Silk Sonic - An Evening With Silk Sonic

Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak were already hard at work on what would become An Evening With Silk Sonic when the pandemic shut down live music in early 2020, but they weren’t going to let that stop them from delivering a concert experience to their fans. “All of a sudden, my shows get canceled, Andy's shows get canceled,” Mars told Ebro Darden during their R&B Now interview. “This fear of ‘we’ll never be able to play live again’ comes into play. And to take that away from guys like us, that's all we know. So we're thinking, all right, let's put an album together that sounds like a show.”

It began with the project’s lead single, “Leave the Door Open,” a syrupy-sweet piece of retro soul that Mars considers something of a backbone for the project. After its completion, he and .Paak began building out the nine songs of An Evening With Silk Sonic, soliciting help, in the few instances where they needed it, from friends like Bootsy Collins, Thundercat, and even Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds. Their access to HOF-worthy firepower notwithstanding, the pair always understood that their own combined musicality was the real draw. “We just wanted it to feel special,” Mars says. “Instead of trying to get too cute with the concept, it's like, 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 a musician's dream.” Below, the pair talk through some of the tracks that make An Evening With Silk Sonic an experience fans won’t soon forget.