Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars perform as Silk Sonic during the 2021 Grammy Awards broadcast. Theo Wargo/Getty Images for The Recording Academy hide caption
Anderson .Paak
Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars, together as Silk Sonic. Their debut, An Evening with Silk Sonic, tops our shortlist of the week's best new albums. John Esparza/Silk Sonic hide caption
alt-J's "U&ME" is featured in October's edition of Heavy Rotation. Rosie Matheson/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Musicians who made some of NPR Music's favorite songs of 2021 (so far) include (left to right) Silk Sonic, Cico P, Seinabo Sey, Petal Supply and Amber Mark. Courtesy of artists hide caption
Betty Who is an Australian-American singer-songwriter. Zak Cassar/NPR hide caption
Japanese Breakfast performs a Tiny Desk concert on Sept. 7, 2017. (Christina Ascani/NPR) Christina Ascani/NPR hide caption
Tiny Desk Concert with Chick Corea & Gary Burton. Brandon Chew/NPR hide caption
Daniel Caesar performs a Tiny Desk Concert on April 30, 2018. Morgan Noelle Smith/NPR hide caption
Alicia Keys performed her Tiny Desk concert on Feb. 2, 2020. Kisha Ravi/NPR hide caption
Miami duo City Girls returns with their second full-length album, City on Lock. Prince Williams/WireImage/Getty Images hide caption
The Free Nationals play a Tiny Desk concert (Bob Boilen/NPR). bob boilen/NPR hide caption
You don't have to believe in astrology to believe in roséwave. Emily Bogle/NPR hide caption
NPR Music picks the best albums of 2019 (so far). Chelsea Beck for NPR hide caption
Kanye West and Lil Pump as Perrier and Fiji, respectively, as Adele Givens looms overhead. Will Heath/NBC hide caption
Anderson .Paak plays a rapping robot in Flying Lotus' video for "More." YouTube hide caption
Weyes Blood (left), Glen Hansard and Lizzo Courtesy of the artists hide caption
Lil Nas X (left), FKA Twigs and Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend Courtesy of the artists hide caption
Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals perform at 2019 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival on April 19, 2019. .Paak's single "Make Me Better" featuring Smokey Robinson is featured on this month's Heavy Rotation. Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Coachella hide caption