Bruno Mars + Anderson .Paak (Silk Sonic): Leave the Door Open
Details
Genre: R&B, SoulPros:
21st-century Philly-meets-Motown soul with a side of humor; both Mars and .Paak are crooning like prosCons:
The inescapable humor inside forces serious music lovers to give it a side-eye.Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak pair up for some playful baby-makin’ music
Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak pair up for some playful baby-makin’ music
If you’re dreaming Stylistics and Delfonics after hearing this track, you’re not alone.
Enraptured in Philly soul gloss, “Leave the Door Open” is a cautionary tale of new school bravado attempting Philly soul extravagance with the whole point of making what’s vintage “funky” and “current” again. And similar to how Bruno and his Smeezingtons took on “Uptown Funk” and “24K Magic” with funk, there’s a little bit of gimmicky neutrality here. Inside the lyrics, the crooning of Mars and his talented co-headlining partner Anderson .Paak are both sexting it up with their pre-game rituals (“My house clean, my pool warm, just shaved (smooth like a newborn)”) and are literally thrusting Thom Bell magic into a Jodeci boudoir. In essence, this is the xennials take on Teddy Pendergrass’s “Turn Off the Lights” and “Close the Door” without the Robin Thicke plagiarism.
The good thing about this hip sexcapade is that it’s pretty damn good music. A slow jam overloaded with ‘70’s soul nostalgia and a slice of silliness. The nod to the Spinners, Blue Magic, classic Marvin and Motown gold, even down to its romantic chorus and the ethereal “la-la-la” bridge, completes the production, giving it the transcendence it needs to take it to the masses.
