What we all need to brighten up these long lockdown days is something to look forward to – and Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak have given us just that, having announced their upcoming collaborative album An Evening With Silk Sonic!
Fans of the two may remember that they toured together back in 2017, shortly after the release of Bruno’s last solo album 24k Magic – it was during this tour that the pair began playing together, quickly realising that their individual sounds worked together well. Now, four years on and teaming up under the name Silk Sonic, they’ve given listeners everywhere their first taste of what to expect from this exciting new project.
Last Friday, Silk Sonic dropped their first single from the album, Leave The Door Open, along with an intro track from the album’s ‘guest host’, funk and soul legend Bootsy Collins – who even came up with the Silk Sonic name!
Silk Sonic Intro promises listeners a good time, with Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak’s high-energy opening line asking “Who y’all came to see tonight? Who gon’ get the ladies feeling something?”, before introducing the unmistakable voice of Bootsy Collins into the mix.
“Fellas, I hope you got something in your cup,” he says, “And ladies, don’t be afraid to make your way to the stage!”
Fun, flirtatious and charmingly tongue-in-cheek, Silk Sonic Intro leads nicely into the release of their first single, Leave The Door Open. As collaborations go, Leave The Door Open is up there with the very best, showing off the trademarks of both Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars’ individual sounds and bringing their talents together with the rest of the Silk Sonic crew seamlessly.
The track sees the pair address a romantic interest in the hope of persuading her to come over for the evening, promising ‘Kissing, cuddling and rose petals in the bathtub – it’s jumpin’!’ Having listened to the track a few times, we think you’ll agree that their arguments make it a fairly tempting offer – particularly Anderson .Paak’s line ‘If you’re hungry, girl, I’ve got filets’!
Surrounding the album announcement, Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak have spoken about the journey that led to the beginning of the Silk Sonic project, as well as the fun that they had with the creative process itself – something that comes through brilliantly within the Silk Sonic sound.
“We kept coming up with music. It felt like why you fall in love with music in the first place,” Bruno told Apple Music, describing the enjoyment that the pair got from experimenting with their collaborative sound during their 2017 tour.
“Jammin’ with your buddy. There’s no plan, just working out the parts and trying to excite each other, you know?”
Anderson .Paak believes that this environment, an environment where the pair kept fun at the core of their creative process and worked together closely, has contributed plenty to the way that the album has turned out.
“These days, you get so many collaborations where it’s done through email, you never meet the person. It’s text, it’s like a play,” he said, “People don’t understand that when you can get in and you can jam with someone, that’s different. You’re really creating a groove from scratch.”
With the music video for Leave The Door Open having already racked up over 25,000,000 views at the time of writing, it’s clear that there’s plenty of excitement surrounding the project and its upcoming releases. Unfortunately, it looks as though we’ll have to wait a while for another taste of Silk Sonic – the pair are yet to announce an official release date for the full An Evening With Silk Sonic album.
We’re sure the project will be more than worth the wait, but – in the meantime – Leave The Door Open and Silk Sonic Intro are the sort of tracks that are sure to see the listeners hitting ‘repeat’ time and time again.
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