Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars recently united to form a new band called Silk Sonic, confirming that a new album is officially in the works. Today, the duo provided the first glimpse of said album, delivering the soulful and refreshingly smooth “Leave The Door Open” to widespread early acclaim. Following the big single release, the pair caught up with Zane Lowe on Beats 1 to discuss their experience creating a full-length project together.
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Revealing that the idea to join forces originally stemmed from a productive and notably inebriated studio session, they soon found that they had plenty of ideas worth exploring. For both parties, the ability to actually collaborate as musicians was a massive plus. “These days, you get so many collaborations where a lot of it’s done through email, you never meet the person, it’s texts,” explains .Paak. “It’s like a play. It’s all this sh-t and people don’t understand, when you get in and you can jam with someone and other artists that could hold it down and you’re bouncing, that’s different. That’s the difference and you’re really creating a groove from scratch.”
When asked about his experiences working with .Paak, Mars explained that the Aftermath melodist continuously found new ways to inspire. “Anderson came into the studio and unlocked something in my brain that I’ve never used before,” he explains. “That’s what you hope. That’s how inspiration happens, you know? Even just hearing him talk, being a songwriter, sometimes you hear things in your voice, but working with other artists and you hear the way they talk. All of a sudden you start thinking differently.”
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Anderson .Paak also praised Mars’ perfectionism, a quality he is no stranger to, having worked extensively with Dr. Dre on his last two albums Oxnard and Ventura. “A lot of people do collabs these days, but I don’t think they understand what it’s like to go in and get work with someone that’s challenging everything,” he reflects. “Like, did we do this right? Did we do this right? Should we try this right? The last dude that pushed me like that was Dre, you know? And [Bruno] was the same way. He just had this, like, ‘I know what you’re used to doing, but I’m a producer too.’ You know, this dude is a producer. He’s one of the best producers I know, from music to vocally, anything.”
For more from Silk Sonic, check out their new interview with Zane Lowe on Beats 1 radio below.