Bruno Mars caps off a banner year with a series of new promo photos. The suave singer works his charm in the black-and-white images photographed by Andreas Laszlo Konrath. Fresh off his six Grammy nominations including Album of the Year, the Hawaiian heartthrob has been named Billboard‘s Top Male Hot 100 Artist of the Year, Top Male Radio Songs Artist, Top Male Digital Songs Artist, and Top Male Adult Pop Songs Artist, among other accolades. He doesn’t plan on stopping, recently returning to the studio to work on his sophomore LP.

“I want to have fun on this next album,” he told Ryan Seacrest. “I think that’s the most important key, especially now that I’ve been on the road and am playing a lot of shows. I have a little more of a vision than I think I did with Doo-Wops & Hooligans.”

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Grammy season got underway with a star-studded concert held at the Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE in Los Angeles on Wednesday night (Nov. 30). During the one-hour special, “The GRAMMY Nominations Concert Live!! — Countdown to Music’s Biggest Night,” Lady Gaga performed twice—once by herself and a second time with country duo Sugarland.

LL Cool J hosted, Nicki Minaj presented the Record of the Year nominees, Ludacris teamed up with Jason Aldean for a country-meets-rap collabo, and Usher joined Valerie Simpson and Mike Stoller in a moving tribute to songwriters Nick Ashford and Jerry Leiber.

Lupe Fiasco, Common, and LL Cool J paid homage to the hip-hop classic “The Message” by linking with Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel. Backstage, a surprised Melanie Fiona gushed over her two nominations with Cee Lo Green for “Fool for You” and Bruno Mars celebrated with his production partners Phil Smeezington and Ari Levine.

“It means that we’re kinda the coolest kids on the block this year,” said Bruno of his six nods. “We worked extremely hard on ['Grenade'] and I can speak for all of us when I say we’re most proud of that song.”

Kanye West leads the nominations for the 54th Annual Grammy Awards, airing February 12. See a full list of nominees.

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“I’ve Been waiting my whole life to do a performance like this,” wrote Bruno Mars before storming the stage on “The X Factor” to perform “It Will Rain,” his single from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 soundtrack. The fedora-clad singer gave it his all as he belted out the dark tune in front of a giant digital screen projecting an image of a broken heart.

The Hawaiian heartbreaker is planning to step away from the spotlight to record his sophomore album. “Tonight may be my last t.v performance for a while. So imma try & sing the shit out of this song on @XFactorUSA TUNE IN!! #TimeForAlbumTwo,” he tweeted.

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Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa run “Young, Wild & Free” in the carefree video for the Bruno Mars-assisted single from the soundtrack to their stoner comedy Mac and Devin Go to High School, available December 13. In the buddy film, Wiz plays valedictorian hopeful Devin Overstreet who finds inspiration in Mac Johnson (Snoop), a 15-year senior and ladies’ man.

“The concept of the video is me and Mac, we’re working at the drive-in movie theatre and we’re like, ‘Yo man, we need to turn it up,’” said Wiz while on set in Montclair, Calif. “It’s all about having fun, having a good time, living ‘Young, Wild & Free.’”

The Dylan Brown-directed clip features footage from the film, due in early 2012.

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Grab an umbrella. Bruno Mars stormed “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” on Friday to perform “It Will Rain,” the lead single from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 soundtrack. Dressed in a black suit and his signature fedora, the Hawaiian heartthrob was backed by an orchestra and his band as he delivered the dark tune.

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Willow Smith brought her rock star swagger to the black carpet at the premiere of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 at the NOKIA Theatre in Los Angeles last night. The 11-year-old “Fireball,” decked out in a leather motorcycle jacket and metallic gold boots, is a self-proclaimed fan of the vampire romance series and its author Stephenie Meyer.

Bruno Mars, who contributed the first single to the film’s soundtrack, also showed up in a yellow sweater and his signature fedora to take pictures with fans who camped outside for days to see their favorite stars.

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After a slight delay, Bruno Mars satisfies Team Bruno with the video for “It Will Rain,” the first single from the The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 soundtrack. Bruno falls hard for a girl in the clip, which features footage from the next installment in the highly-anticipated vampire series. But will outside forces be able to come between them? Sink your teeth into the latest from the R&B heartthrob.

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Bruno Mars is back in the lab. A year after unleashing his breakthrough debut, the Hawaiian heartthrob has started work on his second album.

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