Even when Anderson .Paak humbly bows out of the 2023 Grammy Awards race (more on that later), he still manages to see his name on the ballot.
The eight-time Grammy winner landed two Grammy Award nominations on Tuesday (Nov. 15), including Album of the Year (Good Morning Gorgeous [Deluxe]) and Best R&B Performance (“Here With Me“).
This is the fifth consecutive year .Paak has been nominated at the annual event, dating back to the 61st Grammy Awards in 2019, winning his first trophy for Best Rap Performance (“Bubblin“).
Good Morning Gorgeous (Deluxe), nominated for Album of the Year, is Mary J. Blige’s 15th studio album. While it’s not Blige’s first attempt at winning this big prize, it is .Paak’s.
Since he’s a featured artist, and the Recording Academy recognizes supporting acts as well as the artist(s), songwriter(s) of new material, producer(s), recording engineer(s), mixer(s) and mastering engineer(s), .Paak gets nominated.
Speaking of additional contributions, .Paak co-wrote three songs on Blige’s Good Morning Gorgeous (Deluxe), including “No Idea,” “Love Without the Heartbreak” and “Here With Me.”
In a February interview with Rated R&B, Blige’s A&R Eddie Fourcell talked about the inspiration behind “Love Without the Heartbreak,” which .Paak performed backing vocals and produced it with Rogét Chahayed.
“It was just built for ad-libbing, expressing and cursing. It’s talking about all the things you would do differently when you were in love back then. It’s reflective,” Fourcell shared.
“Being a Mary fan, you want to hear her talk like that — being real, being vulnerable, [and] not holding back. The production and Anderson is crazy on there. I love seeing her and Anderson work in the studio because it’s literally magic.”
“Here With Me,” track three from Good Morning Gorgeous (Deluxe), is nominated for Best R&B Performance. It’s .Paak’s third nomination in this category, which he won for “Come Home” featuring André 3000 in 2020, and this year for Silk Sonics’s hit single, “Leave The Door Open.”
Produced by Bongo ByTheWay, “Here With Me” was serviced to R&B radio in June as the second proper single from Blige’s 2022 album. It peaked at No. 4 on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart, extending Blige’s reign as the artist with the most top ten singles (25). It also marked .Paak then-seventh top-ten single (he has since grabbed his eighth top ten for Silk Sonic’s “After Last Night” featuring Bootsy Collins and Thundercat).
Fourcell told Rated R&B that .Paak’s work with Knxwledge as the hip-hop soul duo Knxwledge inspired the duration of “Here With Me.”
“Anderson makes records like that. One of my favorite releases from Anderson is NxWorries, the project that he did with Knxwledge. Those songs are like one minute and a half going into the next two minutes. It’s because it’s more of a feeling and a vibe. So I think he brought that to this party and inspired it,” Fourcell noted.
What’s interesting is that .Paak’s latest Best R&B Performance nomination marks his fifth consecutive year getting nominated in a performance category. Previously, he’s been considered and won (*) for the following:
- Best R&B Performance for Mary J. Blige’s “Here With Me” (2023)
- Best R&B Performance for Silk Sonic’s “Leave The Door Open” (2022)*
- Best Melodic Rap Performance for “Lockdown” (2021)*
- Best R&B Performance for “Come Home” featuring André 3000 (2020)*
- Best Rap Performance for “Bubblin” (2019)*
The 65th Grammy Awards will air live Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023, at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on CBS. It will also stream live and be on demand on Paramount+.
As noted above, Silk Sonic — the duo composed of .Paak and Bruno Mars — had no intentions of submitting their 2021 album An Evening With Silk Sonic for consideration at the 2023 Grammy Awards.
“Silk Sonic would like to gracefully, humbly and most importantly, sexually, bow out of submitting our album this year,” Mars told Rolling Stone. “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.”
At the 64th Grammy Awards in April, Silk Sonic won four Grammys for their breakout hit “Leave The Door Open,” including Record of the Year and Song of the Year. The duo scored an award for Best R&B Song.
Silk Sonic’s latest single, “After Last Night,” just topped R&B radio and Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart. It’s their fourth No. 1 as a collective, following their most recent chart-topper, “Love’s Train.”
Shifting back to NxWorries, the duo recently shared the new song “Where I Go” featuring H.E.R. At the time of publication, the tune has surpassed more than five million streams on Spotify.
Before that, .Paak enlisted Kaytranada for a new song titled “Twin Flame,” and partnered with Vans for a third collection.
