An album that literally takes me back in time.
It’s been nearly 5 years since prolific musicians Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak united to release their iconic collaborative studio album, An Evening with Silk Sonic. I remember very vividly when “Leave the Door Open” first came out. I was 14 years old and it was near the end of middle school. I caught a whiff of it on the radio and I have been invested ever since. Embarrassing enough, I was unable to recognize Bruno Mars’ voice and I thought that it was something from the 1970’s, but I heard a lot of people talking about this at school. I was shocked. I knew that Mars was an 70’s and 80’s-inspired artist, but I didn’t think he could sound fully like a Motown legend. As for .Paak, I had never even heard of him let alone know what his musical style is like.
Produced by D’Mile and The Stereotypes, An Evening with Silk Sonic sounds exactly how I initially envisioned it in my head before listening: it sounded like an episode of Soul Train. For context, Soul Train was a TV show back in the day where R&B, soul, and hip-hop performances were hosted; that is exactly what the album feels like, but in this case, it is hosted by legendary, humorous bassist Bootsy Collins. He makes his presence known after Mars and .Paak take to the stage on “Silk Sonic Intro” by calling himself “Bootzilla, Blaster of the Universe” and reveals that he was the one that named the band. “Leave the Door Open” follows suit with a somber feel, where the artistic persona asks his lover to come over so he can “adore” her, as he’s leaving the door open.
We then segue into an upbeat, braggadocious yet flirtatious track where the artistic persona tells his lover that he is fly and deserves to be with her, because obviously, she is also fly. “Fly As Me,” in a way, maintains but slightly shifts away from the classic 70’s funk formula by incorporating elements of hip hop into the verses and the final bridge, which is clearly inspired by James Brown, the Godfather of Soul.
After the dance party that is “Fly As Me,” we are then taken to the more freaky side of the album with “After Last Night,” featuring Collins yet again and another iconic bassist in the form of Thundercat. The track narrates a man who had a very extraordinary night with a woman and falls in love with her after said night. The man in the song’s story is clearly so in love that he throws his phone out of the window as a symbol of ending his lifestyle as a player, with Collins’ cartoonish adlibs adding more sensuality. The bridge is probably my favorite part of the song; Mars and .Paak vocalize while interpolating Collins’ 1977 song “What’s a Telephone Bill?” The song makes you yearn for a lover or appreciate your current lover more than ever, but of course, there is another mood change in the form of “Smokin’ Out The Window”.
“Smokin’ Out The Window,” arguably the best track on the album, opens with a depressing string arrangements, then Collins and Silk Sonic open with an even more depressing monologue: “Wait a minute, this love started out so tender, so sweet | But now she got me smokin’ out the window…” The duo take turns in being the artistic persona and rant about how the girl did said persona dirty; the girl in question made him overspend, take care of her children, and compete for his spot with her ex. Doesn’t get any dirtier than that. That’s why he’s smoking out the window and singing “How could she do this to me?”
“Put On A Smile” continues with the theme of heartbreak and it is the only on this album that utilizes the singing-in-the-rain R&B trope. Collins opens up yet again with Thunder and raindrops are heard at the beginning and end of the song and the artistic persona basically sings that he is miserable without her and now that she’s gone, there is nothing worth smiling for.
The next two tracks are clearly made for dancing. “777” is a song that is set in a casino and is the first track with two artistic personas instead of one. Each talk about their winnings in a night, with Mars claiming, “I got bills to pay, but bills can wait; f*** it, we ballin’!” .Paak makes references to Michael Jackson by mentioning that he “moonwalks to the money” and that his “man in the mirror” is telling him to get his money up (from gambling, of course.) “Skate” is another fun and safe for a roller rink track that takes the current generation back to the 80’s where going to those venues was a highlight every week, with many references to skating like “hair in the wind” and features the artistic persona asking his lover to skate over to him.
The last two tracks are probably the best produced in my opinion. “Love’s Train,” for those who don’t know, is a cover of the classic melody about a love triangle by 80’s R&B band, Con Funk Shun. The story behind this is that two members of Con Funk Shun, Michael Cooper and Felton Pilate, were dating the same girl, and instead of falling out, they turned it into a hit song. Silk Sonic covering gives the track a fresh feel that introduces a classic gem to a younger generation and still carries the same emotion; to be honest, I prefer this version to the classic. Finally, “Blast Off,” the final track of the Silk Sonic show, is a track about experiencing a high after ingesting substances, as the lyrics use allegories like “levitating” and “took a lil’ something to get here.” The album closes with the duo “blastin’ off straight to some good vibrations” while the Bootzilla himself returns once more with a calm, cartoonish monologue: “All the way from the stratosphere | Sendin’ love from up above | Happy trails, baba.”
I believe I speak for most of Gen Z when I mention a certain canon event: a trap phase. This album means so much to me because it came at a time when I was listening to only trap music and I knew I was doing it to fit in. It helped me rediscover the love I once had, and now currently hold, for things of old. I realized that I was an old soul after I listened to Silk Sonic portray that era. I will forever be grateful to my sisters and this album for rediscovering my true self.
An Evening with Silk Sonic feels like a breath of fresh air; it is a project that I would describe as perfect. It may not be the most groundbreaking project in the history of music, but Mars and .Paak were able to make a statement: timelessness beats trendiness.