Mike Posner- 31 Minutes to Takeoff

Listeners drawn to Mike Posner by way of his mixtapes are going to find a much different artist occupying 31 Minutes to Takeoff.

Posner’s major-label debut—following two wildly popular independent compilations—monumentally fails to live up to its pre-release hype. Several songs are similarly forgettable synth-pop confections meant to be played loudly on dance floors across the country. “Cooler than Me,” the album’s first single, is a simple thumping-bass dance track that would be largely interchangeable with anything on a Ke$ha or Buckcherry record. “Cheated,” about a failed relationship, is in its rhythmic monotony equally one-note and manufactured. Within this model, Posner does manage to score points with the infectious and incredibly catchy hook of “Please Don’t Go.”

He also dabbles in genre-bending experimentation, but with dismal results. “Gone in September” is an airy soft-rock ode to scoring with girls that sounds like Sugar Ray at their worst—saccharine and over-processed. “Synthesizer,” meanwhile, plays like a misguided attempt at an R&B ballad, in which Posner fumblingly combines Usher’s sensuality and Beck’s video-game sound effects without capturing the appeal of either. And in “Bow Chicka Wow Wow,” a guitar-driven slow jam, he tries to fashion himself into some kind of frat boy lothario with lines like “Cause I’m three shots deep and I ain’t tryin to sleep/Get your Red Bull on cause I’m ready.”

Contrary to the superficial machismo of these tracks, Posner concludes the album with two lovely introspective moments. On “Falling,” a plaintive reflection on the fragility of fame and fortune in light of his own meteoric rise to hip-hop stardom, Posner sings, “Every word that you say keeps on bouncing around in my head/When all my delusions of grandeur have turned into bad jokes instead.” This track and its predecessor, “Delta 1406,” grapple with the ramifications of attaining musical celebrity immediately after graduating from college.

Posner’s skills as a producer are unfortunately dwarfed by his sophmoric songwriting in 31 Minutes to Takeoff. He’s always been a talented hip-hop producer, and with any luck, this is more of a misstep than a complete change of direction.