With just a week to go until Anderson .Paak releases his anticipated new studio album Ventura, the multi-talented California singer-songwriter is following up last month’s "King James" record with another new single, "Make It Better." Most notably, "Make It Better" is a collaboration with Smokey Robinson and comes to us via an Andy Hines-directed music video.
"He’s still got it," Anderson .Paak tells Zane Lowe, opening up about his legendary "Make It Better" collaborator for an exclusive exchange with Beats 1. "He came through. He said, "You gotta make it nice, baby. You gotta say something sweet to her, baby. If you want her to fall in love, you gotta make love to her with your words, man." I was like, "Smokey, this is what I have." You know. My original was like, "It’s easier to run away than to eat what’s on your fucking plate," and he was like, "No baby. What in the hell? No, no." And then he came back. He said, "Burn me a disc, one with the instrumental, one with the lyrics. Ima come back. Ima have it ready for you." Came back, "It’s easier to run away than to look at what would make you stay." I was like, "Goddammit, Smokey!" Yeah yeah. It was great, man. It was a beautiful collaboration. Shout out to Smokey, shout out to the last Artful Dodger, who also helped on there. I got to work with- finally got something with the Alchemist, Fred Rack, who was all in there vibing … came through, dropped the strings on it. Yeah, just like we was all looking at each other like, "What the hell is happening right now? Smokey’s really in here."
You can check out the music video for Anderson .Paak and Smokey Robinson’s new Ventura single "Make It Better" above. Ventura is scheduled to see release on April 12, and will also feature guest appearances by Andre 3000, Jazmine Sullivan, Brandy, Sonyae Elise and Lalah Hathaway, as well as posthumous vocals from Nate Dogg.