After nearly a year of anticipation (and some trolling) Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak — aka Silk Sonic — have released their album, An Evening with Silk Sonic. The album, which is narrated by funk bass legend Bootsy Collins, features nine songs and a feature from Thundercat. D’Mile — who’s had a hell of a run recently — provided production on every song on the album, alongside Mars.

Fans have gone on a long journey waiting for An Evening with Silk Sonic. The album is, of course, led by the hit single “Leave the Door Open.” The song, which dropped back in March, was a smash, becoming Anderson .Paak’s first no. 1 single. However, for months after there were very few updates and even less new music. And as Mars and .Paak continued performing the song, fans started to get more and more restless.

And Silk Sonic did not seem very concerned. In fact, back in August, the two talked to Rolling Stone magazine about the project. And it seemed like the album wouldn’t be dropping until the top of 2022. In the interview, Mars and .Paak did give an explanation for their madness, talking about how finding the right band was crucial for this album. Mars told the publication: “I’ve never realized till this album how much the right guitar pick matters. The right gauged strings. All this science kinda stuff.” While .Paak added, “Those players back then were playing with such patience. The music we grew up with is heavy drums, bass smacking, so we got all the instruments but were still like, ‘Why doesn’t it sound right?’ Because we were fucking bashing!”

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