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This album may induce uncontrollably steady dancing, head bobbing, foot-tapping, and happiness. If you are emotionally sensitive, you may also experience light droughts of wanting to be appreciated and loved. Tune in at your own discretion. Now that we have the disclaimer out of the way, let’s get into possibly the most anticipated album of 2021.

Silk Sonic is composed of two generationally talented mavericks in Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak. Both of these artists are phenomenal in their own right, and when they put out their first single “Silk Sonic Intro” on March 4th, 2021, the world was put on notice. The following day when “Leave The Door Open” was dropped, the world stood still.

Silk Sonic harnessed all of Earth’s groovy energy to produce a near immaculate piece of work. An Evening With Silk Sonic wears its 70s disco, soul, and funk inspiration on its sleeve with hints of Reggae thrown in. Of the 9 tracks in the project, 4 of them were released as singles. The aforementioned singles along with “Skate” and “Smokin Out The Window” were a pretty good indicator of the sound for the rest of the album. Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak fans will settle in quickly and feel right at home amidst all the funk.

After giving the 31-minute long album a few listens, I’m pleasantly surprised by how they managed to make the instrumental on every track feel alive. It’s as if the beats are the third member of Silk Sonic. The production team was able to follow and match Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak’s ebbs and flows in energy on every single track. Bruno Mars does most of the heavy lifting with his vocals. Able to change between his smooth and clean high notes and utilize a raspier inflection to add emotional undertones really made Bruno Mars a one-man army. That isn’t to say Anderson .Paak was left in the dust.

.Paak also turned in a great performance with his singing and adding the funky flare he’s known for on some tracks. .Paak also takes the lead on the tracks that are more focused on being groovy. When the two come together to harmonize, Bruno’s tenor and Anderson’s bass ranges complement each other to fill in any empty space and provide a richer listening experience. They work so well together and are so in sync harmonically, that I wonder why this dream team didn’t work together sooner!

The “Silk Sonic Intro” is reminiscent of watching a live 70’s performance. Imagine if someone teleported you to a live show of the Jackson 5. Bruno and Anderson are getting the crowd hyped before they introduce the host Bootsy Collins. Bootsy then introduces the group and provides a segway to the first real track of the album “Leave The Door Open”.  The fantastic single is an excellent introduction to Silk Sonic and sets the tone.

Both Bruno and Anderson are singing about a girl that they are infatuated with. They are so infatuated in fact, that they will give her every possible opportunity to reciprocate the feelings they have for her. The bass and electric piano create a calming effect with the tambourine oozing its way all over the track. It really conveys how suave they’re trying to be while talking to this girl.

“Fly As Me” is simple in production and sees Anderson .Paak taking the lead. Using a lot of claps, groovy bass, and organ riffs, the track makes you feel like the most fly person in the room.  Anderson .Paak has never had the greatest bars as displayed by his 2016 XXL Freshman Cypher, but he has an infectious charisma that makes him stand out as mainly a solo act on this track. “After Last Night” has Bootsy return to commentary duties over the track and it adds so much personality to the song. With a 70’s bedroom R&B vibe, Silk Sonic is in perfect unison as they harmonize and leave you wanting more.

After hollering at this mysterious woman so far in the album, Bootsy gives the audience an update on the relationship. Things aren’t looking too good for our duo and their love interest in “Smokin Out The Window”. After some time together and treating the girl to expensive gifts, they discover that she’s been cheating and never really belonged to them. She always belonged to the streets, and the electric piano along with sparing use of bass really sell that feeling of being betrayed.

After some time apart, Bootsy gives an update on the psyche of Silk Sonic. The duo is struggling to continue on as normal when all they can think about is the girl they left. They can “Put On A Smile” when around friends, but internally they are suffering. Anderson .Paak starts the track off overtop some emotional guitar riffs. It sounds like the guitar is about to cry.

Bruno Mars lends his amazing vocal range to the track to symbolize the conflicting emotions going on in their head. .Paak also continues his verse over some reggae sounds to show a new resolve that is different from the somberness from the beginning of the track. The song is so emotionally loaded that anybody that’s ever been in an expired relationship can relate. This song can trigger some tears if you’re not careful.

“777” sees the duo heading to Vegas to try their luck. This is the first song to break the existing storyline and doesn’t really do much besides give us cool guitar riffs and Vegas musical sounds. It works as sort of a bounceback for Silk Sonic to be able to be happy again without their past love interest. As a stand-alone track, it’s still pretty solid, however, because of the lyrical content, I don’t think this track will stay on very many shelves after the novelty wears off.

“Skate” brings us back to the beginning of the album. The duo is back to hitting on girls, telling them all that they’re very special. “Blast Off” is a track of finally completing the journey and finding the one. Not the one they thought was the one, but the one that they know is the one. The high from being in love feels like they’re in outer space. Up there, it’s just the two of them, oblivious to what’s happening on Earth. Accentuated with rock guitar riffs and sounds like fireworks are exploding as they ascend, it is a very good conclusion to the story and outro for our Silk Sonic duo.  Their journey was a short one, but it was full of complex emotions.

Favorite Tracks: Leave The Door Open, After Last Night, Smokin Out The Window, Put On A Smile, Skate, Blast Off

Least Favorite: 777

Thanks for sticking till the end! I’ll be digging through more music coming out in 2021 to find only the hottest of songs. Let us know if there’s an artist or album to watch out for and I’ll take a listen! I’m always willing to discover something new to put on the playlist.

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An Evening With Silk Sonic

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• Unashamedly retro
• Great vocal performances
• Core identity stays intact
• Bootsy Collins narration
• Instrumentals act as unofficial third member of Silk Sonic

Cons

• Abruptly breaks the story towards the end
• Some tracks lack replay value