At last year’s Grammy Awards, Silk Sonic took home four statues for their “Leave the Door Open” single: Best R&B Song, Best R&B Performance, Song of the Year and Record of the Year. The band — which is made up of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak — released their full debut album just a few weeks later, but that one won’t be winning any Grammys. Because Silk Sonic is choosing not to submit it for award consideration.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Mars played coy about his exact reasons for shying away from the “Music’s Biggest Night” (sarcastic). “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. 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.”
Well, OK! Silk Sonic join a handful of other big performers — most of them people of color — who’ve grown increasingly vocal in their criticism of the Grammys. Drake raked the voting process over the coals last year and both Frank Ocean and The Weeknd have pledged to boycott them altogether for what they say is racial bias. There is some evidence to back that claim up. Remember when Beck beat Beyonce? Remember when Macklemore beat Kendrick Lamar? The last Black artist to win Album of the Year was Herbie Hancock for an album of Joni Mitchell covers …in 2008. It seems pretty clear that the Grammys are racing towards an evolve or die moment.
So, is the Silk Sonic move in keeping with that energy? Or is it just two guys who have better things to do than campaign for another Grammy to add to their considerable collection? The door is open either way.
