did they do it? because it was more of a cultural factor as well. >> sure, sure. well, i am big believer in innovation coming out of china these days. technology is completely transforming china in my view. 30 years ago as i mentioned, you know, when i grew up, i saw mules, camels on the street as part of the transportation. now you see beijing as a modern city and you see people rarely use wallet even, right, mobile payment everywhere. it is a crazy pace of change. i think part of the reason is china is so huge and it has enough market to energize real innovation. because there are just so many people wanting different things. you know, the other day i just want to share with you, you know, a story. the other day, because we have this homework for senior eck tiff to drive.

and pick up passengers from the road. i couldn't drive so i was with my colleague. so on the way we pick up this young guy. and he hopped in and my colleague introduced me to him. said this is president of didi. i guy didn't get impressed at all. he said can you give me some coupon if you are the president. i said okay, i can give you but we are selecting feedback. i want to ask you some questions. so we had this little conversation. so he told me he is a junior year college student and he earned some good income from tutoring but he spends it all. he doesn't care to take subway or buses like other students. he just wants to take a private ride t is so much more convenient. and he shops everything online. so he didn't even have, he doesn't even have a credit card but used the credit system-- this is the new generation of china, right. and the technology empowers this new generation to spend, to live a better quality of life.

and you can say, i think there is real innovation coming from it. and to our example as well what we talked about allots, innovation, we have created in our industry, so i think that's the future. that's definitely the technology is definitely transforming china. but it's also, you know, transforming other side of the world too. we invest in southeast asia a similar dynamic. there is a lot of innovation. and you know, brads il and here in the states. so i do believe innovation can come from any where. let's not say innovation. >> sure. >> and there is no reason that any community can't develop the kinds of drive to change. >> rose: yeah. >> if you have so many people wanting to have a better life, there will be innovation coming out of it. >> rose: it's great to you have here. >> thank you very much. >> rose: thank you so much. >> thank you, charlie. >> rose: pleasure. >> rose: bruno mars is here, the five-time grammy award

winner has dominated the charts with more than 26 million albums sold worldwide. he scored his first five number one singles faster than any male artist since elvis presley. music ledgend lionel richie describes him with a single word, brilliant. he continues his assault on the pop charts with his third studio album it is called 24 carat magic. the video's first three singles have been viewed nearly $3 billion on youtube. here is bruno mars with a special edition performance of that's what i like right here in our studio. ♪ hey, hey, hey i got a condo in manhattan ♪ baby girl, what's hatnin' you and your ass invited ♪ so gon' and get to clappin' go pop it for a player ♪ pop-pop it for me turn around and drop it for a ♪ player, drop-drop it for me i'll rent a beach house in miami ♪ wake up with no jammies lobster tail for dinner ♪ julio, serve that scampi

you got it if you want it ♪ got, got it if you want it said you got it if you want it ♪ take my wallet if you want it now ♪ jump in the cadillac girl, let's put some miles on it ♪ anything you want just to put a smile on you ♪ you deserve it baby you deserve it all ♪ and i'm gonna give it to you cool jewelry shining so bright ♪ strawberry champagne on ice lucky for you, that's what i ♪ like, that's what i like lucky for you, that's what i ♪ like, that's what i like sex by the fire at night ♪ silk sheets and diamonds all white ♪ lucky for you, that's what i like, that's what i like ♪ lucky for you, that's what i like, that's what i like oh you say you want a good time

talk to me talk to me, tell me what is on your if you want it, girl ♪ come and get it all this is here for you ♪ tell me baby, tell me tell me, baby ♪ what you tryna do cool jewelry shining so bright ♪ strawberry champagne on ice lucky for you, that's what i ♪ like, that's what i like that's what i like ♪ sex by the fire at night silk sheets and diamonds ♪ all white lucky for you, that's what i ♪ like, that's what i like that's what i like ♪ lucky for you, that's what i like, that's what i like ♪ lets' go. >> rose: i'm pleased to have bruno mars at this table for the firs time, welcome. >> how are you doing. >> rose: i'm doing well, we're really happy to you have here. em looe to have you come in here and perform that song. >> thank you for having me.

>> rose: and you are now mentioned in the same breathe as elvis, thinking back to when you are four or five years old, impersonating elvis. >> wild, right. >> rose: wild, isn't it. >> amazing. >> rose: the whole thing has been rather amazing, hasn't it? >> yeah, it's just a roller-coaster ride. trying to figure it all out. >> rose: and kind of running against yourself. >> you know, you want to just be excited. you remember that feeling of being excited. for me, i remember that feeling of oh man, we got something special here because i feel so good listening to it. and trying to get that feeling again, later down in life with another record. >> rose: recap pureeing it and taking it even further. >> almost impossible. >> rose: exactly. >> but did you it, but did you it with hard work. i mean people don't know, and certainly i don't know except can i read about t how hard it is because you want it exactly right. you're not just an entertainer, you are a musician. and you have a sense of the history of music whether st rithim and blues or something else.

>> yeah. there is so much great music in the world. every time i write a song, any time anyone writes a song they are competing with billions of other great songs. so it is that constant battle of how am i going to sing something no one ever heard before. hopefully make peel feel something they have never felt before. and at the end of the day, you just want to make yourself proud. if i can be happy with whatever song i write, and i'm genuinely proud of it, it doesn't matter if it gets success or not. because can i say that is the best that i can do, do you know what i mean. >> rose: i do. >> yeah, it's like if everyone didn't like this album, i would feel okay with it because that's all i got for you. rrs what pleases you in a song? >> emotion. and every song has its own personality. and whether it's-- whether it's a fun song that makes people want to dance, make people want to cry, makes someone want to fall in love.

meaning it. >> rose: the versace songs certainly have that. >> yeah, that's my silky lovemaking balance add. >> rose: silky lovemaking. someone said his live performance, he wants to make it like a party. you're going to a live party. >> that's my cheat code. for me, if i have to do a show every night, there is a lot of things. let me take it back. i think about man, i have to perform songs every single night or every other night, i want to write songs that i will genuinely have fun performing. so half the battle is won. they don't know. ♪ i'm playing. ♪ you might hurt yourself. ♪. >> i'm hoping that the audience will see that and it will be contagious and infectious, that if he's having a good time singing it, why shouldn't i be

having a good time. >> rose: do the lyrics come first. >> i don't know, i don't know how it works. >> rose: you just figure it out. >> if i knew how to do it, i would do it every day, it just starts with some kind of inspiration. whether it's a lyric or a melody or a beat. i don't know. >> rose: tell me about the 24 carat magic. >> i think that was a song i wanted to kick the door down 6789 it was a vision i had with this album, i saw having fun on stage. i saw it draped in gold, me and my friends going up on stage and having the best time. it was important that we had the content to do so. ♪ hey girl. ♪ what y'all trying to do. ♪ what you trying to do. ♪ 24 carat. >> rose: in your head are you writing music i hope will make people dance and do you know what is necessary in music to

make people want to get up and dance. >> it is just-- it is my meter. i need to be able to genuinely get up and ance if that's what i am trying to do with that song. and that's what takes me so long to-- . >> rose: to make it right. >> to make it right. so many things go into tweaking the snair drum and making sure the-base drum is hitting the right way and the high-hat is in the right pocket and getting the right swing. i'm going back and forth nonstop with all of these songs. some, some i get lucky and it takes me a couple of hours. some take me two years. >> rose: talk to me a bit about the idea of where you were reaching back to in terms of putting these songs together. >> reaching back and giving it a different sound but the source of it. >> the source of it, well, a few of my heroes, i actually got to work with this year and some on this album, baby face, i wrote a song with baby face on this

album called too good to say good-bye. he is one of my favorite songwriters of all time. this year i got to work with jimmy jam an terry lewis perform at the grammies with them. never worked with teddy riley but hopefully one day, hopefully that will happen. and these guys have written songs that i say that were the soundtrack of my childhood. >> right. >> and at the time it was pop music. and a rmp b rooted songs were the number one songs. the number one song in the country. mariah carry, new addition. all these, you know, this was what i grew up to. this is what we were dancing to at school functions, at a barbecue. it was bobby brown. so that feeling, that emotion i wanted to capture, that's what i was chasing. i think about those songs and it makes me feel like man, it was

fun to dance. it was cool to smile on the dance floor with a girl and flirt with a girl on the dance floor. i just feel like that was-- i don't feel that and that is something that i would. >> that's more of a sound, isn't it, than a song. >> there's a lot of things. it's chords. it's happy chords. it's-- i will tell you a story that really inspired me. i was with my friend james fonteroy who i have known for ten years, incredible songwriter. and we finally got to work together on this project and he told me he was at a party and he said have never seen anything like this. everyone was hugging up on the walls. and taking selfies of themselves and not really interacting with each other. then the dj dropped outstanding by the gap band. and everybody put their phones down, guys started grabbing girls hands. and they were singing to him.

and he said it was like the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. he's telling me this in the studio while we're making this album. and for me, that was the goal. >> rose: that's what you wanted to do. >> yeah, let's chase that emotion. let's see if that can happen. let's see if we can write songs that feel like that. >> and what song here is closest to that? >> i think the whole album kind of represents, this whole album is in the key of fun. and, and i wanted to make a feel good, feel good album. >> rose: is it as much fun to write them and put them together as it is to perform them? >> this t is weird, man, it's a love hate thing. because on tabling you can't wait to go in the studio and write new material. and then in the studio you can't wait to get on stage and get the hell out of the studio. so they kind of go hand-in-hand.

there's no better feeling than finishing a song that you can say i love this. and i'm going to put my name next to this song. and that there is no better feeling than that. >> rose: what's the imagery when you were writing versace? >> are you sure i can talk about that on tv. >> rose: yes, you can. >> what is the imagery? there was-- i was going into the studio wearing just a little-- you know sometimes you get in the habit of going into the studio, you start losing yourself, you don't care. your hair is looking crazy and wearing sweat pants and sometimes that affects the way you feel creatively. so i said all right, from now on we're coming too the studio and we're coming in hot. you got to put the best stuff you got on and you know, we're going to have a challenge of who can be the flyest when they come to the studio. so we start, so i actually wore versace the day i put on this versace, brand new 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. >> rose: right. >> and that song, i mean the song that you hear today, that's probably the 12th version of that song. >> rose: how did you go from one to 12? >> that's-- . >> rose: that's the magic. >> that's the magic. that's me not being satisfied and saying, like, we always, we had the title versace on the floor, it's important that it sounds like that. it needs to sound like that, a romantic, silky sex song. >> versace on the floor. ♪ ooh. ♪ take it off for me, for me, for me now. ♪ girl. ♪ versace on the floor. ♪ take it off for me, for me, for me, for me now girl. ♪.

>> you know what i'm talking about. >> rose: i know you what got. in this whole long transformation of pop music, where do you see yourself? >> i don't know. my fear is to be put in some kind of box. >> rose: yeah. >> i feel like that's what i struggled with my whole career before anyone ever heard any songs. that was always the problem is that nobody knew, it felt like nobody knew what to do with me. and my-- my pont was to always say it is not your job. i'm going to do it. because i don't know what i'm going to do. and i want to be able to have the freedom to do whatever i want when it comes to music. if i want to pick up a guitar for one song, then you have to let me see that, if i want to dance for one song, you have to let me see that too. but i got so many ideas in my head that i want to be able to execute, and no one else in the world knows about, so just believe that i am going to, you know-- . >> rose: let me do my thing. >> let me do my thing and that's always been the conversation.

and i hope that it continues and i hope that the fans come on a journey with me and are excited and a little bit of well, what's he going to do nextment and how is he going to-- how is he going to get excited in the studio. >> rose: you want them alert and available to go with you. >> yeah, because i don't want-- this album-- it would have been-- i could write, try to write a love song in the studio that might be a little easier to get on radio and kind of fit right in. you know what is happening on radio. but i always-- i always want to gt other way. the are radio is playing one thing, then i'm going to come way left hook rrs yeah, you killed them at the super bowl twice. >> thank you. >> rose: you know you did. >> thank you. >> rose: how do you get up for that? >> well, the first time was very early in my career. it was only my second-- we got the phone call my second album just came out. i felt like we had to deal with

a lot of people maybe questioning whether or not we were ready for that stage. and i think it's the firs time they ever had an outdoor super bowl. don't quote me on that but i think so. i think that was the first time. and you know, we were so excited to do it. and then we found out how cold it was going to be. and we started having to worry about all these other things that were happening that we couldn't kroavment the first night i got there it was mine us nine degrees or something like that. so we're all in these ridiculous snow suits, and i grab a mic and my hand freezes to the mic. thins that you can't even-- you wouldn't think about that. we were so excited. so that's when the nerves kick in, like oh man, luckily the day you have it was like 50 degrees and-- . >> rose: probably made you better that you had to go through that. >> it. >> it is always-- it's never going to be easy, that is the thing. you want it to be. >> rose: but if it is too easy it's not worth doing.

>> and it's not going to be good. thrses' no short cuts. that is what i have learned. is you think you can-- you can't fool, you can't fool it. you can't fool the system and the way it works and the way magic happens. >> does it make you want to pack your severe as good as you can be. >> we talked about earlier, that feeling, the most dangerous thing that can happen for a musician is to think that everything you write is good. that's the most dangerous thing, is to lose yourself in thinking well, i'm-- i know what i am doing. look how many songs i have written that have been successful. that's when you lose it. and you lose the secret sauce. to stay hungry and to want to top and reminding yourself of that feeling. for me i always remind nie self-- myself what it felt like to finish when i was a man or i've got to have an uptown funk

orthos feeling like man, i did it. we did it,. >> rose: when you finished uptown funk, what did you think? >> i was so happy it was done. >> rose: that you failed it. >> i felt like we have had been working on that song for eight months. on tour we recorded it in so many different places and we kept taking these left turns as far as the song that took me out t made me stop dancing. the fact that we finished it was just like okay, now it's up to the world to see, you know, whether we're crazy or not. >> girl, hallelujah. ♪ girl uptown funk don't give it to you. ♪ bus uptown funk don't give it to you. ♪ cuz uptown funk don't give it to you. ♪ saturday night and we's in the fight. ♪ don't believe me just watch. ♪ huh. ♪ don't believe me just watch. ♪ don't believe me just watch.

♪ don't believe mee just watch. ♪ don't believe mee just watch. ♪ don't believe mee just watch. ♪ hey hey hey. >> rose: that is what i like, what you sang for us. where does that song came from? >> this whole album is based on a mood. i really wanted to focus on this album, musicians we're vessels. i wanted people to feel fabulous when they hear this album. i'm talking about-- . >> rose: feel good album. >> like if i want people to feel fabulous, i got to feel fabulous. and i got to be there, on this song i'm talking about eating shrimp scampi and lobster tails and drinking strawberry champagne. cuz i'm going to give it you. ♪ cool jewelry shining so bright. ♪ strawberry champagne all night. ♪ lucky for you thases' what i like. ♪ that's what i like. ♪ lucky for you that's what i

like. ♪ that's what i like. ♪ by the fire tonight. ♪ silk sheets and diamonds all right all white. ♪ lucky for you that's what i like, that's what i like. ♪ lucky for you that's what i like. >> rose: here's what you said once about this album. you got to hear me smiling. you got to hear me smiling cuz i'm feeling good. >> yeah. >> rose: and that thing of me feeling good, if you hear it, then that's what really makes it for me. >> that's it. that's really it. same thing with the performance element. people are smart. they know if you are phoning it in. or if you don't mean what you are saying. or you don't really want to be up on that stage. >> rose: you say that so well. because somebody once said to me about television, very different than entertaining with music. you have to stand on stage and everything you do has to say to people i'm here, i want to be here. >> and you're going to like

this. >> and you're going to like this. >> and that's my motto. rrs it's you, it's springsteen. >> bus that's what-- i mean first of all, how fortunate are we that we get to do that and for some reason our lives, you know, how i got on-- the way it went, what do you call it, some reason our lives allowed us to even do that. you know, it was very fortunate, to entertain people and especially it is such an addicting thing, that is why you have guys like bruce doing it, i'm sure will tell you that, we're creating this world for whatever, an hour, two hours, three hours. we're creating this world that we want to live in. this world is the world i want to live, when i'm talking about people dancing together, when i'm talking about people having fun together, this is what i want to see at my concerts every night. >> rose: that's exactly what bruce would say, what mic jagger would say, what paul mccartney would say. >> so in a way it is me

customizing my world. so you know, it's a little scary sometimes because every night i have the luxury of seeing people, from all over the world, seeing different nationalities under the sun, and i see it. look at this, we're creating this energy all under one roof an we're creating this positive vibe and everybody is dancing and it feels like a wall of lovend, a great night and you go to the hotel room and watch the news and that's not what is happening, you know. so it is tricky. because this is-- i'm-- i don't know what i am doing. i'm creating my world i'm creating my work i'm creating my what i want to feel every day. >> you have turned down a lot of

opportunities to make a lot of money in endorsements am you have been very selective about that. is that to protect the brand? do you want to say bruno mars is not-- it's got to be very, very special attempting to take your money. >> i just have to believe in whatever it is that i do. or what was it all for? you know, i stood by, i gambled on myself for this long. and turned down contracts that i felt that was only going to hurt me later on down in life, even though i was flat broke and i needed the moneyment but i just bet on myself to say, if i don't make this here, then hopefully i will make it here, or i don't-- you know, its a's not-- it's not going to do anything for me. it was never about money. it was never about money. >> it was about. >> the only thing i know how to

do. that's it. >> the only thing i know how to do. i do it well and i love it, all of that. >> that's it. >> that's it. >> i'm whopping ass up there, charlie. >> rose: thank you for coming. >> thank you very much. >> it's great to have you. >> thank you, charlie. >> rose: bruno mars, thank you for joining us. we'll see you next time. for more about this program and earlier episodes visit us online at pbs.org and charlie rose.com captioning sponsored by rose communications captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

>> rose: funding for "charlie rose" has been provided by: >> and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and information services worldwide. >> you're watching pbs.

[ [ bells play tune ] [ theme music plays ] -♪ i think i'm home ♪ i think i'm home ♪ how nice to look at you again ♪ ♪ along the road ♪ along the road ♪ anytime you want me ♪ you can find me living right between your eyes, yeah ♪ ♪ oh, i think i'm home ♪ oh, i think i'm home -today on "cook's country," bridget and julia cook grilled bourbon steaks, jack challenges bridget to a tasting of dill pickle spears,