Mike Posner is getting back to basics. The Southfield-bred pop/hip-hop singer is releasing the free mixtape “The Layover” on his website Sunday.
For Posner, who made his name releasing his music for free on the Web, it’s a chance to get back in touch with his roots before launching the campaign for his second album, “Sky High,” due in early 2012.
But “The Layover” is worlds away from Posner’s first mixtape, 2009’s “A Matter of Time.” While that batch of songs wound up scoring him a record deal, it was made on the fly in his parents’ basement and in his dorm room at Duke University. Conversely, the songs on “The Layover” were recorded all over the world, including sessions in Australia and Switzerland.
The material reflects his touring experiences as well as his reconnection to hip-hop over the course of the last year, following the release of his proper debut album, “31 Minutes to Takeoff.”
“When I made the first record, I wasn’t listening to a lot of hip-hop. To me, it was kind of a stale time in hip-hop, where I kind of got unexcited about everyone,” says Posner, 23, on the phone last week from a tour stop in New Haven, Conn.
“I feel the opposite right now. The energy of this new generation that’s out — from J. Cole to Wiz (Khalifa) to Mac Miller to (Big) Sean — these are guys that are making really good music. And these are guys that I’ve known for a few years, so it’s really cool to see them come up and be carrying the flag, so I want to help.”
“The Layover” features cameos from a slew of rappers, including Big Sean, Big K.R.I.T., Twista, Slim Thug and more, and includes covers of songs by Adele, Coldplay and Oasis. Posner has been releasing songs from the set all week via Facebook and Twitter.
The hip-hop direction will carry over to “Sky High,” Posner says. He’s recorded between 60 and 70 songs for the set, including those from sessions with mega-producers Pharrell Williams and David Guetta.
“Sky High’s” first single “Looks Like Sex” is due out later this month; and, in the meantime, Posner is still tinkering with the album. “I’m not going to stop recording until they tell me I have absolutely no more time. And then I’ll pick the best 10-15 tracks and that will be the album,” he says. “I don’t know exactly what’s going to be on it, because I haven’t picked, but I’m super-psyched about the stuff I’ve recorded.”
Posner says his goal with his music these days is simple: Make people happy.
“At the end of the day, I wanted to make a record where people will feel better after they listen to it, as opposed to worse,” he says. “I try to make music that makes people feel good.”
