Brandon Paak Anderson (born 8 February 1986), better known by his stage name, “Anderson. Paak“, is a talented American rapper, singer, drummer, and record producer from Oxnard, California.

He has been releasing award-winning music since 2014, and recently collaborated with Gwen Stefani for the Coca-Cola Company-sponsored, 2024 Olympics-inspired track, Hello World (Song of The Olympics™).

If you like polished pop music, and can overlook the total cringe of a soft drink company paying millions of dollars to be associated with the Olympics, it’s not a bad effort by Paak and Stefani. Big business sponsorship of sporting events is certainly alive and well, but I digress.

Some of Paak’s music is not family-friendly, but in 2019, he released Make It Better, featuring Smokey Robinson — a sweet, phat track that contains much wisdom for us married men.

Take it away, Mr Paak:

How do you mend when you’re worlds apart?
Ooh, carry on
Ooh, from the start
Somehow, we fell in love, then fell right out of touch
And ooh, that was hard
But ooh, here we are
And it’s easier to walk away
Than to look for what would make you stay

My beautiful wife Jodi and I recently celebrated 20 years of marriage. I said to a friend just this week that marrying Jodi was one of the best things I ever did. It’s true, but I’d be lying if I said it’s always been easy. It’s been hard at times, but by the grace of God, we cherish the things that keep us together. Paak continues:

Remember when we first met?
We were having so much fun
So, now, how can we both forget
Telling each other, “We’re the one”?

We would make love (We would make love)
At the drop of a hat
Remember that?
(Yeah)
I remember you and me (You and me)
Close as any two can be (Two can be)
Now we’re strangers in the night (Strangers)
Awkward and uptight

Oh baby, do you want to make it better?
Do you want to stay together?
Hey, if you do
Then let’s please
Make some new
Memories

And then he drops a truth bomb:

When you take somebody for your own
It can’t survive on history alone

Married men, take note! Paak goes on to offer some creative (but not G-rated) ideas for making it better:

Meet me at the hotel, motel
Though we got a room at home
Go to a place that we don’t know so well
It be nice, add a little spice
Try some new seduction
Show each other how
Give each other new instructions
On what makes us
Feel good
Now

I just wanna make you feel good now

…

Do you want to make it better?
Do you want to stay together?
If you do
Then let’s please
Make some new
Memories

Lovework

Check out Make It Better by Anderson. Paak. If you’re married, do your best to stay together and make it better by creating new memories. You won’t regret it.

Yours for making it better,
Nathaniel Marsh

P.S.: Bookings have now closed for the 2024 Men’s Leadership Summit next weekend (9^th – 11^th August). If you’re booked in, the Dads4Kids team and I are looking forward to an outstanding weekend together! If you couldn’t join us for 2024, make sure you save the dates 8^th – 10^th August 2025 for the 2025 Men’s Leadership Summit. More details coming soon!

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Image courtesy of Adobe.