Silk Sonic, the much-loved R&B/soul project from Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, has taken the unusual step of not submitting its music for consideration at the 2023 Grammy Awards. The move is all the more eyebrow-raising considering Silk Sonic won all four Grammy trophies for which it was nominated in 2022, including record and song of the year for “Leave the Door Open.”

“Silk Sonic would like to gracefully, humbly and most importantly, sexually, bow out of submitting our album this year,” Mars said in a statement. “Andy and I, and everyone that worked on this project, won the moment the world responded to ‘Leave the Door Open.’ Everything else was just icing on the cake. We thank the Grammys for allowing us to perform on their platform — not once but twice — and awarding us at last year’s ceremony. We’d be crazy to ask for anything more.”

Because it was released last November, Silk Sonic’s debut album, An Evening with Silk Sonic, is eligible for the 2023 Grammys and was considered a contender for album of the year and best R&B album. The single “Smokin Out the Window” would also have been eligible for song and record of the year; it topped Billboard’s Hot R&B Songs tally for 11 weeks and reached No. 5 on The Billboard Hot 100.

The 2023 Grammys will consider songs and albums released between Oct. 1, 2021 and Sept. 30, 2022. The full list of nominees will be announced Nov. 15, with the awards handed out on Feb. 5.

Leave a comment