music.wikisort.org - Composition

"After Last Night" is a song by American superduo Silk Sonic, which consists of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, with Thundercat and Bootsy Collins. It was solely released as an urban contemporary radio single in the United States on July 5, 2022 by Atlantic Records, and served as the fifth single from Silk Sonic's debut studio album, An Evening with Silk Sonic (2021). "After Last Night" was written by Mars, Brandon Anderson, Dernst Emile II, James Fauntleroy, Stephen Bruner, Jonathan Yip, Ray Romulus, Jeremy Reeves and Ray Charles McCollough II. The production was handled by Mars, D'Mile, Yip, Romulus, Reeves and McCollough II, the latter four, as the Stereotypes. "After Last Night" is a funk, neo soul and R&B ballad, while lyrically.

"After Last Night"
Single by Silk Sonic, Thundercat and Bootsy Collins
from the album An Evening with Silk Sonic
Released	July 5, 2022 (2022-07-05)
Studio	Shampoo Press & Curl
Genre	Funk neo soul R&B
Length	4:09
Label	Aftermath Atlantic
Songwriter(s)	Bruno Mars Brandon Anderson Dernst Emile II James Fauntleroy Stephen Bruner Jonathan Yip Ray Romulus Jeremy Reeves Ray Charles McCollough II
Producer(s)	Bruno Mars D'Mile The Stereotypes
Bruno Mars singles chronology
"Love's Train" (2022) "After Last Night" (2022)
Anderson .Paak singles chronology
"Love's Train" (2022) "After Last Night" (2022) "Take A Chance" (2022)
Silk Sonic singles chronology
"Love's Train" (2022) "After Last Night" (2022)

The track received positive reviews from music critics, who noticed the track's sensuality. The song reached number 68 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 17 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, in 2021. Mars and .Paak also sang "After Last Night" during the concert residency, An Evening with Silk Sonic at Park MGM (2022).[1]

Background and release

Mars spoke about "After Last Night" to Apple Music, "That one got a lot of Bootsy on it. And my boy Thundercat came in and blessed us." He furthered, "everything was built to be played live, so that song is one of those we can keep going for 10 minutes."[2] "After Last Night" was released on July 5, 2022, to US urban adult contemporary radio stations by Atlantic Records as the fifth single from An Evening with Silk Sonic (2021) by Atlantic Records.[3]

Production

"After Last Night" was written by Bruno Mars, Brandon Anderson, Dernst Emile II, James Fauntleroy, Stephen Bruner, Jonathan Yip, Ray Romulus, Jeremy Reeves and Ray McCullough II. Its production was handled by Mars, D'Mile and the latter four as the Stereotypes. Mars played guitar while D'Mile also played guitar, piano and Rhodes piano. Ella Feingold played additional guitars, while Krystal Miles sang background vocals. Thundercat played the bass and provided guest vocals alongside Bootsy Collins. Glenn Fischbach played cello, Jonathan Kim and Yoshihiko Nakano were on the viola and Ron Kerber played the flute. Emma Kummrow, Luigi Mazzocchi, Natasha Colkett, Blake Espy, Tess Varley and Chris Jusell played violin. Larry Gold did the arrangement and conduction of the strings at Milkboy Studios, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with Jeff Chestek recording them. Collins vocals were recorded by Tobe Donohue at Rehab Studio in Cincinnati, Ohio. Reeves and Charles Moniz were encharged with the percussion, while Alex Resoagli played the cabasa. Moniz, with engineering assistant Resoagli, also engineered and recorded the song at Shampoo Press & Curl Studios. Serban Ghenea mixed "After Last Night" at MixStar Studios in Virginia Beach, John Hanes served as the mix engineer and Bryce Bordone as the mixing assistant. The song was mastered by Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound, NYC.[4]

Compostition

Musically, "After Last Night" is a funk, neo soul and R&B song.[5][6][7] Its instrumentation features a "subtle" electric guitar and there is also key change towards the end of the song.[8] It starts with a "sensual spoken performance" by Krystal Miles and as she talks Thundercat is playing the bass and sings "angelically" in the background.[4][9] At one point, both Mars and .Paak replace Thundercat, singing simultaneously about the women they have fallen in love with. As the song goes on, Bootsy Collins provides "swanky spoken word" to complement the song's lyrics.[9]

Jem Aswad writing for Variety described "After Last Night" as "a bedroom ballad with some heavy female breathing and pillow talk".[10] In a similar view, The Harvard Crimson's Eugene Ye found the sensuality embedded in the song.[8] Andy Kellman from AllMusic found similarities between the composition of the song and the Lonely Island's "Dick in a Box" (2009) infused with a "Bootsy-style fantasy sleaze". However, the lyrics were compared to "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game" (1966) by The Marvelettes.[5] Paste's Candace McDuffie compared it to the "early-'90s throwback jams a la Mint Condition and Jodeci."[7]

Reception

A. Harmony writing for Exclaim! found the track to be "seductive" and that Mars channels his "charm" while singing from "his gut."[11] Derrick Rossignol from Uproxx dubbed "After Last Night" as "smooth and funky", and "chill".[2] Several music critics found the song's sensuality. Joshua Robinson writing for HotNewHipHop called the track "lush", while Roisin O'Connor from The Independent described it as "sultry".[9][12] Ye not only found the vocals "sexy", but also the track's instrumentation.[8] Aswad said the track is "steamy".[10]

Following the release of An Evening with Silk Sonic in 2021, "After Last Night" debuted at number 68 on the Billboard Hot 100.[13] It also entered the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs at number 17.[14] The song charted at number 92 on the Canadian Hot 100.[15] Elsewhere, "After Last Night" debuted at number eight on the New Zealand Hot Singles, which acts as an extension of NZ Top 40 Singles Chart, and peaked at number 78 on the Billboard Global 200.[16][17] "After Last Night" one week on the top spot of the Billboard Adult R&B Songs chart.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of An Evening with Silk Sonic.[4]

Charts

Chart performance for "After Last Night"

Chart (2021)	Peak position
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[15]	92
Global 200 (Billboard)[17]	78
New Zealand Hot Singles (RMNZ)[16]	8
Portugal (AFP)[18]	104
US Billboard Hot 100[13]	68
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[14]	17

References

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