Summer 2010. My only real exposure to music at that time was through my little portable radio and my Skullcandy earbuds (which seemed to break on a three month basis), and Mike Posner’s first big hit “Cooler Than Me” found its way from the FM Top-40 stations to my ears. A few months later “Please Don’t Go” would follow suit, yet after that Mike Posner would become a fleeting memory for a while. My pre-teen self quickly moved on to what ever else was being played on the radio, and it was 6 years later till I thought of him again.
In early May 2016, Posner released his second studio album “At Night, Alone. ” featuring his biggest hit to date, Grammy-nominated “I Took a Pill in Ibiza”. Ironically, this song centers on the fact that he isn’t famous anymore and living in the aftermath, yet a remixed version of the song peaked at #4 on the Billboard 100. Other than the “I Took A Pill In Ibiza” remix, the album is stylistically more acoustic and introspective, which I believe contributes to the quality of this project as well as the songwriting.
A year later, Posner would continue to explore his image, dying his hair green and acting interesting, to say the least, at the 2017 Grammys alongside blackbear. Together, they would release their group’s self-titled debut “Mansionz” in March 2017. This project was hip-hop and electronic influenced with experimental production, and I believe it to be a strong debut for the duo playing off the strengths of each artist with them exchanging verses in most songs.
In 2018, Posner didn’t release a standard album, but instead ventured into the genre of spoken word with both a live project “i was born in detroit on a very very very very very very very cold day” and an audio version of his poetry book “Tear Drop and Balloons”.
I tell you all this to — yes — give you background on Posner’s career and developing styles, but also to show you that Posner is an artist I care about and who I considered to be producing better and better music with each new year. Unfortunately, I do not feel the same way about his latest project, and third studio album, “A Real Good Kid”.
I hate to say that, because I know that Mike Posner put a lot of effort into this album, and he considers it to be his best work yet. Posner released three singles in support of this project; “Song About You”, “Stuck in the Middle”, and “Move On” in that order. “Move On” is clearly the most popular of the three and as a very radio friendly song, it has a chance at charting. Anyway, let me breakdown this project and take you through what I think Posner got right and what he got wrong with this album.
Posner is very candid in this album. Written in the wake of his father’s death, it is a way for him to open up and be raw with the listener, which I admire and applaud him for doing so. I think his candidness is one of the stronger aspects of the album.
On an Instagram Live a few days before the album’s release, Posner stated that there were no unintentional words and he spend months writing the lyrics, perfecting them. I feel that Posner went too far with this idea however, as many songs feel choppy, with no rhyming scheme and rhythm that just feels off. For a song to be strong, I believe it needs to have both impactful, meaningful lyrics and also good sounding lyrics. I thought Posner achieved this on “At Night, Alone.” as the songwriting on that project is very well done. Many songs on “A Real Good Kid” seem to have potent lyrics, but they don’t sound all that great as a song and I think this is the biggest problem for the project. I can excuse this style for a track or two, and chalk it up as an artistic decision, but it permeates through the album and I don’t think it makes for a good listening experience.
Another issue I have also stems from the lyrics, in that on some songs they’re just repetitive. “Move On”, “Stuck in the Middle”, and “How It’s Supposed to Be” are some tracks that come to mind relating to this flaw. Once again, an argument could be made that its a stylistic choice representing Posner repeating a mantra by telling himself to “move on” and that “I guess that’s how its supposed to be”, but even so I don’t think it should have been done to the point its done in this project.
On the positive side, there are some tracks that I think came together really well, and showcase what Posner is capable of when he gets his lyricism sounding right. “Staring at the Fire” and “Perfect” are two songs that stand out in my mind, and are some of the best tracks I think he has ever made. Additionally, there are parts on many other tracks that I really like, even if I may not think the whole song is all that good. The bridge at the end of “Song About You” is a nice break from the otherwise repetitive song. In “Drip”, the last verse of the spoken word into the “drip, drip, drip” is another highlight. Other that the chorus, “How It’s Supposed to Be” is a quality track that does a good job closing out this project.
Another positive on this album is the production. I think its solid throughout, and fits the mood really well. Also, the transitions are really well done, creating a cohesive listening experience, rivaling “Mansionz” in this category. The use of audio interludes is done thoughtfully, with conversations between Mike and his father interpolated through the album, to great effect.
“A Real Good Kid” is Mike Posner’s most personal project yet. He leave himself raw throughout the album saying exactly what he feels. Although the production and subject matter is strong, the musical quality of many of the lyrics is strongly lacking leaving me hard-pressed to give this album a positive rating. I hope in Posner’s next project he is able to capture the emotion he has in this album with the musical quality of some of his former albums.
