Both Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak of Silk Sonic sat down with Ebro Darden on R&B Now Radio on Apple Music 1 to discuss their new collaborative album, An Evening With Silk Sonic. The pair recalled how the project came together, the album’s musical concept, how the COVID-19 pandemic impact the music, and more.
“We needed this to work,” Mars admitted. “We just wanted it to feel like… feel special. Instead of trying to get too cute with the concept it’s like, man, what’s more special than Anderson Paak behind a drumset singing a song and, you know, me having his back when it’s my turn, you know? And the band moving in the same direction, it was just like… it’s like a musician’s dream. You know, being in the studio recording a song like that.”
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Amidst the cancelation of shows during the pandemic, the duo decided they wanted to set out with the goal of putting together an album “that sounds like a show.”
.Paak also reflected on how working together with Mars, in particular, helped him develop as an artist:
Yeah, it was big for me. Like I was just, tryna just take it all in. Live in the moment, like being in the studio with them, like I’ve done collabs with everybody. I don’t know not one person old, young, everyone on my checklist I’ve already checked and I’ve done all kinds of stuff, I’ve had records that have gotten Grammys but there’s stuff– but like theres always a place that an artist wants to go and I wanted to go straight to the top. And there’s a cheat code, you know what I’m sayin’. Everybody told me the cheat code is linking up with this dude. Get Bruno on your side, and um, yeah, it’s dope. It couldn’t have happened unless it was organic and natural and everyday we would get to the studio and it was a blast. It was just jokes. Some days we didn’t even make no music, we just laugh all day and talk shit and, um, ramble. We was having too much fun, man, and um, I tell him all the time I have a lot of trust in him and that felt good too. I felt like a large part of my career I’ve done collabs and everything but it felt good to be able to trust a dude to, you know, try it like this, great vocal producer, one of the greatest vocalists I’ve ever worked with and just pushing me to a different level.
Check out the duo’s interview with Darden for Apple Music 1 below.