Mars reunited with Philip Lawrence and Christopher Brody Brown, who composed the album under their joint alias Shampoo Press & Curl.

It also peaked at number two in Canada, France, and New Zealand, and produced five singles: "24K Magic", "That's What I Like", and "Finesse" (remix featuring Cardi B), which were commercially successful while "Versace on the Floor" charted moderately and "Chunky" had a limited release.

In early 2014, Bruno Mars was interviewed by that's Shanghai and gave some details of a new album, stating, "I want to write better songs ... put on better shows ... make better music videos.

[6] In an interview with New Zealand radio DJ Zane Lowe for the Apple Music podcast Beats 1, Mars said the album is filled with 1990s influences.

[10] He chose to emulate "the feeling of the R&B he fell in love with as a kid", avoiding making it sound like a tribute or forced, taking inspiration from Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, New Edition, Bobby Brown, Jodeci, Boyz II Men, Teddy Riley, Mariah Carey and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds.

[9][11] In November 2017, Mars was a guest on the Charlie Rose Show and said as he grew up pop music was "R&B-rooted songs", which he danced to at school balls and barbecues.

[10] Mars reunited with frequent collaborators, American songwriter, and producers, Philip Lawrence and Christopher Brody Brown, forming a new production trio, Shampoo Press & Curl, to record 24K Magic.

[13] "Finesse" underwent twenty different versions, including one in which Mars sang about "gold chains and cognac over a silky beat", and another which sounded "like a Seventies cop show".

"Versace on the Floor" started with a "piña colada vibe" before the beat was remixed, though, Mars felt his vocal performance and lyrics were not emotive enough for a ballad, and changed the melody and re-wrote the track.

[26] The engineer confessed they would start to work in the afternoon and spent 14 hours in the studio each day, with the album taking 22 months to record and once the writing stopped, the singer would "bounce ideas around the room."

[29][30][31] Andy Kellman of AllMusic, thinks the album "might as well be considered the full-length sequel to "Uptown Funk"; Mars abandoned his previous new wave and reggae sound for an "all-out R&B" effort.

[30][33][44] The slow jam of "Versace on the Floor" shows Mars's romantic side, with champagne flutes, rose petals, dancing and getting intimate with his lover.

[47] The album's final song of the standard edition, "Too Good To Say Goodbye", includes "horn bleats", piano, various harmonies, and "one of Mars' most emotional vocal performances".

During its development, Mars thought about a man driving the Cadillac that would wear his best silk clothing, a style inspired by his father that included "the pinkie rings, the pompadour", the hairstyle and the "flashy" glasses.

[57] On November 2, 2016, Mars performed several songs for Radio 1 at the BBC's Live Lounge, including "24K Magic", "Treasure", "Locked Out of Heaven" and a cover of Adele's "All I Ask".

[62] On December 2, 2016, Mars performed at the 2016 Jingle Bell Ball, an annually held event promoted by 102.7 KIIS FM that took place at the Staples Center, Los Angeles, California.

[95] The single was received well by music critics, who complimented Cardi B's verses and noticed the resemblance to the sound of Bobby Brown's album Don't Be Cruel (1988), Bell Biv DeVoe's track "Poison" (1990) and Michael Jackson's "Remember the Time" (1992).

[97] Patrick Bowman of Idolator rated the album four and a half stars out of five, writing that Mars "relish[es] every moment he gets to play the golden-voiced lothario dripping with swag and Versace.

[44] Nolan Feeney from Entertainment Weekly gave it a B+ and stated that "With only nine songs, there's not an ounce of fat on Magic, and nearly every track sounds like Top 40 gold", describing the record as a fusion of 70's funk and 90's R&B.

Club's Annie Zaleski gave it a B rating and wrote it is "easily his most cohesive and enjoyable collection, an escapist record that comes by its evocations of the past honestly".

"[103] The New York Times' Jon Caramanica said "the new songs – his most diverse set to date, and mostly rigorously executed and fun – show Mr. Mars to be interested in different musical eras, different production approaches and different singing voices without veering into chaos".

[46] Andrew Unterberger from Billboard said it "pays homage to any number of pop performers from his canon, in winking tributes that still keep one foot (or at least a couple of toes) in the present".

"[104] Pitchfork's Katherine St. Asaph rated it 6.2 out of 10, and likened it to a theme-park version of funk and R&B: "rebuilt shinier and glitzier and safer, every element engineered to please more than the real thing, and with a hell of a tour guide.

"[30] The Wall Street Journal' Jim Fusilli wrote, "In comparison to what he's done in the past and to today's rich and adventurous funk and R&B, the album feels a tad tepid at times.

Carroll said, "Mars shows he's a smart operator when it comes to the sort of pop which has all the accoutrements needed to engineer earworms, yet is sussed enough to know a little dab of special sauce is often required".

"[105] In a negative review, Andy Gill from The Independent gave it two stars out of five, saying, "the final product is a much tamer beast, taking its lead more from Mars' position as frontman of Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk" (2014)".

Carl Willot wrote, "Bruno's complete dedication to reviving lost sounds on 24K means it probably won't leave a long shadow.

Ross Scarano asked, "If I told you Bruno Mars recorded an album that sounded like a middle school dance, would you know I meant that as a compliment?

[141] Seven months after its release, equivalent album units exceeded 200,000, being certified twice platinum by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP).

[148] In Oceania, 24K Magic debuted at number two in New Zealand and was certified gold by the Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ) for selling more than 7,500 equivalent album units in three weeks.