Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak’s Silk Sonic Didn’t Submit Album for Grammys Consideration

Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak won’t leave the door open at the 2023 Grammys: the R&B duo better known as Silk Sonic did not submit its platinum-selling album or latest single for contention at music’s biggest awards show.

Mars and Paak swept this year’s Grammys in April, winning all four awards they were nominated for thanks to the seductive hit “Leave the Door Open.” The prizes included song of the year, record of the year, best R&B song and best R&B performance (a win tied with Jazmine Sullivan’s “Pick Up Your Feelings”).

But in a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday, Mars says, “Silk Sonic would like to gracefully, humbly and most importantly, sexually, bow out of submitting our album this 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 continues. “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.”

Mars and Paak’s debut album as a duo, An Evening With Silk Sonic, was released in November 2021 — in time for the 2023 Grammys. It would have qualified for categories like album of the year, best R&B album and best engineered album, non-classical.

Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. says in his own statement, “Silk Sonic has been such a fun highlight of our last couple of shows and they deservedly had an amazing night at the 64th Grammys earlier this year. We appreciate their decision not to submit this year but look forward to celebrating an amazing year in music together.”

Mars has won 15 Grammys and Paak has eight. The duo also decided not to submit any songs from their joint album, including the smash “Smokin Out the Window,” which spent 11 weeks on top of Billboard’s Hot R&B songs chart, peaked at No. 5 on the all-genre Hot 100 chart and won video of the year at the BET Awards in June (in a tie with “Family Ties” by Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar). “Smokin,” written by Mars, Paak and Oscar-winning producer-songwriter D’Mile, would have qualified for categories like song and record of the year, best R&B performance, best R&B song and best music video.

Songs and albums released between Oct. 1, 2021 and Sept. 30, 2022 are eligible for nominations at the 2023 Grammys. Voting for the first round of nominees begins Thursday and ends on Oct. 23. Nominees will be announced on Nov. 15 and the live telecast will air on Feb. 5, 2023.

Mars has been a Grammy darling, winning 15 times out of 31 nominations. He won his first gramophone in 2011 for his debut solo single, “Just the Way You Are,” while his sophomore album, 2012’s Unorthodox Jukebox, was named best pop vocal album. Two years later he earned two Grammys for the Mark Ronson collaboration Uptown Funk, including record of the year, and the writer-producer behind hits for CeeLo, Flo Rida and B.o.B won another Grammy — album of the year — for his contributions to Adele’s colossal 25 album. And Mars’ third album, the ‘90s R&B adventure 24K Magic, won six Grammys in 2018, including album, record and song of the year.

Paak won four Grammys before linking up in Silk Sonic, including best rap performance for “Bubblin,” best R&B album for Ventura, best R&B performance for “Come Home” and best melodic rap performance for “Lockdown.”

8:12 a.m. This story has been updated with a response from Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr.