Silk Sonic Withdraw From the 2023 Grammys Race: "We'd Be Crazy to Ask For Anything More"

Silk Sonic aren't leaving the door open for another Grammy Award next year. According to Bruno Mars, the R&B/funk group he and Anderson .Paak formed last year did not, in fact, submit their album "An Evening With Silk Sonic" for Grammy consideration. A rep for Mars did not immediately respond to POPSUGAR's request for comment, but in a statement to Rolling Stone, the singer said, "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 added: "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. We thank the Grammys for allowing us to perform on their platform — not once but twice — and awarding us at last year's ceremony. We'd be crazy to ask for anything more."

At the 2022 Grammy Awards, held in April, Silk Sonic took home awards in all four categories the group were nominated in, including record of the year, song of the year, best R&B performance, and best R&B song — all for their No. 1 hit single "Leave the Door Open." In their final acceptance speech of the night, .Paak referred to their victories as a "clean sweep."

Critics expected Silk Sonic to repeat their Grammy success again for the 2023 awards ceremony with their album, which was released on 12 Nov., 2021, alongside other big contenders like Adele and Beyoncé — the latter picked up six American Music Award nominations, half of which are for her "Renaissance" album. Fans theorise that Silk Sonic's withdrawal from the 2023 Grammys race may be to avoid competing with the aforementioned artists, who are already rumoured to be in a showdown to receive the most nominations. Others say it's to prevent any backlash they may receive for beating them out in the show's biggest categories.

The nominees for the 2023 Grammy Awards will be announced on 15 Nov.