Recording His Debut Album
DP: What was it like managing your music life at the same time as your studies at Duke? Especially considering you graduated with a 3.59 GPA and a major in sociology! All while releasing your debut album.
Mike Posner: Many Red Bulls were consumed. I used to go to school during the day and I’d wait until everyone went to the bars and clubs at around 11 PM. That was the sweet spot when I could record vocals because the dorms would be silent until they got back at 2:30 AM. Limitation can be the most inspiring muse of all. That small window of creative opportunity was a real motivator to get things done.
DP: What was the experience like of releasing music and making it “big” during the internet age? When things really started to take off because of blogs etc in 2009…The feeling of being in your Duke dorm room recording late at night and seeing that turn into people all around the world hearing your music, myself included, must have been something special for you at the time.
Mike Posner: First of all, thank you so much for supporting me so early on in my career. The first concert I played outside of the United States was in Australia on February 12th, 2011 — I was born on February 12th, 1988. I thought that there would be 50-100 people there. I walked on the stage and there were 5,000 kids and they sang me Happy Birthday unrequested.
It’s such a beautiful memory in my mind, I almost want to cry thinking about it right now. That day made me realize the power of my pen. My favorite poet Phil Levine said, “You write these things and they go out into the world and they do things. Not big things, but real things.”
For me, music is like meditation. I don’t meditate to achieve some outside goal. I meditate to meditate. In the same way, I write songs to write songs. The reward is in the process itself. So then, when I see the songs move people, it’s surprising, surreal, and a little overwhelming in the best way.
DP: What sparked that decision and change in your career to go from rapping to singing your raps?
Mike Posner: I had a band, Mike Posner & the Brain Trust. In the band I rapped and produced, another Duke student named Eric Holljes was the singer, and we had a guitarist as well, named Jeff Oh. Eric quit to start the band Delta Rae with his brother — they make great music by the way — so the parts that Eric used to sing fell into my lap. I had written most of them, but that’s when I started singing them.
