GRAMMY Pro Interviews Mike Posner

Mike Posner spoke with GRAMMY Pro on rebranding himself for his new EP ‘The Truth’, other singer-songwriters he would love to work with, and much more. Check out the full interview below!

Off The Stage: Mike Posner At Rough Trade

Remember Mike Posner? After a successful mixtape he made in his dorm room, he popped onto the mainstream scene in 2010 with his hit “Cooler Than Me,” which went top ten and ended up selling millions of copies. The album that followed, 31 Minutes To Takeoff, would go on to produce two other top forty hits, and for a while, it seemed like the world had a new male pop star to hold onto.

Cut to several years later, and Posner has all but disappeared to many. In the five years since he became a star, he hasn’t released any new material properly, and the two albums he recorded for RCA were both shelved. After years of being in the all-too-common limbo that so many artists remain in for years, he was finally let go (upon asking to be), and he ventured out on his own.

For years now, Posner has actually be racking up hits behind the scenes as a songwriter, and now that he’s had time to see what the industry is really like and to rediscover himself, he’s ready to jump back on stage and make another go at releasing the music he wants to make. It sounds very different this time around, as the singer-songwriter has traded synths for guitars and he’s replaced his laptop with orchestras (yes, full orchestras).

At a recent show at the New York City location of Rough Trade, Posner was met with a very warm welcome by fans that have stuck by him for years. While the crowd may have been smaller than it would have been at his peak of popularity (there were perhaps 100 to 150 people in the intimate room), they were enthusiastic with their cheers, and they loved every second of Mike’s performance. Ladies shouted their love, while the former frat bros in the audience seemed to enjoy his new heartfelt honesty as much as his toned-down renditions of the tracks they used to play at their keggers.

Whenever an artist tries to reinvent themselves, it’s a tough road, as many of their fans won’t get it and others simply might not hear it. Sure, Mike’s got some work ahead of him, but none of that really matters when the music is good enough to speak for itself, which is exactly what you’ll get with his comeback EP, The Truth.

What made you go with the new sound you’re going with on your EP? Why work with an orchestra as opposed to your laptop?

This may sound eccentric or esoteric, but the songs just show up in my head. I don’t feel like I’m thinking, I’m just allowing. One of my friends is a poet named IN-Q, and he says that “the art is more important than the artist is.” Now, what does that mean? In my case, I have this song, that’s the art, and it’s my job to serve that. It’s not the artist’s job to serve me. I fucked that up before in my life.

In the case of “Buried In Detroit,” here’s this thing that popped into my head one day. How do I best serve it? In that case, I heard the orchestra in my head. That’s the way I thought it would best exist. I tried other ways. I tried producing that song with 808s and juxtaposing it with classic writing with a newer drum sound, but it felt like I wasn’t serving the song as well as I could be.

Honestly, when these songs first came up, I was scared. I thought “what do I do with these?” I was worried people wouldn’t like them, because they know me for something else. What if no one buys my song? What if I have to sell my house? What if I can’t drive this car anymore? What if girls don’t think I’m cool anymore? You can go down the rabbit hole on that one, and I did. At the end of the day, it’s my job to serve the art. I just need to figure out all that other shit. If I have to sell my house, I have to sell my house.

People have been waiting years since your first album to hear some new stuff. When you were writing and recording, did you worry a lot about fans being disappointed because this new sound isn’t what they knew you for?

I used to think of my fans of kind of a burden. They were a weight I carried around into performances, interviews and studios when I was writing. I thought, wrongly, that they would only love me if I continued being the 21-year-old version of myself. I was artificially trying to be that guy. Like any relationship, the fans and the artists are growing at the same time.

This new EP is at an entirely new level of honesty. Is there something in your life that happened that made you say fuck it, I’m just going to be brutally open and honest?

Yeah. I was in the studio with Jake Owen, a buddy of mine, and we were passing the guitar. I’d play a song for him that I’d written, and then he’d do the same. I played one for him, and he goes “Mike, I really love this song, What inspired the lyrics of it?”

I told him it was about a girl from New York City I had a thing with, and I mixed her story up with a girl I had a thing with in Ohio, and some of it I just made up. He looked at me and he goes “Well why don’t you just tell the truth?” I didn’t really have an answer for him, so that night I wrote “I Took A Pill In Ibiza.” The rest of the album just sort of came after that.

Songwriting-wise, you’ve had a lot of hits in the past couple of years, including Justin Bieber’s “Boyfriend,” Maroon 5’s “Sugar,” and a few with Nick Jonas. Are there any others that you’re particularly proud of?

I’m particularly proud of “Beneath Your Beautiful” by Labrinth and Emeli Sande. I think that’s one of the better ones. She’s incredible. She’s one hell of a writer, too. I wrote the song with Lab and then she recorded it later, so I never actually met her. I remember listening to her album like a year afterwards, and I was like “Man, I would love to work with her”, and then I realized that I already have.

That was shortest time between a dream and a dream come true that I’ve ever had.

Other than maybe Emeli again, is there anybody you’d really love to work with?

It’s a tricky question because I’m a singer-songwriter, and a lot of the people I love and listen to are as well. They don’t necessarily need any help. I’m working with Lab again on his new album. I love working with him. I’d love to work with Lauryn Hill. I want to say Tracy Chapman, but what makes her so amazing is that she writes those great songs, I’d probably mess it up! I love John Mayer, but he really doesn’t need somebody to write with him.

Is there anyone else other than Labrinth that you are currently writing with, or anyone you’ve just worked with recently?

Mostly I’ve been saying no to people, though I’ve done a bunch of stuff with Avicii.

Be sure to check out Posner’s latest video for “Be As You Are,” and try to catch him on his Ninja Tour and Tell The Truth Tour this Summer. More info HERE.

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