Celebrating 7 Years of A Real Good Kid!
Seven years ago today, Mike Posner released A Real Good Kid (January 18, 2019), an album that would become one of the most personal and emotionally resonant projects of his career. Now celebrating its 7th anniversary, the 12-track album continues to connect deeply with fans through its honesty, vulnerability, and quiet strength. Featuring standout singles like “Song About You,” “Stuck in the Middle,” and “Move On,” A Real Good Kid marked a turning point in Mike’s artistry, capturing a season of profound loss, reflection, and eventual acceptance.
The album was written during an incredibly heavy period in Mike’s life. He was grieving the end of a relationship while also navigating the devastating loss of his father, who passed away from brain cancer, and mourning his close friend Avicii, who died by suicide. In an interview with NPR, Mike opened up about the emotional weight behind A Real Good Kid, reflecting on grief, creativity, and the instinctive need to write these songs during that time. Despite the emotional weight surrounding its creation, Mike continued to show up day after day to write and record, even when it was difficult. As he shared, “I had to go to the studio every day, and I was trying to just show up and record all the songs and do a good job, and I was sad.” That emotional honesty is woven throughout the album and is especially present on tracks like “Move On,” which encapsulates much of what he was processing at the time.
“Move On” stands out not only for its cathartic energy but also for one of Mike’s most memorable and reflective lyrics. Looking back on the song, he explained, “Maybe one of the best lines I’ve written — I don’t know, but not a stinker line — is on this song. I said: ‘Beginnings always hide themselves in ends.’ Beginnings always hide themselves in the end, and I knew that, at the time, in the future I would look back on this moment, this break-up, this pain and be grateful for it and know that it helped me get to whatever was coming.” That line has since become a favorite among fans, perfectly capturing the album’s themes of pain transforming into growth.
While A Real Good Kid deals heavily with grief and loss, Mike has shared that writing the songs wasn’t something he consciously did to heal or cope in a traditional sense. Instead, the music came to him naturally, almost urgently. “These songs, they just kind of pop up in my head and I feel like I have to write them down,” he said. “I’m sort of nervous if I don’t write them down or don’t record them, that whoever is putting them in my head will stop whispering those melodies to me. Maybe that’s superstitious and silly.” That instinctive approach gives the album its raw, unfiltered feeling, as if listeners are hearing the songs exactly as they arrived.
Recorded over the course of two years, A Real Good Kid features collaborations with an impressive group of writers and producers, including Ricky Reed, Dan Wilson, Nate Mercereau, Adam Friedman, James Valentine, Ryan Merchant, Pete Kuzma, and more. The album also includes recordings of Mike’s late father, adding an especially intimate layer that makes the project feel deeply personal and lived-in. From the stark opening track “January 11th, 2017,” which documents the day his father passed away, to the spoken-word textures of “Drip” and the emotional release of “Move On,” the album reflects an artist unafraid to sit with discomfort and truth.
Following the album’s release, Mike took that spirit of reflection and endurance even further by walking across the United States in 2019, traveling from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The journey mirrored the emotional path of the album itself — one of grief, healing, self-discovery, and forward motion. For many fans, A Real Good Kid isn’t just an album; it’s a companion through loss, change, and the moments where life quietly reshapes you.
Seven years later, A Real Good Kid continues to resonate just as strongly as it did upon release. Its honesty, humanity, and emotional depth remain a powerful reminder of Mike Posner’s growth as both an artist and a person. Here’s to seven years of A Real Good Kid — and to the music that continues to find us exactly when we need it.