FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 15, 2021
BRUNO MARS & ANDERSON .PAAK
ARRIVE IN STYLE AS SILK SONIC
MULTIPLE GRAMMY® AWARD WINNING SUPERSTARS CELEBRATE WITH DEBUT
LIVE PERFORMANCE AT LAST NIGHT’S GRAMMYS® STREAMING HERE
WATCH MARS & .PAAK PLAY TRIBUTE TO LITTLE RICHARD
DURING THE GRAMMYS® IN MEMORIAM SEGMENT HERE
.PAAK’S “LOCKDOWN” TAKES HOME GRAMMY® AWARD FOR
“BEST MELODIC RAP PERFORMANCE”
BLOCKBUSTER LACOSTE X RICKY REGAL COLLECTION SELLS OUT NATIONWIDE
“LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN” AVAILABLE NOW
LIMITED EDITION COLLECTABLE CD SINGLE AVAILABLE HERE
LISTEN HERE | WATCH HERE
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Photo Credit: Harper Smith
“A glorious blast of vintage R&B…that could be a Best R&B Song GRAMMY® winner from 1974. Even though the classic R&B sound the pair evokes is a decade older than they are, both the song and the arrangement are pitch-perfect, with swooning strings, honeyed backing vocals and even a glockenspiel.” – VARIETY
“A smooth bedroom classic that calls back to ‘70s slow jams. The music video transports Silk Sonic to a Motown studio, where the vibes are immaculate, complete with Kangols and amber shades… Let the swag wash over you.” – VULTURE
“[In] the retro-vibed video, Silk Sonic performs the smooth slow jam in a studio. The pair trade verses and harmonize alongside their backing band on the Mars-led chorus.” – ROLLING STONE
Multiple GRAMMY® Award winners Bruno Mars & Anderson .Paak are celebrating the out-of-the-box success of “Leave the Door Open” with their triumphant live debut at last night’s GRAMMY® Awards, stealing the show with a spectacular performance of the acclaimed first single. The duo performed a tribute to the late Little Richard last night during the In Memoriam segment, playing “Long Tall Sally” and “Good Golly.” Anderson .Paak was among the evening’s big winners, taking home the “Best Melodic Rap Performance” GRAMMY® for his 2020 single, “Lockdown,” which was also nominated for “Best Music Video.”
This month has seen the blockbuster launch of Bruno Mars’ first lifestyle clothing brand, Ricky Regal. The Lacoste x Ricky Regal collection, presented in partnership with international sportswear brand Lacoste, launched alongside the premiere of “Leave The Door Open.” The collection quickly sold out in the US on Lacoste.com and Lacoste owned retail stores.
Silk Sonic – whose name was bestowed upon them by the one and only Bootsy Collins – introduced “Leave The Door Open” alongside an official music video directed by Mars and Florent Déchard with over 41 million views and counting. Currently ascending airplay charts at multi-format radio outlets around the world, the track was followed by a hugely popular social media campaign, #LetSilkSonicThrive, and was immediately welcomed by unprecedented critical acclaim. “What’s new, smooth as silk on the ears, and features two stars of R&B?” wrote Billboard, praising Silk Sonic as “a groovy duo” and the single as “lounge at its heart.” Consequence of Sound enthused, “Mars has a voice like a liquid whip, while .Paak raps and sings through a foggy haze. They sound like smoke on the water.”
A limited edition collectable CD single is also available exclusively via the official Bruno Mars webstore. Produced by Mars and D’Mile, and written by Mars, .Paak, D’Mile, and Brody Brown, “Leave The Door Open” heralds Silk Sonic’s eagerly awaited debut album, AN EVENING WITH SILK SONIC, is due later this year.
ABOUT BRUNO MARS:
With worldwide sales of 130+ million albums and 173+ million singles, Bruno Mars is one of the best-selling artists of all time. His album DOO-WOPS & HOOLIGANS – which peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 – has gone on to achieve global album equivalent sales of 15.5 million. Now boasting 7.8+ billion total streams, DOO-WOPS & HOOLIGANS is certified RIAA 6X platinum, the longest charting debut album on Top 200 and #4 longest running of all time. It took home GRAMMY® Awards for “Album of the Year” and “Best Pop Vocal Album.” The album spawned a string of blockbuster hits including “Just The Way You Are,” “Grenade,” “The Lazy Song,” “Marry You,” and more. “Just The Way You Are” and “Grenade” proved era-defining hits, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and numerous singles charts around the globe. “Just The Way You Are” went on to receive the GRAMMY® Award for “Best Male Pop Vocal Performance,” while “Grenade” was honored with three GRAMMY® Award nominations, including “Record of the Year” “Song of the Year,” and “Best Pop Solo Performance.”
2016’s certified RIAA 3X platinum 24K MAGIC album made an impressive debut atop Billboard’s “Top Digital Albums” and “Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums” charts. It includes the 7X platinum-certified #1 single, “That’s What I Like” – Mars’ seventh “Hot 100” chart-topper and first ever #1 on the “Hot R&B Songs” chart, affirming him as one of the few artists to have written and produced each of his #1 hits as well as to have a #1 song on the “Hot 100” from each of his first three studio albums. Mars and 24K MAGIC proved the biggest winners at 2018’s GRAMMY® Awards, winning all seven categories for which he received nominations, including “Record of the Year,” “Album of the Year,” “Best R&B Album,” and “Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.” “That’s What I Like” received the GRAMMY® for “Song of the Year,” “Best R&B Song,” and “Best R&B Performance.”
Among his truly countless accolades, Mars is a 4x Guinness World Record holder, with his milestone 2015 NFL Super Bowl Halftime Show drawing a record-breaking total viewership of over 115.3 million. Mars also holds the world record as the “First Male Artist to Achieve Three 10 Million Selling Singles” and “Most Followed Male Chart-topper on Musical.ly,” while 2016’s 2x GRAMMY® Award-winning, worldwide #1 collaboration with Mark Ronson, “Uptown Funk,” made history for the “Most Weeks at #1 on the U.S. Digital Song Sales” chart.
Earlier this year, Mars debuted Owner’s Reserve, a limited-edition sipping rum from his rum label, SelvaRey. A blend of 15 and 25-year-old rums, it sold out in minutes. To get on the waiting list and to check out the full rum lineup, visit www.selvarey.com.
ABOUT ANDERSON .PAAK:
Born Brandon Paak Anderson in Oxnard, California, as a teen he played drums in his church band and later famously worked at a marijuana farm, all while honing his musical chops and in pursuit of his dreams. And while shining glimpses of his extraordinary talent were evident in his first incarnation as Breezy Lovejoy, it was fully realized in his transformation into Anderson .Paak, with his debut album, VENICE, and a stellar six-song run on Dr. Dre’s RIAA gold certified COMPTON album that stoked anticipation for what would be the perfect storm of his sophomore release, 2016’s MALIBU, with features by ScHoolboy Q, The Game, Talib Kweli, BJ The Chicago Kid, and Rapsody, also with first-class production by 9th Wonder, Dem Jointz, Robert Glasper, Kaytranada, Madlib, Hi-Tek, and more, the album was a sonic wonder, met with universal rave reviews.
.Paak won the 2016 Grulke Prize at South by Southwest, received GRAMMY® nods for “Best New Artist” and “Best Urban Contemporary Album,” nods for the BET Hip Hop Awards’ “Best New Hip-Hop Artist” and the NME Awards’ “Best New Artist,” won the Soul Train Music Awards’ “Best New Artist,” “Album of the Year” at Gilles Peterson’s 2016 Worldwide Awards in London, and MALIBU was certified gold in Europe. .Paak has also acquired an impressive list of collaborations including acts such as Mac Miller and Chance the Rapper, as well as a monster single in “Bubblin” that saw a Jimmy Kimmel Live! performance and won him his first GRAMMY® for “Best Rap Performance” in 2019.
.Paak released his highly regarded 2020 single, “Lockdown,” on Juneteenth. Inspiration for the song came from .Paak’s participation in a Los Angeles Black Lives Matter protest where peaceful protestors were being shot with rubber bullets by the police. The single is joined by a video directed by Dave Meyers featuring Andra Day, Jay Rock, Syd, SiR, Dumbfoundead & Dominic Fike. “Lockdown” took home the GRAMMY® Awards for “Best Melodic Rap Performance” and was nominated for “Best Music Video.” and The song was also featured in a multitude of “Best Of” 2020 lists, including NPR, The FADER, Complex, and President Barack Obama’s annual “Favorite Music” list.
In October 2020, .Paak was named as Vans’ first ever Global Music Ambassador. The partnership includes exclusive footwear and accessory collections inspired by .Paak’s Southern California roots along with the release of his track, “JEWLEZ,” which was co-produced by Timbaland and featured his Vans collection throughout its accompanying music video.