By Deon C. Jefferson
Today’s music scene is all over the place. We are living in a world where trap beats, poorly used samples, and mumble rap rule the charts and airwaves. In 2021, Silk Sonic saved our eardrums by surprising us with their debut single “Leave the Door Open”. Recently, Silk Sonic released their album, “An Evening with Silk Sonic.” Fans were elated to find out that funk legend Bootsy Collins appeared on the album. Well, thanks to Bootsy being featured on the album, he is making history for himself. Bootsy made his very first appearance on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
“Thanks to his credit on @silksonic’s “After Last Night,” @Bootsy_Collins appears on the #Hot100 for the first time this week at No. 68”, tweeted Billboard in a statement.
Silk Sonic is made up of multi-talented artists Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak. The two singers have had major success before deciding to join forces to do an album. Bruno Mars has released some extraordinarily successful blockbuster singles like “Uptown Funk” and “Versace on the Floor.” The artist has also written songs for Brandy and Adele, not to mention the boatload of Grammy’s he has earned. Anderson Paak debuted on the scene in 2012. In just a few short years, he has won four Grammy Awards and released a slew of critically acclaimed albums.
Anderson was grateful to work with Mars. He was open about why working with Bruno Mars was necessary. “It was big for me”, mentioned Anderson Paak during an interview for “R&B Now Radio” on Apple Music. “Like I was just trying to take it all in, live in the moment, like being in the studio with them. I’ve done collabs with everybody. I don’t know not one person old, young, everyone on my checklist I’ve already checked, and I’ve done all kinds of stuff, I’ve had records that have gotten Grammys but there’s stuff – but like there’s always a place that an artist wants to go, and I wanted to go straight to the top.”
“An Evening with Silk Sonic” features nine tracks that incorporate sleek vocals and live instruments. If you listen closely, you will find small tributes to musicians of the past like The Ohio Players and the Stylistics. The lush strings and the “baby-please-don’t-go” style of lyrics take us back to a time when artists were using talent to sell music instead of using gimmicks or social media. “Skate” is one of the most playful songs on the album. It definitely is an ode to the ’70s and the art of skating. “Put on a smile”is is one of the standout tracks on the album, it is one of the best examples of Bruno Mars’s vocal prowess. The song was also co-written by Babyface, he also provides backing vocals. “An Evening with SIlk Sonic” also features songwriting credits from James Fauntleroy and D’Mile. To coincide with the album, they released the third single from the album “Smoking Out the Window.” The song immediately became a smash and the video gained millions of views in a matter of minutes. Bootsy Collins acts as the special commentator for the entire album.
“We needed this to work, we just wanted it to feel like… feel special. Instead of trying to get too cute with the concept,” said Bruno Mars during the interview with’’ R & B Now Radio” for Apple Music. “It’s like, man, what’s more, special than Anderson Paak behind a drum set singing a song and me having his back when it’s my turn, you know? And the band moving in the same direction, it was just like… it’s like a musician’s dream, being in the studio recording a song like that.”
The challenging work is starting to pay off. “Leave the Door Open ‘’ became a breakout single. They not only performed it at this year’s Grammys, but the song was also nominated for four trophies. Not to mention, the single went double platinum, reached #1 in various countries, and it won the award for Favorite R&B Song at the American Music Awards last week. Last weekend, Silk Sonic performed twice at the 50th Anniversary of the Soul Train Awards. Since fan are always wanting more from the duo, they debuted they performed their single “Fly as Me” for the first time. Their set was an homage to the famous show. Silk Sonic also walked away with three awards including “Song of the Year,” “Video of the Year,” and the coveted “Ashford and Simpson Songwriting Award.”
