Bruno Mars isn’t actually called Bruno Mars and some people are only just realising the reason he decided on that stage name.

If you grew up in the noughties, there’s a high chance you spent a portion of your childhood hopping around your bedroom with your speaker plugged into your CD rom listening to Now That’s What I Call Music top CDs and screaming along to tracks such as ‘Just The Way You Are’ at the top of your lungs until your mom called you down for dinner. If you didn’t because you weren’t born until after the 2000s, then educate yourself on the golden age of music.

However, while singing into your hairbrush and putting up posters of Bruno, Britney and the Backstreet Boys in your bedroom, did you realise that when you were singing to your poster of Bruno specifically, you probably didn’t even know his real name?

Mars was born in October 1986 in Honululu, Hawaii and was named Peter Gene Hernández. However, in the early days of his career, he made the swift decision to go by a stage name instead.

At the age of 17, Mars graduated from high school and moved to Los Angeles, California and it was around then he made the change. But why Bruno? And why Mars?

Well, he told Blues and Soul: “Oh, my dad nicknamed me ‘Bruno’ when I was two years old! You know, I guess I was this chubby kid, and at the time there was this chubby (Italian) wrestler called Bruno Sammartino! So my name has been Bruno ever since I can remember!

“My mom always called me Bruno, my sisters always called me Bruno… In fact, the only place I was ever Peter was in school – because that was my government name! So in that way I guess I grew up like two different people! Which may be why my music is all over the place – I’m just a confused person!..”

And Mars? Well, it wasn’t just because of his dad’s nickname for him when he was a kid which led Mars to not go by Hernández.

Bruno Mars’ real name is Peter Gene Hernandez (Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NARAS)

Bruno explained he also didn’t want to be stereotyped by the industry as a result of his surname, Popsugar reporting the singer expected to be told: “Your last name’s Hernandez, maybe you should do this Latin music, this Spanish music . . . Enrique’s so hot right now.”

Mars added: “And then the ‘Mars’ came about through a joke in the studio. One day I was in there messing around and just telling people ‘Hey, I’m outta this world! I’m Bruno Mars!’!… And from that it just stuck!”

And it’s not taken long for social media users to weigh in.

One Twitter user said: “Interesting!”

“He has a nice name what’s he doing on Mars… hahahh,” another added.

A third wrote: “Are u f**king kidding me bruno mars’ real name is peter?”

And to everyone who was surprised, another simply wrote: “Your clearly not a day one fan lmaooo.”

Fairs.

If you’ve ever wondered what the striped pole outside a barbershop symbolizes, you’re not alone.

What we today think of as barbershops date all the way back to the 1800s, with 1805’s Truefitt & Hill in London recognized as the world’s oldest barbershop by the Guinness World Records.

We’ve all seen the red, white and possibly blue striped pole outside of traditional barbershops.

Modern day barbers are best known for their grooming services (Getty Stock)

They’ve become somewhat the norm in many places so it’s likely you’ve never really questioned why they’re there and what they mean; however, if you were intrigued to know, the barbershop staple has quite a morbid background.

Once upon a time, barbers weren’t just equipped to dress men’s head and facial hair, but to do bloodletting and other medical procedures.

If, like me, you’ve never heard of bloodletting before, it’s a medical procedure that involves removing blood from a patient to treat or prevent illness.

While official barbershops didn’t open until the 1800s, barbering services are thought to date back to the ancient Egyptians.

At one point in history, bloodletting was performed by Monks but after Pope Alexander III in 1163 prohibited clergymen from doing it, barbers added it to their list of services since they had the sharp equipment needed, explains History.com.

Have you ever wondered what barbershop poles symbolize? (Nano Calvo/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Some barbers would take their medical services further and also do things like pull teeth, set bones and treating wounds.

But what does all this have to do with striped barber’s pole, I hear you ask? Well, the red and white stripes are apparently a nod to the blood that used to be let by barbers back in the day – the red being for the blood, and the white being for the bloodied bandages.

In Europe you’ll find that such poles are only white and red, while in the States they have red, white and blue barber’s poles.

It’s not totally clear why they have blue, but one theory is that is that the color is symbolic of the veins cut during bloodletting. Ew.

A less gruesome suggestion is that the blue was added for patriotic purposes to match the American flag.

American barber’s poles are red, white and blue (Getty Stock)

The news of the barber pole’s origins have left people stumped on Reddit, with many admitting that they’ve only just learnt about it.

“[Today I learned] that the barber pole became the universal symbol for barbers as it resembles the bloody bandages of ‘barber-surgeons’ of the past, who practiced bloodletting,” someone said.

The post sparked others to share the theories they’ve heard over the years, with one writing: “The way I’ve heard it, red for blood, white for shaving foam, and in some cases, blue for water.”

“I heard it was literally just because movement catches the eye and it’s a simple design that draws your attention,” added another.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has weighed in on his character in 500 Days of Summer and why some viewer’s views of him are very problematic.

The 2009 rom-com saw The Dark Knight Rises actor star alongside Zooey Deschanel, playing the role of a character named Tom.

And it turns out that, while many viewers may know to run if a man’s name begins with ‘J,’, others aren’t quite as fine-tuned to the nuances of red flags and ended up falling for Tom’s charms – blind to some harsh realities about the character which Gordon-Levitt has since weighed in on.

Viewers crushing on Tom

500 Days of Summer was written by Scott Neustadter (The Fault in Our Stars) and Michael H. Weber (The Fault in Our Stars) and directed by Marc Webb (The Amazing Spider-Man).

The story centers around Tom (Gordon-Levitt) who’s dumped by his girlfriend Summer (Deschanel) and so reflects on their last 500 days together in a desperate bid to figure out what went wrong.

And it’s fair to say lots of viewers ended up pretty obsessed with Gordon-Levitt’s character.

One Twitter user wrote: “Tom (500 Days of Summer) -really clichè based -hopeless romantic -in love with love -obsessed with Summer -needs to move on and love me.”

“Tom from 500 days of summer really got his whole life torn apart by a three month situationship he’s just like me,” another added.

But they’re missing some red flags which Gordon-Levitt has since addressed.

Some viewers put Tom on a bit of a pedestal and ignored some red flags (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Why crushing on Tom is problematic

While Gordon-Levitt ‘really liked’ the movie, he takes issue with some viewers’ reading of his character within it.

In an interview with Playboy he reflected: “The (500) Days Of Summer attitude of ‘He wants you so bad’ seems attractive to some women and men, especially younger ones. But I would encourage anyone who has a crush on my character to watch it again and examine how selfish he is.

“He develops a mildly delusional obsession over a girl onto whom he projects all these fantasies. He thinks she’ll give his life meaning because he doesn’t care about much else going on in his life.

“A lot of boys and girls think their lives will have meaning if they find a partner who wants nothing else in life but them. That’s not healthy. That’s falling in love with the idea of a person, not the actual person.”

And thankfully the penny has finally dropped for some viewers.

Tom isn’t quite as ‘perfect boyfriend’ as some viewers think (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

A Twitter user taking to the platform in revelation said: “I remember watching 500 Days of Summer years ago. told myself that i would never forgive summer for breaking tom’s heart. but i watched it again today and realized that tom’s heartbreak was not summer’s fault, it was all his.”

“All this time I hated Summer from the 500 days of Summer movie. But now watching it again made me realize how selfish Tom was. Lol,” another added.

A third said: “I think we can all agree that Tom from 500 days of summer was only a victim of his own delusions.”

And a fourth resolved: “500 Days of Summer reminds you to talk it out and listen. Tom wasn’t listening. And him not listening set up expectations that absolutely crushed him.”

The thing is with Swifties, they never seem to miss a trick.

As Taylor Swift is all loved up with NFL star Travis Kelce nowadays, it’s pretty easy to forget her previous romance with the 1975 star Matt Healy.

Healy and Smith first met in 2014, with rumors surrounding a romance swirling for a while as Swift attended multiple 1975 concerts and rocked the band’s merchandise.

They struck up a romance that went public in May 2023, but broke up just a month later in June.

Well, in her new album, many fans are convinced Swift has taken aim at her former partner.

‘Guilty as Sin?’

In her new album, The Tortured Poets Department, Swift sings about having romantic feelings and ‘fatal fantasies’ for someone from her past while in a relationship with someone else.

Taylor Swift and Matt Healy pictured together in May 2023. (Robert Kamau/GC Images)

You certainly don’t need to be Einstein to work out Swift is talking about Joe Alwyn here – who she dated for six years before starting a romance with Healy.

Some Swifties turned detective and insisted the track also ‘unironically sounds like a 1975 song’.

Other fans lost their minds over the line “Drowning in the Blue Nile / He sent me ‘Downtown Lights'”, with one writing: “‘Guilty as Sin?’ is about Matty!!!!! The Blue Nile is one of his favourite bands and ‘The Downtown Lights’ is the song The 1975’s ‘Love it if we Made It’ is based on!!!!!! Plus he’s someone from her past who she wanted to have a ‘tryst’ with but never did!!!!”

‘The Black Dog’

In this particular track, Swift shouts out a favoured band of Healy’s in the form of pop-punk group The Starting Line.

The album artwork for The Tortured Poets Department (Republic)

The 1975 actually covered the band’s 2002 song ‘The Best of Me’ in concert in April and May 2023, just days before Swift and Healy were first seen publicly holding hands.

The track tells the story of two lovers who spent time apart, but eventually find their way back to each other.

“I just don’t understand how you don’t miss me / In The Black Dog when someone plays The Starting Line / And you jump up, but she’s too young / To know this song / That was intertwined in the magic fabric of our dreaming,” Swift sings.

Taylor Swift, Nick Grimshaw and Matt Healy back in 2015 (David M. Benett/Getty Images for Soho House & Bacardi)

Many Swifties were just baffled she was a The Starting Line fan, with one writing: “Am i HIGH or did ms taylor alison swift reference the band THE STARTING LINE in the black dog???????? hello?????????????????? am i hearing the lyrics wrong?????”

‘Fresh Out the Slammer’

In this song, Swift sings about feeling ready and able to dive into a new romance after ending a different relationship that was holding her back and making her feel trapped.

‘Fresh Out the Slammer’ contains lyrics about ‘runnin’ back home’ and being ‘at the starting line’ of something new.

Taylor Swift is now all loved up with Travis Kelce. (Ashok Kumar/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)

She also hits her new boyfriend is not American, as she sings she’s returning ‘to the one who says I’m the girl of his American dreams’.

It should be worth noting that both Healy and Alywn are British.

‘The Tortured Poets Department’

This particular track also seems to reference Healy as the title appears to make a joke at the time Healy brought a typewriter to her apartment.

“You left your typewriter at my apartment / Straight from the Tortured Poets Department / I think some things I never say / Like, ‘Who uses typewriters anyway?’” she sings.

Healy previously admitted he ‘really likes’ typewriters in a 2018 GQ interview.

UNILAD has reached out to Swift and Healy’s representatives for comment.