Mark Ronson has said he is glad he could use a personal “wrenching heartbreak” to inspire his new music, giving him a reason to not have to make another Uptown Funk.
The record producer, songwriter and DJ said his new album Late Night Feelings is his most emotional and personal body of work to date, and follows his divorce from Josephine de la Baume.
Ronson, 43, said he was happy to not have to go through the heartbreak “just for the sake of it”, particularly following the success of Uptown Funk with Bruno Mars.
Ronson told the Press Association: “I think it was the emotional state I was in that probably jump-started the whole record, but then it’s so many other people’s stories and emotions and things wrapped into it too.
“I’m glad that I got to go to this place a little because, obviously you don’t want to just go through a wrenching heartbreak just for the sake of it.
“But I imagine that if that hadn’t happened to me I’d be sitting here trying to follow up some Uptown Funk with some lesser groovy-type music.”
He added: “I would just be, like, a carbon copy of a carbon copy of a copy, you know?
“I’m glad for whatever reason I’m not doing that.”
Ronson and French model and actress De la Baume, who married in 2011, split in 2017 and were divorced in 2018.
Uptown Funk, from Ronson’s previous album Uptown Special, was a global smash hit, topping the charts around the world and winning a Brit Award among many other honours.
For all of his successes, including his Oscar win earlier this year for co-writing A Star Is Born song Shallow, Ronson said that he does not mind if Uptown Funk is the thing that defines his career forever.
He said: “I don’t mind that at all, that’s an amazing feeling.”
Referring to its popularity as a wedding dance song, he added: “I’m still seeing videos they post of little kids dancing to it.
“It’s amazing and if that song is the thing that looms over me then, thank God, I love that song. But I’ve just got to switch it up.”
late night feelings is out at midnight wherever you are. https://t.co/JtidLqXPmc 💔 pic.twitter.com/BpT17kcQlP
— Mark Ronson (@MarkRonson) June 20, 2019
On the album, which includes collaborations with Lykke Li, Miley Cyrus, Yebba, Camila Cabello and Alicia Keys, Ronson said it was strange at first to make music with such “emotional weight”.
Ronson, who has worked with the likes of Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen and Adele on their emotionally-charged albums, said: “On my own records, I don’t know if it’s because I come from DJing and I’m always just thinking about how people are going dance or move or have a good time to it.
“And also, I just never really thought of my own records as a place to put a great deal of emotional depth or honesty before.”
Late Night Feelings by Mark Ronson is out now.