Pop superstar Bruno Mars and innovative R&B singer and multi-instrumentalist Anderson .Paak released a new single on March 5th, 2021, “Leave The Door Open,” creating a new supergroup called Silk Sonic in the process. Their collaborative project, “An Evening with Silk Sonic,” was first announced on February 26th, with funk legend Bootsy Collins acting as the newly established duo’s special guest “host.” While the album’s release date has not been made public as of yet, their new song together is the perfect teaser track to keep us at ease until then.

During a recent interview on the 102.7 KIIS-FM radio show “On Air with Ryan Seacrest,” the Silk Sonic duo explained that the side project was birthed as .Paak and his band, the Free Nationals, opened for Mars on the European leg of his 24K Magic World Tour. The duo made an album’s worth of music to be released between tour dates and quarantine whenever the fans are ready.

 The prospect of a collaboration between Mars and .Paak seemed unlikely, although they had toured together. Still, the announcement of a series of collaborations between the two sparked significant excitement amongst music fans. Fans automatically assumed that their music would be amazing without having heard it; considering how great both of their past releases were, it was a safe assumption to make. Even at their individual worsts, their music was still phenomenal. On the off chance that Mars’s instrumentals were lackluster, his vocals were still great; meanwhile, on the off chance that .Paak’s vocals were lackluster. His instrumentals were still remarkable. All in all, the potential worst-case scenario was still a pretty decent collaborative project.

As anticipated, “Leave The Door Open” was an excellent track, effortlessly melding classic 1970s R&B and Soul sound with Mars and .Paak’s signature styles. While both artists are known for creating music reminiscent of bygone eras of music (1990s R&B and Hip Hop mostly), the 70s throwback was unexpected but executed to perfection. The two also superbly blended goofiness and sentimentality throughout their lyrics, similar to Mars’s “24K Magic” album and .Paak’s “Oxnard” album, letting the listener know that, ultimately, they had fun making the song, and the listener should have fun listening in as well.