( CNN ) -- In the grand history of celebrity mugshots - which includes Nicole Richie 's smizing and Paris Hilton 's `` did you get my good side ? '' head tilt - Bruno Mars ' September 2010 photo is a standout . The `` Locked Out Of Heaven '' singer had been booked on a drug charge in Las Vegas at the time . Instead of doing the stoic face of someone in trouble with the law , Mars smiled like he was at the Grammy Awards . When GQ magazine , which hosts Mars on the cover of its April `` Style Bible '' issue , asked the singer why he was grinning upon his arrest , Mars could n't quite say . `` I have no idea , '' he responded , laughing . `` It was a picture . '' It 's also one image that Mars would like to forget . As he told Piers Morgan last year , he 's been trying to move forward ever since his arrest . `` I was really intoxicated . I was really drunk , '' Mars recalled to GQ . `` So a lot of that is a big blur , and I try every day to forget and keep pushing . '' Grammy 's top 5 moments . So far , his attempt to leave the past in the past is working . Mars just notched his first No . 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with his 2012 album , `` Unorthodox Jukebox '' - not an easy task , he said . `` You know how hard it is to write a big song ? That s*** is hard , man , '' he admitted to GQ . `` I do n't ever want to come out with something safe and get away with 'It sounds good ! ' It 's got to be more than sounding good . The music I like are events . ... 'Bohemian Rhapsody ' is my favorite song - that song 's an event . And that 's what I want to do . I 'm sure that shocked the world , that song . 'Billie Jean ' shocked the world . 'Smells Like Teen Spirit . ' Those songs are events . That guy put everything he got into that , and he meant it . '' Creative proposal earns kudos from Bruno Mars . But even with that intention , there are moments when Mars ' own work catches him off guard . `` ( 'Locked Out of Heaven ' ) shocked me . That it turned out the way it did , '' he told the magazine . `` I have n't done a song like that . And hopefully every album , I 'll get that feeling . And shock the world ! '' So he wants to shock the world , GQ asked ? `` Hell yeah ! '' Mars responded . `` I 've got nothing else to do . '' Lindsay Lohan accepts plea deal with rehab .
Bruno Mars covers GQ 's April Spring 2011 issue . He talks about why he smiled in his cover mugshot . The singer also discusses his intent behind songwriting .