Bruno Mars And Anderson .Paak's Silk Sonic Withdraws Bid From Grammy Awards 2023

Silk Sonic, a musical duo consisting of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, has declined to submit their album "An Evening With Silk Sonic" for the 2023 Grammy Awards.

"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," Mars said in a statement sent to Rolling Stone. "We hope we can celebrate with everyone a great year of music and partake in the party. Thank you for letting Silk Sonic thrive."

Last year, the album's lead single, "Leave the Door Open," grabbed four Grammys – Best R&B performance, Best R&B song, Album of the Year and Single of the Year.

"An Evening with Silk Sonic" was released in November 2021 and is a strong contender for the Album of the Year category which is expected to include Beyoncé for "Renaissance," Adele for "30," and Kendrick Lamar for "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers," Vulture reported.

"We'd be crazy to ask for anything more. 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," he continued in the statement. "We thank the Grammys for allowing us to perform on their platform — not once but twice — and awarding us at last year's ceremony."

Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. acknowledged the decision of the duo not to submit the album for the 64th Grammy Awards.

"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," Mason Jr. said in a separate statement.

Grammy nominations are not automatic but are selected through a list of submissions from artists or record labels. If an artist decides not to submit their music for the awards show, it amounts to a withdrawal, Variety explained.

The duo's decision not to participate in this year's Grammy may be due to the criticism the Grammys received in 2018. That time, Mars' "24K Magic" album and its related singles won all six categories it was nominated in including Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year, Variety reported.