Two years ago, singer-songwriter Mike Posner found himself in a nightclub in Ibiza, watching his DJ friend Avicii work. A fan recognized the Michigan artist, who had a breakout hit with the electro-pop track “Cooler Than Me” in 2010, and offered him a mystery pill. Posner took the mind-altering drug and had a great night, but in the harsh comedown, he lamented his seemingly washed-up career.
“I’m just a singer who already blew his shot,” he reflects in the acoustic track “I Took a Pill in Ibiza,” first released on his 2015 EP, “The Truth.”
But Posner lucked out when the Norwegian production duo SeeB remixed this melancholy song into an EDM club anthem — now No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Posner’s biggest hit in years.
“The irony is impossibly beautiful and hilarious,” says the singer, who plays Webster Hall on Tuesday. The few years he’s had away from the limelight have been beneficial. The now-28-year-old Posner admits he was seduced by the fame, money and lifestyle when he first hit it big in 2010. “I didn’t handle any of it with grace,” he admits, adding that he neglected family and friendships. Posner’s brief bubble of success with his debut album “31 Minutes to Takeoff” soon came to a halt when subsequent singles tanked and later albums were shelved by his label.
Posner reacted by going partially off the grid, selling his Porsche and donating his Air Jordans collection. Although he did get work writing for Nick Jonas, Justin Bieber and Maroon 5, when Posner toured last year, he and his friends played so-called “ninja shows,” unplanned and largely crowdfunded, sleeping wherever they could. “I remember being at a gas station in Middle America,” he says. “We were unwashed, stinking, peeing in bottles, but I could also hear my Maroon 5 song ‘Sugar’ on the radio.”
It was a lifestyle he enjoyed so much that he spent the latter part of 2015 traveling solo around the country in a van, growing a beard that Grizzly Adams would have been proud of.
It was a long-winded way of dismantling his ego and practicing humility. But it worked, and as a result, Posner says, he feels better equipped for this unexpected second shot at fame. “I think I’ve developed more gratitude since I’ve been away, but what better way to test it out than to go back to the limelight?”