The R&B duo, comprised of Mars and Anderson .Paak, won four Grammys at the 2022 Award show earlier this year for their single, “Leave the Door Open,” and their album, An Evening With Silk Sonic, came out last November.
While it was eligible for the 2023 Grammys, Mars stated on Thursday, “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,” said Mars in a statement shared with Newsweek. “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.”
He added, “Thank you to everyone that supported this project and championed for it. We truly put our all on this record…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.”
Mars and .Paak performed the songs “777” and “Hot Music” from the album at this year’s Grammy Awards.
Following the announcement, the CEO of Recording Academy, Harvey Mason Jr., released a statement saying: “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.”
The decision to bow out, according to Grammys expert and Awards Editor at Billboard, Paul Grein, “was a smart move on their part.”
“Last year, they went 4-0 at the Grammys, including record and song of the year,” Grein told Newsweek. “They probably wouldn’t have won album of the year this time, given the stiff competition, but if they had, it might well have triggered a backlash—‘They’re good, but please, enough already.’ So, they avoided that fate.”
Grein added that Bruno has accrued 15 Grammys in his extensive music career, and said that there is a risk of “awards-show overexposure.”
“So the best-case scenario for them would have been to go and lose, and that’s not exactly ideal either!” Grein said. “This way they get points for being generous—they opened up a slot in album of the year for somebody else who hasn’t been so amply awarded already. So they’re both smart and classy.”
Other artists who submitted their albums for Album of the Year were Harry Styles’ album, Harry’s House, Beyoncé’s Renaissance, Adele with her album 30, Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers, Lizzo’s album Special, Taylor Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version), and Bad Bunny’s album, Un Verano Sin Ti.
Silk Sonic is certainly not the first to remove themselves from consideration at the Grammy Awards. Drake withdrew from the 2022 awards, at which he was up for Best Rap Album for Certified Lover Boy and Best Rap Performance for his song “Way 2 Sexy” featuring Future and Young Thug.
Drake left his reasoning for this decision to the unknown but previously called out the Recording Academy in 2020 for failing to recognize fellow Canadian artist The Weeknd, who was snubbed from nominations despite dominating the charts with several hit singles.
In the past, rapper 50 Cent called out the Grammys for being “out of touch” after the late rapper Pop Smoke was snubbed for the 2021 Best Rap Album, and Justin Bieber also made a statement after his R&B album Changes was classified as a Pop album.
In 2020, Nicki Minaj also tweeted her grievances with the Grammys, writing, “Never forget the Grammys didn’t give me my best new artist award when I had 7 songs simultaneously charting on billboard & bigger first week than any female rapper in the last decade—went on to inspire a generation. They gave it to the white man Bon Iver.”
Newsweek reached out to a representative for .Paak for comment.
