This review comes to us courtesy of our friends over at Tha Good Life Reviews. Thanks for the review!
*****
As all of you know, we here at Tha Good Life Reviews are HUGE Mike Posner fans! We would first and foremost like to congratulate Mike Posner on his freshman LP and after giving it a listen we can tell you that it’s going to be a successful album! Mike has come a long way from Reflections of a Lost Teen (his first mixtape he dropped while he was a student at Groves) and it’s nice to see a Michigan native get his shine on and start causing some noise in the music industry. So before we jump into the positives of the album, let’s get our critique on, shall we?
I am not going to lie, the album is missing a very important musician who goes by the name of Big Sean. I think the album is lacking his presence and last I checked, some of my favorite Posner songs are the ones that feature the two Detroit Hip-Hop musicians spitting fire. Tracks like “Bring Me Down”, “Speed of Sound”, “Smoke & Drive”, “Cooler Than Me (Original)”, and “Who Knows” are what really got me into both Posner and Sean’s music careers. Since there was a lacking of Big Sean on the album I suggest that the two Detroit natives team up and collaborate on a full-scale LP together.
Another thing that kind of got to me while listening to the new Mike Posner album was the fact that it was SO poppy. One can see that Mike Posner’s career has evolved as time has gone on. He started off rapping on Reflection of a Lost Teen. That then turned into his Hip-Hop mixtape of A Matter of Time (which featured Posner and his Brain Trust of Eric Holljes and Jeffrey Oh). After his first “large-scale” mixtape dropped, Posner hit us with his Hip-Hop/Pop felt mixtape of One Foot Out The Door which was hosted by Clinton Sparks and LRG. With that being said, let’s analyze his first album, 31 Minutes To Takeoff and the feel it has compared to his other releases.
Unlike his past mixtape, I can safely say that this LP is entirely Pop and there are very few Rap influences on it. It is hard for me to tell whether or not I really love the new direction Posner is taking his career. Yes, I do like the “Pop” sound he has brought to the table, but it is a different sound and I started to like Posner when he was doing Hip-Hop stuff. That being said, for all those who have been on the Mike Posner train for a while, you need to expect a different style in genre and prepare yourself for a very “Pop” sounding LP.
I am not going to lie, Mike Posner’s album is different, but I like it. Sometimes it is good to be different and bring a different sound to the table! With that being said, it is time to break down the tracks and give you a final synopsis of Mr. Posner’s first album.
31 Minutes To Takeoff Track Listing:
31 Minutes to Take Off (Intro)
A very solid introduction track to a Pop-felt album. It definitely sets the vibe for his album right off the bat. I love how he included both the past mixtapes in the intro track with the ticking noise and mentioning that it was “Only a matter of time”. I think he does give credit to his past tapes and that each full-scale production he has worked on really coincides with his other tapes, almost like the titles themselves are telling the story of his music career.
Please Don’t Go
This was the lead off single for the album. Not going to lie, it is my favorite track on this album. It was also featured on the intro to Mike Posner’s One Foot Out The Door web-series. I love this song and it already has seven plays on my iTunes and I just got the album this morning!
Bow Chicka Wow Wow
A slow song, and arguably the best song after “Please Don’t Go”. I really liked the slow vibe tracks he’s been throwing on the album and this one definitely sets the tone for the LP. Solid track that really kept me listening the entire time.
Cooler Than Me (Single Mix)
Not my favorite version of “Cooler Than Me” but I guess I will have to deal with it. I really like the one on his first mixtape which features Big Sean, but I guess I will just have to deal with the pop-induced, Sean-less version on 31 Minutes to Takeoff.
Déjà Vu (Feat. Boyz II Men)
Mike Posner & Boyz II Men… Where did this track come from!? All I remember was logging onto Facebook one day and seeing a status update that Mike Posner was collaborating with the R&B greats on a track. All I simply thought was, “wow”, that is about to be an EPIC track. Sure enough, I was right! “Déjà Vu” is a very sick track which features a Pop/R&B vibe to it. I like the style and set up of the song and having Boyz II Men on the background vocals really makes this song!
Do You Wanna
Very Pop-Sounding and very un-Posner sounding, but I am a huge fan of the track and the production work done on this one. I don’t know what it is about this new sound, but it grows on me more and more as I listen.
Cheated
I never endorse cheating, and I sure hope Mike Posner doesn’t either. Another solid banger from the Detroit-native. This one has a very sick beat and Posner kills it when it comes to putting the vocals over the beat. Just so everyone knows, we here at Tha Good Life Reviews do not support cheating!
Gone in September
A slow track for all the Posner fans out there. Definitely something I have enjoyed listening to. It’s perfect for when I am in those mellow moods and need something to rock to that is calm. Come September TGLR will not be gone ladies and gentlemen! Check out this banger, it’s definitely one of my favorite tracks off the album.
Save Your Goodbye
Posner really slows it down with “Save Your Goodbye” and it is definitely a different sounding track. I like it, and the more I listen to it, the more it grows on me. It’s an interesting song but it doesn’t appeal to me as much as the other tracks that he threw on the album.
Synthesizer
This track is crazy, and the beat is sick. Posner kills it and while it is still one of those slow paced songs, I can definitely jam to this when I am in that mellow mood and just need some calming music to get my groove on to.
Delta 1406
The only way to describe this track is “different”. I like it, but it takes some time to get used to. Definitely not one of my favorite songs on31 Minutes to Takeoff.
Falling
What a way to end the album. Definitely sums up this pop-production of an album. Has a strong R&B feel to it and I actually like the track as a whole. This one doesn’t really have to grow on me that much. I like this song to end what was a very Pop/R&B felt freshman release from Mike Posner.
All in all, Mike Posner’s first album is a success in my eyes. Sure, it isn’t the same Posner-sound we are used to, but I wouldn’t say it’s a bad LP. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it and I think that the change in sound is good for listener’s ears. The same sounds get boring after a while and I think he really tapped into his creativity on this release. The album as a whole gets a well-deserved 8.5/10 for creativity, sounds, and fullness.
31 Minutes To Takeoff was released on August 10th, 2010