Mike Posner talks at NYS Fair about ‘cooler’ girls, Justin Bieber and upcoming ‘Sky High’ album
Thanks NY. I’m so blessed. – Mike Posner
Hitmaker Mike Posner certainly pumped up the New York State Fair crowd at Chevy Court, and he’s got more hits on the way.
The 24-year-old singer performed Thursday afternoon on the concert stage in a high-energy set that included the hits “Please Don’t Go,” “Bow Chicka Wow Wow” and top 10 single “Cooler Than Me.”
Backstage, Posner explained how he was inspired to write “Cooler Than Me“, the 2010 R&B-flavored dance-pop smash about wanting to “write you a song and make you fall in love.”
“There’s quite a few girls [at Duke University] who think they’re hot stuff,” Posner told syracuse.com after the concert. “A lot of girls think [the song] is about them.”
Outside of dating, though, he said he was grateful to have the opportunity to go to college in the first place, and stressed how important it was for him to finish school. He graduated in 2010 just months before releasing his J Records debut “31 Minutes to Takeoff.”
Posner explained that his sound is hard to classify at times because of his broad taste in music. “I like everything from Avicii to Paul Simon, Led Zeppelin and Nas, J Dilla,” he said.
He’s also collaborated with everyone from Lil Wayne and Big Sean to Cher Lloyd and 2 Chainz, adding that he hopes to work with rapper Young Jeezy someday. Earlier this year, Posner co-produced and co-wrote Justin Bieber’s “Boyfriend,” already a multi-platinum hit for the young Canadian pop star.
Despite not seeing himself writing songs for other artists before, Posner explained that he told Bieber’s manager Scooter Braun that he wanted to work with him. He said he’s known Braun for years and ran into him at a Los Angeles Clippers basketball game, and the collaborative process started from there.
According to the Star-Ledger, the Michigan native recently said his father complained that hip-hop and top 40 artists today don’t sound as good live as they do on recordings.
“I put a lot of work in,” he told syracuse.com of his performances. “There’s a lot of rehearsal [and] we take it very serious. [Some artists] just walk on stage with a DJ and have no set list and figure it out as they go, with no transitions between songs.”
Posner’s also hard at work on his upcoming sophomore album, “Sky High,” expected to be released later this year.
“The album is probably 80 percent done, you can definitely expect a collaboration with my buddy Big Sean, for sure,” he said. “[It’s] really positive music — not in a preachy way, but music that makes you feel good when you listen to it… It sounds like summer.”
After that, he hopes to go back on the road and tour some more, as well as writing and producing more songs for both himself and other artists.
“I’m really excited about the future,” Posner said.
