Bruno Mars announced Thursday that, Silk Sonic, his project with singer Anderson .Paak, will “bow out” of submitting their album “An Evening With Silk Sonic” for Grammy consideration.
“We truly put our all on this record, but Silk Sonic would like to gracefully, humbly and most importantly, sexually, bow out of submitting our album this year,” Mars said in a statement to Rolling Stone.
“We hope we can celebrate with everyone on a great year of music and partake in the party. Thank you for letting Silk Sonic thrive.”
The duo didn’t explain why they would not submit the November 2021 album for the award, but the lead single, “Leave the Door Open,” was already nominated at last year’s Grammys and won in four categories: Best R&B Performance, Best R&B Song, Song of the Year and Record of the Year.
“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,” Mars continued. “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.”
“Thank you to everyone that supported this project and championed it.”
Mars has had a six-year “clean sweep” at the Grammys. The “Just the Way You Are” singer has won 15 Grammys overall — 13 since 2016 — and he’s gotten 30 nominations over several categories.
Mars’ winning streak began in 2016, when he took home two Grammys — Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Record of the Year — for his collaboration with Mark Ronson, “Uptown Funk.” In 2018, he continued sweeping, winning all six Grammys he was nominated for with his album “24K Magic,” which won Album Of The Year and Best R&B Album. The title track won Record Of The Year and single “That What I Like” took the titles of Song Of The Year, Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song.
As for .Paak, he’s taken home four Grammys along with his Silk Sonic wins, including Best R&B album for “Ventura” in 2020 and Best Melodic Rap Performance for “Lockdown” in 2021.
The duo has performed as Silk Sonic at the Grammys multiple times. They performed “777” and “Hot Music” at the 2022 Grammys and “Leave the Door Open” in 2021.
“An Evening With Silk Sonic” was expected to sweep at the 2023 Grammys, and bye a top contender for Album of the Year.
The Grammy Awards will be on Feb. 5, 2023, at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.