The most comprehensive academic analysis of the music video is a paper titled "Bruno Mars, Liveness, and the Out-of-Tune Voice in ‘Locked Out of Heaven’ (2012)" by Antoine Gaudin.
There is a unique inversion of the standard relationship between sound and image. Usually, music drives the visuals, but here, the "live" feel of the video (Bruno Mars jumping around and moving) serves as a visual justification for the slightly "out-of-tune" vocal delivery found in the studio track.
This paper explores the intentional connection between the video's aesthetic and the song's production, specifically focusing on the concept of . Key Analytical Themes from the Paper: