...with special guest host Bootsy Collins

First single drops Fri, Mar 5.

https://twitter.com/brunomars/status/1365150996838555648
https://www.instagram.com/p/CLvcQeQHzYA

https://twitter.com/andersonpaak/status/1365163300233773058
https://www.instagram.com/p/CLvcQeSnaXj

https://pitchfork.com/news/bruno-mars-and-anderson-paak-announce-new-album-as-silk-sonic/

I'm sure both guys are upset they can't tour this project since I'm sure this would do serious numbers and the live shows would be quite entertaining. Can't say I'm anything of a Bruno Mars fan, but I'll definitely pick this up. I wonder if they'll play any instruments themselves on this project. I hope this is be sucessful and will move Anderson.Paak up a new tax bracket since Bruno Mars is a huge star. Folks in the pop world still check for him, correct?

the names kind of odd but maybe ill get used to it. definitely a single i want to check out. hope the album delivers.

On paper this sounds like it would definitely fit.

https://twitter.com/bootsy_collins/status/1365321057603846146
https://www.instagram.com/p/CLwrs7bAxcu

Paak cant miss
Bruno does nothing but miss

should be interesting

>Bruno does nothing but miss

I wonder if this was recorded a couple years ago?

and just make the dopest funkiest album out there.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

Can’t remember the last time I listened to a song 5 times in a row. Got a feeling these guys got a serious album on their hands.

https://youtu.be/adLGHcj_fmA

this song has me genuinely hyped

I'm interested to see how their talents are distributed across the record and each song... like this feels a bit more like Bruno's track in terms of vocals/melody BUT it has also spotlights the change-ups and attention to detail that Paak shows in his compositions and production (kind of his trademark, imo, esp. in his solo work). It's a nice balance. I hope they find equivalent balances throughout the record.

It's smooth as shit but it also has a real sense of humor (definitely another Paak trademark).

Yeah, if they nailed this for the whole record this will be a top-tier record.

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~

Exactly the line I was thinking of, lol

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~

These boys servin' up steak, not chips!

But I just listened and you are right.

haven't gone back since i saw this, don't really want it to change, lol

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~

>I'm interested to see how their talents are distributed across
>the record and each song... like this feels a bit more like
>Bruno's track in terms of vocals/melody BUT it has also
>spotlights the change-ups and attention to detail that Paak
>shows in his compositions and production (kind of his
>trademark, imo, esp. in his solo work). It's a nice balance. I
>hope they find equivalent balances throughout the record.
>
>It's smooth as shit but it also has a real sense of humor
>(definitely another Paak trademark).

i dont check most singles but i definitely wanted to know what it was going to sound like. it exceeded expectations for me. it just sounds right. i like what they both brought to it and how it works together. definitely excited to hear more now.

It sounds like a single for sure.
I'm curious what the rest of the LP sounds like.

On a positive note, I do like the fact Bruno Mars didn't show any ego and agreed to have Anderson Paak fully showcase himself on the song. Pretty cool since Bruno Mars is such a huge mega star compared to Paak.

Wonder how long it took for these two to cobble this project together.

It appears Bruno Mars is selling physical copies of this single and digital copies on his website and not a shared one with Anderson Paak. That was somewhat interesting.

Bruno makes it almost too cartoony.
It's too polished.

U crazy. I’ll admit it feels more like Bruno feat. Anderson than it does a true merging of their styles. But the outcome is still a damn good song. I’m Looking forward to the LP.

The Stylistics "betcha by golly wow"

and Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes (teddy p!) "if you don't know me by now"

it's cool i like it... was hoping they wouldn't be "so pimpery" but here we are... very very excited for the album tho

Again, I'm probably gonna check the album but....eh.

Two thumbs up from me.

Hope they keep these “too polished” joints coming. Sure beats half finished LOL

Peace,

Spirit (Alan)
http://wutangbook.com

It sounds like a radio friendly single.
It leans more to the Bruno Mars side,
where I was hoping Paak would bring him to his side (ie. NX Worries-ish).
Something slightly sloppy on the funk.

but go off.

Just trying to get a read on what you guys mean when you say it's too polished. It could mean alotta things depending on who's saying it.

It lacks in my opinion any risk musically.

Probably because they want to appeal to a wider audience (which is cool).
And honestly that's exactly what 1st singles are supposed to do.
But like someone stated below, this sounds like a Bruno Mars song that features Paak, not the other way around.

I hope the rest of the album sounds more like Snoop's Bush album and the Tuxedo joints and less like this.
Especially with Bootsy Collins as the "host".
THIS first single don't sound like Bootsy.

kinda makes the point. i dont agree with the comparison but it does sound like a fax of the feeling (further evidenced by the cheesy video/grammy performance *shrug*)

i liked where does this door go as much as the next man but the tuxedo albums were boo boo imo and it aint what im trying to hear from a pack/bruno collab.

it sound like a bruno song with a paak feature. expecting more of the same for the album given their relative sales and popularity. not mad at it though. bruno obviously knows how to make a hit, d'mile been killing it, and more exposure for paak is a win for everybody.

gonna make the (unreasonable) assumption that based off the single this album aint touching the nxworries joint.

it sound like a bruno song with a paak feature. expecting more of the same for the album given their relative sales and popularity. not mad at it though. bruno obviously knows how to make a hit, d'mile been killing it, and more exposure for paak is a win for everybody.

gonna make the (unreasonable) assumption that based off the single this album aint touching the nxworries joint.

Bruno cracked the code and figured out how to make hit songs, regardless of whatever time period he's jacking (I say that not as a criticism - I'm enjoying this stuff he's been involved with since Uptown Funk.)

If it's polished it's because Anderson was completely down with that. That's probably want he wants to get from Bruno.

vocals. The mix of vintage backgrounds and feel along with more modern chord changes definitely reminds me of Mayer Hawthorne.

>vocals. The mix of vintage backgrounds and feel along with
>more modern chord changes definitely reminds me of Mayer
>Hawthorne.

Yes.

And the video is good times too. They look like some folks who know they have a jam on their hands. Hopefully they have a whole album of jams on deck for us.

https://youtu.be/adLGHcj_fmA

Thats all it needs to be. They are singing to the Women, and the women in the video seemed genuinely enthused. That works for me.

LOL

>and the women in the video seemed genuinely enthused.

That'd actually be really funny...

Has that ever been done in a video? Like a band giving it their everything but the audience just unimpressed?

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN6in-2Cs1U

Might have been staged.

https://twitter.com/AndersonPaak/status/1369388798619041797

Paak is not happy

Peace,

Spirit (Alan)
http://wutangbook.com

I thinking making retro music is a fine line to walk because if you are too faithful to the original material it ends up sounding like a retread and doesn't bring anything new to the material.

I think Saadiq made that mistake with The Way I See It , my post was a bit click bait because the truth is Saadiq also does it very well which he does on albums like Ray Ray.

I mention Amy Winehouse because her Fade to Black was one of the best examples of going retro without being too faithful to the original material and offering something new.


This first song from Silk Sonic is cool, but I hope they don't stay so faithfully retro with the next release.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

while I like this song enough, it feels pretty close to a parody of the older stuff.

I didn't think the NxWorries album was retro at all.

More than anything it sounded like R&B version of Madvillainy
(somebody on here made that connection, not me).

> More than anything it sounded like R&B version of Madvillainy
> (somebody on here made that connection, not me).

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~

Again too much old, not enough doing something new and interesting.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

they're clearly not trying to reinvent the retro envelope...

My guess is:
* singles will play it super safe
* album cuts might get a bit more bold but probably not much
* the live show, though, may very well be super tight. both are exceptional performers who work with some of the best writers and musicians in the game. no guarantee but my guess is the show is where they'll put the heat if they decide to change things up a bit more.

Honestly, I really came to like LYDO (before it got played everywhere and to the ground), and Skate's fine even if it didn't floor me. If you come to the project expecting Winehouse, you're just asking for disappointment, imo; if you come expecting a fun throwback sound by really talented folks, you'll probably enjoy it a lot more out of the gate. Accept it for what it is, have fun with it, and anything extra will be gravy.

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~

While I like both songs, neither of them knocked my socks off. Production is great, the singing and musicianship is great, but the songs released thus far haven’t really grabbed me like that. Still, they are fun, cool songs.

I am sure the live Shows will be the ish.

Oddly enough I think that's where Prince went wrong. He became such a live show oriented musician, he kind of forget the most innovative stuff he was doing was him working alone fooling around with new equipment.

Anyway, maybe not winehouse but I was hoping more Yes Lawd at least.

We shall see.



**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

>I am sure the live Shows will be the ish.
>
>Oddly enough I think that's where Prince went wrong. He
>became such a live show oriented musician, he kind of forget
>the most innovative stuff he was doing was him working alone
>fooling around with new equipment.
>
>Anyway, maybe not winehouse but I was hoping more Yes Lawd at
>least.
>
>We shall see.

One half of Yes Lawd was the work, vibes, and talents Knxwledge brought to the table.

I have to imagine there are a vast array of differences between how Bruno Mars and Knxwledge approach creating music.

Plus, out of respect to Knxwledge , I would have to imagine Anderson.Paak wouldn't want to redo Yes Lawd while working with someone else that had noting to do with Yes Lawd.

Will the heightened visibility and/or pop sensibities from working with Bruno Mars result in Paak not cursing at all on this album. If so, that'll be pretty interesting since dude loves to curse on his prior works.

I'm assuming Bruno Mars doesn't curse too much in the past. I could be wrong because I don't listen to the man at all.

why did R and B artist start using profanity in songs to that extent anyways.. its like they purposely did not want radio play.

I would love to have an album that I can play at the cookout with my whole family listening to it.

I don’t mind it from paak (or generally) but I have noticed a lot of the newer r&b shit is heavy on cursing. Clean versions aren’t readily available on spotty/streaming.

I think there's a video somewhere with Smokey recounting the lyrics...maybe it was a questlove supreme I don't remember but I found this reference to it from Paak...

During a recent interview with Zane Lowe of Apple Music, .Paak recounted how Robinson reformatted the track entirely. “Lord knows I had different lyrics before,” he said. “ came and changed the whole thing up…My original was like, ‘It’s easier to run away than to eat what’s on your fucking plate,’ and he was like, ‘No baby, What in the hell? No, no.'

After having so many songs on the radio, you would think they would release the album by now, it's not like back in the day when you could wait a whole year after the first single drops to wait for an full length down the road, today's market people will forget about you if you don't have an out by now, and just enjoy the singles and move on to the next artist copying your sound that's willing to capitalize off your wave (that's if they can get radio play or heavy streaming).

It seems like Dr.Orchestrate's label is known for doing this to their artists, when it shouldn't be like that these days, this is still a business not an investment.

The success of "Door Open" might've gotten away from them, and they were like "Oh shit, we have to make more of these more quickly than we thought."

And, I've heard Bruno is a "do it -> call someone else to re-do it -> end up releasing the original version" type.

I don't think they were ready for just how wide Leave The Door.. blew.

I think this is largely right for new acts but both Bruno and Paak are well established at this point and pretty savvy self-promoters in their own right. They won't have much trouble getting interest from would-be listeners -- they'll just build on the hype and the wait.

I definitely don't think they expected the response they got.

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~

>I definitely don't think they expected the response they got.

They're both huge artists, coming together 100% unexpectedly. How could they *not* foresee a huge response to that ?

These aren't two middle-of-the-road artists coming together for the core fans. These dudes (especially Bruno) are *massive*.

Let me put it this way: if you had told me that a retro/throwback Stylistics-style performance would literally top the charts and be certified platinum right now - not just in sound but even in aesthetic - I would have said, no way. It just doesn't fit with the current trends; if anything, the retro touchstone right now might be the 80s, maybe 90s, and that's more on the Indie side of things. If you had told me it would be a Bruno and Paak collaboration, I might've said, "That's interesting and it will probably get a lot of attention, but I can't imagine it being a chart-topping hit." In March, when it entered the top 10 of the hot 100, these were its peers:

Drake - What's Next
Drake feat Lil Baby - Wants and Needs
Drake fet Rick Ross - Lemon Pepper Freestyle
(Leave the Door Open)
Olivia Rodrigo - Drivers License
Cardi B - Up
Weeknd/Ariana Grande - Save Your Tears
Weeknd - Blinding Lights
Ariana Grande - 34+35
24kGoldn - Mood

One of these things is absolutely nothing like the others, lol... not just in that top 10 but in the whole 100 from that time (and through til today, when it's *still* holding strong.

But this wasn't just a hit, it was a mega hit that gained mass popularity -- absolutely everywhere. It spent 18 weeks in the top 10. There's a good chance its chart performance will rival Bruno's biggest hits; it's definitely Paak's highest charting performance (he hadn't had a #1 before). It has now been in the hot 100 for 30 weeks; only a handful of other songs right now have been on the chart for longer. It's literally been satirized on late night tv, lol.

For reference, peak US chart positions from wiki:

US Billboard Hot 100 1
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard) 6
US Adult Top 40 (Billboard) 7
US Dance/Mix Show Airplay (Billboard) 32
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard) 1
US Mainstream Top 40 (Billboard) 5
US Rhythmic (Billboard) 1
US Rolling Stone Top 100 3

Even if they were optimistic and thought it would be a hit, would they have predicted *this* level of hit with *this* style of music in *this* climate? Even if you take into account Bruno Mars's superstar status and Paak's very large fanbase and critical appeal, you'd have to be crazy optimistic to think it was going to be literally everywhere. Or at least, that's my take -- one really really big star and another very big star collaborating doesn't guarantee ubiquity.

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~

https://www.billboard.com/amp/articles/columns/hip-hop/9616592/silk-sonic-album-release-date-delayed-bruno-mars-anderson-paak-interview

https://silksonic.lnk.to/SmokinOutTheWindow
https://youtu.be/GG7fLOmlhYg

The song is cool, but like the previous two I’m not blown away by it. Well executed, production is good, vocals are impressive. Funny, cool, song.

but it appears this whole album is going to be the whole retro revival deal.

I'm not a big fan of that type of sound, but I am an Anderson.Paak fan, so I might have some slim interest in this.

I have the feeling listening to this will be quite frustrating as I'll just wish I was listening to a new solo Paak album, but I suppose time will tell.

I want him to release that song called Ride.

Whether or not they scrambled the rollout, this is still highly anticipated. It will be interesting to see how it is received.

Listening now. Conflicted thoughts so far but I'm generally smiling.

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~

https://pitchfork.com/news/bruno-mars-and-anderson-paak-release-new-album-an-evening-with-silk-sonic-listen-and-read-the-full-credits/

*A lot* can be said about these credits...

For now, two observations:
* Although they both have writing credits for every song, only Bruno is listed on each track's production (along w/D'Mile)

* Most (all?) of the strings are Larry Gold productions -- I know he gets around but considering the sort of throwback image/sound of the album, that's pretty cool.

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~

I think its better than "Leave The Door Open"

I really liked Blast Off, too, especially the long vocal outro. Fly As Me was fun but I think the real upbeat jam might be 777. I wasn't listening too close, though, so that could all change.

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~

Which then reminded me that we got that KING album when Malibu dropped, and nothing since.

Sadness

>Which then reminded me that we got that KING album when
>Malibu dropped, and nothing since.
>
>Sadness


That is pretty damn wild.

From what I've seen KING has released a sprinkling of collaborations here and there since their album dropped. Touring must be doing them quite well for the two sisters to remain active without having to drop even an EP since WE ARE KING dropped. I think they toured or did a live show with Coldplay if memory serves me correct.

He is credited with producing all but one track I think

DMile is coming UP. Gonna be in demand AF this next year.

but why did Mach-Hommy drop leading into summer and this album drop with freezing temps and snow right around the corner?

https://youtu.be/nAUwKeO93bY

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~

on Ticketmaster (link): https://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/2849637

Sale ends 1/20/22 at 10pm PST

Enter offer passcode to unlock cheapest possible ticket prices:
BLASTOFF

yw.

Drove down to Vegas all Saturday morning and hit up the show..

First off, that venue, Dolby Live, is absolutely beautiful. Really, really nice. I believe Bruno Mars was playing there solo previously. Usher is there now as well.

The show is impeccable. Electric even. Probably the best live show in music right now. Definitely, the best show in Vegas currently. Shit is so on point. They both sound really good vocally speaking. The set list was executed perfectly. If you're a fan of Silk Sonic or either Paak or Bruno individually, you will not be disappointed. This is the version of the album you will not want to miss.. performed live in Vegas.

The live versions of the entire album including Silk Sonic versions of some of Paak and Bruno's big solo hits.. Also "Love's Train" was really good live. The recorded version didn't do much for me, but it makes sense now.

The crowd was a nice cross section. Reminded me of a Bay Area crowd. All ethnicities and age groups.

Of course, the strictly Bruno fans didn't know shit about no "Come Down" or "Am I Wrong" cuz if they did they would know hearing those songs live should elicit crazed dancing, singing, yelling, and throwing of hands up. It's all good though, that's to be expected at this point.

The merch is dope, but way too expensive. $50 and $75 tshirts. I will just bootleg that shit lol.. got a dope $25 poster though

All in all.. Highly recommended if you have the means to come out to Vegas. I believe the residency is through the spring, so if you can, make the trip. Shit is dope + the hotel/casino (the Park MGM) Dolby Live is connected to is smoke free so the air is clean throughout.

.

I'm >this< close to purchasing a ticket, but wondered what protocols were in place.

Ticketmaster has the generic warning popup about agreeing to observe the health and safety measures in place at the time of the event, but what did that look like for your show? Was the audience required to be masked? Is the venue requiring vaccination and/or proof of a negative COVID test?

Thanks for the review, btw.

I mean, I GUESS some places might be checking vax cards, but I just got back on Saturday. They lifted the mask mandate about a month ago or so - so, some dealers/bartenders are wearing them - but no vax check, no masks, no negative covid tests needed.

Is it a good thing? Probably not. But having gone a few times under the protocols...it's definitely feeling like Vegas again.

Sorry for the late reply..

Yeah there were no covid protocols.

There is a no phones policy though.. phones in locked pouches all show long.

Truly an incredible show. One of the most fun concerts I've been to probably. Just a truly great setlist (the crowd was very into the Anderson songs, thankfully!) and IMPECCABLY put together. I really enjoyed how these guys traded off for the lead just about down the middle - and how much they seemed to really enjoy playing these songs with each other.

Had an incredible time - and there's no better place to see this album performed than Vegas, IMO (777 just hits different).

i'm assuming they will.

But visiting my brother out of town and driving his car while he’s working, and not feeling like connecting my phone and thus listening to radio for the first time in many years, and I heard “Love’s Train”. Loved it - going to check the rest of it. Maybe radio is good for something still?