Idolator.com: Singing-songwriting dreamboat Mike Posner had a moment back in 2010 with his Top 10 single “Cooler Than Me” (and its much superior follow-up “Please Don’t Go”), then turned his attention to other important matters — like writing “Boyfriend” for Justin Bieber — but now he’s back with the first offering from his upcoming sophomore LP ‘Pages’, and it’s good. Oh, it’s really good.
“The Way It Used To Be” is a breezy summer song shot through with a nostalgic ache that’s practically Taylor Swift-ian in its longing: Happy-sad and gorgeously melodic. Co-penned with Martin Johnson, frontman of the pop rock band Boys Like Girls, (who’s virtually invented the genre of Wistful Twang-Pop — Taylor Swift’s “If This Was A Movie”, Victoria Justice‘s sublime “Make It In America” and Avril Lavigne‘s “Here’s To Never Growing Up”) and Joshua “Ammo” Coleman (who gave the world Ke$ha‘s “The Harold Song”), the track is propulsive in a radio-friendly way, with a twinkly post-chorus break that swells euphorically. It’s probably the best thing I’ve heard from him yet.