What Happened To Mike Posner?
Once upon a time in the 2010s, Mike Posner was a name that nobody could escape. The Motor City native hit his career's pinnacle back then with his catchy radio-friendly debut single, "Cooler than Me," from his hotly anticipated debut album 31 Minutes to Takeoff. The track itself was one of the classic club hits of the decade, peaking at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Five years later, he then found career resurgence with "I Took a Pill in Ibiza," a grueling tale of a washed-up pop star, and its tropical house-influenced Seeb remix from his sophomore album, At Night, Alone. Unfortunately, fast-forward to 2022, the track seems to mirror his current situation, and he doesn't seem to have been able to replicate the magic he once had with these tracks. Here's what happened to Mike Posner's career and what the future has in store for him.
6 Mike Posner's Debut Album, '31 Minutes To Takeoff,' Heavily Underperformed
After the success of "Cooler than Me," Posner followed it up with his debut album. Titled 31 Minutes to Takeoff, the singer enlisted Bruno Mars and Philip Lawrence as the Smeezingtons, Benny Blanco, and Cisco Adler as its producers. The album is stacked with A-list producers and songwriters, but still, they didn't help it from a disappointing commercial and critical performance. 31 Minutes to Takeoff debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200, selling "only" 29,000 copies within the first week. It heavily underperformed for a debutant of Mike Posner's caliber, prompting a dispute with his record label.
5 Mike Posner's Dispute With His Record Label
Posner released a follow-up EP titled Sky High with a predominantly more urban sound, tapping the likes of Pharrell Williams and Big Sean as featured artists but the label execs just didn't support him the way he'd expected them to be. In an open letter to fans, he revealed, "It was unlikely enough people were going to buy Sky High for RCA to justify spending the necessary money involved in releasing an album."
"I released the single 'Looks Like Sex,' but it failed to live up to the success of 'Cooler Than Me' and thus the record label (understandably) had no plans to invest further funds into my project," he adds. He left the record soon after and signed to Island, stating that he had no ill-feeling towards RCA.
4 Mike Posner Has Been Battling Depression For Quite Some Time
Additionally, Posner has also been battling depression for quite some time. He initially kicked off his career as a songwriter and producer, hence the newfound fame of "Cooler than Me" was a bit too harsh for him to handle.
"I'm worried that people will listen to my songs and think I’m a depressed guy — but I have happy feelings too," he told Billboard. "I was trying to maintain a facade of infallibility, which is exhausting. Like, I used to wear tons of makeup because I had bad skin. I couldn’t go out in public without makeup on."
3 Other Artists Mike Posner Writes For Now
As mentioned, Posner initially started his career among the "backstage" people for songs. In between those times, he ended up writing for other artists: "Boyfriend" for Justin Bieber, "Sugar" for Maroon 5, "Say Somethin" for Austin Mahone's debut, "Numb" for Nick Jonas," "Nothing Without You" for Olly Murs, "L.A. Story" for Sammy Adams, and the list goes on and on.
"The thing is, I still felt like an artist," he told Billboard. "I hated the thought of being just a songwriter."
"I thought that’s what happens when you write a song: It becomes a big hit, then you go around the world taking your shirt off, making money and riding off into the sunset," he added. "I guess I took it all for granted."
2 Mike Posner's Spirtitual Journey
An avid traveler, Posner found his inner peace and lived a quiet life out of the spotlight in recent years. He embarked on a spiritual journey of walking across America on March 1st, 2019. He walked over 1800 miles before he was bitten by a rattlesnake during his Colorado stop and had to be hospitalized for a while, but he was back on the road and finished his journey on October 18th.
"That was one of the most beautiful parts — connecting with people that, frankly, I just never would have connected with. Because my life before that existed in somewhat of a bubble," he told Distractify.
1 What's Next For Mike Posner?
So, what's next for the 2010 hitmaker? His bizarre story of walking across the country does not mean that he's stopped doing music completely. His third album, A Real Good Kid, was released back in 2019, dealing with heavy themes like loss, heartbreak, and eventual acceptance. He followed it up with Operation: Wake Up, a feel-good rap opera project, in 2020.
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