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.
“Leave the Door Open”
Bruno Mars: “Me and Andy come from the school of performing and playing live instruments. We wrote ‘Leave the Door Open’ and it was just one of those songs like, dang, I can’t believe we a part of this, and we don't know what it's gonna do, we don't care that it's a ballad or a whatever you wanna call it—to us, this just feels right and it's important. So no matter what, if it hit No. 1 or it didn't, me and Andy both know that that was the best we could do. And we were cool with that.”
“Fly as Me”
Anderson .Paak: “‘Fly as Me’ is a joint hook [Mars] had for a minute. He was trying to figure out some verses for it, trying to figure out the groove, and we spent some time on that.”
Mars: “Andy goes behind the drum set one day and says, ‘The groove gotta be like this,’ and starts playing his groove. D’Mile is on the bass, I'm on the guitar. After all the grooves we tried, I don't know what it is, there's something about someone in the studio, someone that you trust, saying, 'It's gotta be like this.’ And the groove you hear him playing, which is not an easy groove to play, was what he showed me and D. And we just followed suit.”
“After Last Night” (with Thundercat & Bootsy Collins)
Mars: “That one got a lot of Bootsy on it. And my boy Thundercat came in and blessed us. It’s just one of them songs—everything was built to be played live, so that song is one of those we can keep going for 10 minutes.”
“Smokin Out the Window”
Mars: “‘Smokin Out the Window’ was an idea we started four or five years ago on tour. It didn't sound nothing like how it does now, but we just had the idea. On [.Paak’s] birthday, I called him over. He was hysterical that night. After every take he was like, 'I'm the king of R&B! I’m the best! Tell me I’m not the hottest in the game!' We were going back and forth with the lines and who can make who laugh, and we end up finishing that song and he was like, 'I’m out, what we doing tomorrow?'”
“Put On a Smile”
Mars: “I had a song that I played for Andy and I said, ‘What do you think about this?’ and he said, ‘It sucks.’ I start singing it again and he gets behind the drums and that's when the magic happens. So we come up with this hook and these chords and that's when we start cooking, when everything starts moving in the studio. The song's starting to sound real good now. I don’t wanna mess it up, so I call Babyface. I only call Face to know if I got something good, you know, ’cause he’ll tell me too, 'This is wack.' For all of us to finish that record together, that was one of my favorite experiences on this album.”
“Skate”
Mars: “It's hard to be mad on some rollerskates. So really, that's kinda the essence of this album: If me and Andy were to host a party, what would that feel like? Summertime. Outside. Set up the congas and the drums and amplifiers, and what would that sound like? And this is what our best effort was: 'Skate.'”

姆爷Eminem联手好友天灰姐SkylarGrey、Polo.G、MOZZY为《毒液2》献唱主题曲《Last One Standing》。

狂 • 16岁出道狂扫告示牌葛莱美各大奖项，20岁全新大碟改变全世界
想 • 亲自担纲专辑发想监制，并力邀王牌制作人Jack Antonoff联手打造
曲 • 收录Spotify点播破亿单曲"Green Light"及最新冠军主打" Perfect Places"
「首张专辑【Pure Heroine】纪录了我青少年的辉煌时刻，而接下来，我要用这张专辑，带给大家前所未见的新世界。」- 萝儿 Lorde
16岁出道，就以首张大碟【天生英雌Pure Heroine】狂扫告示牌、葛莱美奖等各大奖项，20岁推出的这张全新大碟，Lorde说她想要改变全世界！年仅20岁却拥有轻柔灵幻的嗓音，同时带有稚嫩与成熟的双重灵魂，她的歌词意境深远，但又贴近新世代自处的矛盾与挣扎；Lorde的创作，总让人从中感受到最真切的情感，也使听众彷彿在诗篇的文字与音乐美学里，亲耳见识了她独一无二的音乐风格，一听就深深为她着迷。
本名Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O`Connor的Lorde，13岁就以惊人天份被环球音乐挖掘并签下一纸合约正式出道，17岁时以一曲"Royals"轰动全球，不仅摘下英美两地冠军，更在全球卖出千万张销量，最后夺下荣获葛莱美「年度歌曲」与「最佳流行歌手」两项大奖；2013年首张专辑【天生英雌】，一发行便空降了纽澳冠军，全美累积三白金认证，一连串令人仰望的排行纪录，接连获颁时代杂志册封「最具影响力青少年」、富比士杂志「30岁以下未来之星」头衔。挥别了青少年时期的萝儿，准备踏入人生另一阶段的她，不仅在心境上因为恋情告终而有所转变，音乐上更是出现了巨大提升；Lorde说：「新专辑在探讨当代的人们-该如何品尝孤独?这不是一张描写心碎或失恋的作品，是试图去解构这些情绪背后所带来的效应，并学会如何与"他们"相处，无论好还是坏，我们都要学着去体会」；同时，萝儿还将所谓的色彩联觉(Chromesthesia)带入到专辑中，让所有聆听者可以透过听觉上的接收，在脑海中产生出相应的颜色视觉画面。经历超过500个日子倾力打造之后，终于交出了备受注目的第二张专辑【狂想曲Melodrama】。
【狂想曲】除了由Lorde自己担任制作外，更请来了拥有三座葛莱美奖的Jack Antonoff(泰勒丝、赞恩)，以及加拿大DJ Frank Dukes(蕾哈娜、德瑞克)等共同打造；开场曲同时也是首支主打"Green Light"，描写过去经历的疯狂人生与心得，而「Green Light」意象，代表着人生能够有往前迈进的动力，兼容了ElectroPop与Dance-Pop的脉动，快速在Spotify突破1亿次点播及告示牌热门榜Top 20；受到蕾哈娜的"Higher"启发而写出"Liability"，展现了曲风上的多元，以柔软舒适又带点阴郁气息的钢琴声，铺陈了整首歌曲，娓娓诉说心中的寂寞；"Writer in the Dark"则是面对孤独的最佳写照，毫无保留地在世人面前摊开来呈现。
【天生英雌】塑造了一个全新的天才少女，而【狂想曲】的出现，将会把萝儿推向下一位乐坛巨星之路。