{"id":6445,"date":"2022-08-22T10:57:44","date_gmt":"2022-08-22T14:57:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=6445"},"modified":"2022-08-22T10:57:46","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T14:57:46","slug":"silk-sonic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=6445","title":{"rendered":"Silk Sonic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1st Place, Review<\/strong>
2021-22, Division 1, News Writing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Ben Pease<\/strong>
The Bucs’ Blade
Grand Haven HS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s cocky yet charming, childish yet mature and two words, nine letters? The fantasy collab group by the name of Silk Sonic<\/em>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The seeds of Silk Sonic<\/em> were planted during the first shutdown due to the global pandemic. It gained traction as rapper and drummer Anderson Paak and multi grammy award winning pop singer Bruno Mars rekindled a musical relationship that started when the duo shared a tour in 2017. Within a short amount of time they were in the studio recording the full album under the dream band Silk Sonic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Evening With Silk Sonic<\/em> pays homage to Mars and Paak\u2019s R&B\/Soul roots. Because in essence, Silk Sonic<\/em> is the modern take on Marvin Gaye or Stevie Wonder. The nine songs on the record are all about having a good time, enjoying yourself and the music. With verses as catchy as the choruses, the album locks in an upbeat feeling involving girls, family and parties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mars\u2019 voice instantly identifies An Evening With Silk Sonic<\/em> as a pop record at first glance. The iconic voice behind global pop hits like \u201c24k magic\u201d, \u201cWhen I Was Your Man\u201d and \u201cThat\u2019s What I Like\u201d is the only element dragging the soul of Silk Sonic <\/em>up to the pleasantly deceiving surface of mainstream. Yet, with a little more grit and roughness in his voice, he would soar out of his Unorthodox Jukebox<\/em> imprisonment and create separation from his solo career. This would allow Silk Sonic <\/em>to be distinctive, unique and a lone wolf in his many years as a singer-songwriter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLeave The Door Open\u201d, a grammy nominated hit that flaunts the majestic vibrance of 70\u2019s soul. It\u2019s nostalgic, like this song was sealed in a time capsule fifty years ago. Paak\u2019s smooth, raspy voice steps up to the plate for the verses. It feels like he\u2019s singing in a reverberated shower while being backed by echoes of \u201cwhat you doin\u2019?\u201d, \u201cwhere you at?\u201d and \u201cyou got plans?\u201d. The call and response is as if Paak is hyping himself up, practicing pickup lines while looking in the mirror before a night out. The song then shifts, changing key for Mars to command the bridge and chorus in a classic Marvin Gaye style. The spotlight shines upon Mars and his lively voice that has been the source for his success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Mars and Paak do tremendously well is incorporating space into the music. The instruments and vocals have the spotlight in sections before allowing them to breathe by pausing a beat. This provides a masterful feel for rhythm, which may be due to Paak\u2019s close affiliation with the drums. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSkate\u201d is all orchestrated through timing, Paak and Mars are the conductors and this is their symphonic debut. The bridge is built up by a three beat swell between the bass line, guitar and strings as Mars sings, \u201ctake my hand and hold on tight\u201d.  The bridge lines up to flow straight into Mars\u2019 wonderous chorus \u201cohhh skate to me baby\u201d. Mar\u2019s choruses could be a source of an addiction if the listener is not careful. Just a couple doses a week! Are there AA or in this case BA (Bruno Anonymous) meetings for those who can\u2019t restrain from playing back the middle eight measures in every Mars song? The track offers a beautiful simplicity to it, forming a friendly, upbeat atmosphere, like there\u2019s no worries in the world. \u201cIn a room full of dimes, You would be a hundred dollars\u201d and \u201cI can smell your sweet perfume, Mmm you smell better than a barbecue\u201d, Mars sings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who says that? What kind of lyric is that? In an interview with R&B Now, Mars says he and Paak kept trying to one up each other\u2019s lyrics and competing with who could make the other laugh. This fun, playful process really translates to the music and can be heard all throughout the record. It\u2019s all about having a good time. It\u2019s crafty, meticulous and catchy. Is it genius? Well no, but that\u2019s not the point. It paints the sunny atmosphere Paak and Mars are attempting to convey. These lyrics make it no longer an attempt but an accomplishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSmokin Out The Window\u201d was the first song Paak and Mars created while on tour roughly five years ago. This song is what jump started the super group referred to today as Silk Sonic<\/em>. Paak sings of complications with love and applies wacky, outlandish synonyms such as \u201cgot her badass kids runnin\u2019 \u2018round my whole crib like it\u2019s Chuck E. Cheese\u201d. Paak establishes an intimate and animate atmosphere where everything goes. The only rule? No rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything in\u00a0An Evening With Silk Sonic<\/em>\u00a0moves in the right direction, every turn, every key change comes smoothly and rightfully so. Like a driver using their turn signal, every move is anticipated. The record\u00a0gives listeners what they want, a win-win for Paak and Mars as it gives them what they want as well, being a 70\u2019s feeling R&B record for the ages. Better yet? It may just possibly rank up against the genre\u2019s ancestors.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NW-08. Review<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Review should present opinions, observations and evaluations of films, books, television, recordings, concerts, plays, restaurants and other things of interest to the publication\u2019s readers. Submit a PDF of the print page(s) on which the story was published or the URL to the story on an online news site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUDGING CRITERIA<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
  • Sharp, attention-getting lead that clarifies subject<\/li>
  • Gives a short summary or adequate information about subject<\/li>
  • Discusses strengths and weaknesses of subject<\/li>
  • Uses specific examples to support opinion<\/li>
  • Displays knowledge of subject<\/li>
  • Shows thought and research<\/li>
  • Colorful, lively presentation; effective form\/style<\/li>
  • Proper diction\/grammar<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    1st Place, Review2021-22, Division 1, News Writing By Ben PeaseThe Bucs’ BladeGrand Haven HS What\u2019s cocky yet charming, childish yet mature and two words, nine letters? The fantasy collab group by the name of Silk Sonic.   The seeds of Silk Sonic were planted during the first shutdown due to the global pandemic. It gained traction as rapper and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,56],"tags":[182,20],"class_list":["post-6445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-nw","category-review","tag-2021-22","tag-division1","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Gabriella Lopez","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=13"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6K0n6-1FX","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6445\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}