Mars performed " Runaway Baby " live for the first time on June 24 , 2011 at the '' NBC 's Today Show '' as he danced along with his band . The choreography was inspired by James Brown , and Mars picked up a megaphone to sing some of the lyrics . On October 22 , 2011 , Mars and his band wore matching red velvet Dolce & Gabbana suits during the song 's performance on the results show of '' The X Factor UK '' . Robbie Daw of Idolator called the live show " rowdy " , while a writer for Rap-Up praised the performance , writing that it " rocked the house " due to his " James Brown funky moves " and singing into a megaphone . Christopher Hooton for Metro opined that Mars " stole the show " with his suit and " dance moves James Brown himself would have been proud of . " On February 12 , 2012 , Mars performed " Runaway Baby " during the 54th Annual Grammy Awards along with his band , wearing matching shining black-and-gold tuxedos . The stage , which was revealed during the rehearsals , included a wall with light bulbs and a giant marquee , which spelled " Live on Stage Bruno Mars . " Furthermore , pyro and giant spotlights were used . The Grammys ' executive producer Ken Erhlich wanted Mars to perform the track on the Grammys since he had seen it live . Mars ' performance was dedicated to the soon deceased Whitney Houston . Claire Suddath of '' Time '' dubbed it as " retro Motown " and enjoyable . She found the James Brown-inspired choreography " spot-on " . However , Suddath considered the singer to be " too perfect " . She rated Mars ' performance a B . MTV 's Jocelyn Vena thought the performance was energetic and " triumphant " . Jodi Jill opined that Mars ' show manifested energy , which created the expectation that it would not ever end . She also considered it one of the best performances in the beginning of the show . Jill concluded that Mars did not just want people to watch the performance but also experience it
54th Annual Grammy Awards
54th Annual Grammy Awards
Runaway Baby