31 Minutes to Takeoff
Encyclopedia
31 Minutes to Takeoff is the debut album by American singer Mike Posner
, released on August 10, 2010.
, Posner argues: "My music doesn't sound like anyone else's, and it's important for me that it stays that way", and that "I want to make songs that will bring people together", Posner has stated that he draws a great deal of influence for his music from his hometown "Where I grew up was a huge influence on my music." He also said that "A lot of people have trouble putting into words what my music is, and it's because of where I grew up". Meanwhile, speaking to Blues & Soul
about the album's stylistic diversity, he described it as "A 21st Century album – meaning that, instead of listening to 12 different artists on your iPod, with my record you can just listen to ONE! Because every song is refreshing and different from the one before, and at the same time BETTER than the one before!"
The title of the album, 31 Minutes to Takeoff, is in fact a reference to something that occurs exactly 31 minutes into the record. As Posner himself describes it "Something happens 31 minutes into the record ... All I can say is that both the listener and I will be in a higher place when it's over". 31 minutes into the CD, during "Synthesizer", there is a sound of an airplane taking off.
, R&B, and dance
songs with heavy use of synthesizers straight out the '80s, influences of hip hop
music while also incorporating electronic music
with clever hooks and catchy beats. Songs like "Please Don't Go", "Cooler Than Me", and "Cheated", are up-tempo dance songs. "Please Don't Go" is an electropop song with an R&B infused beat and heavy-use "video game" like synths in its chorus. "Cheated" follows a similar path, with a more dance oriented beat and repetitive hook, and "Cooler Than Me", is electropop based with nu-disco
influences. "Bow Chicka Wow Wow", "Déjà Vu", and "Do U Wanna?" are mid-tempo songs carrying R&B sounds, with "Delta 1406" following the same path with a faded beat. "Bow Chicka Wow Wow" carries it's R&B sound with a rock music feel, while "Déjà Vu" blends 90's R&B sound with contemporary pop and features Boyz II Men
on background vocals. "Do U Wanna?" is an hip hop
old-school R&B song, with stax horns, whistles, over a bluesy guitar that samples Ray LaMontagne
"You Are the Best Thing". "Gone In September" is an pop acoustic
-rock tune, while "Save Your Goodbyes", and "Synthesizer" are synthpop
ballads.
Lyrically, the album references Posner's personal experiences, ranging from love, and rise to fame at age 22. Its first single "Cooler Than Me" is about a girl who think's she's cooler than anybody, and "needs everyone's eyes just to feel seen". In an interview with US Weekly
, Posner says the "song was inspired by a girl [I] went to Duke with, but she doesn't deserve any notoriety". "Bow Chicka Wow Wow" is a song 'to reel a women in'. "Cheated" sees Posner singing about his regret at not cheating on a former flame who cheated on him with lyrics like "I should have cheated on you/ I was everything you wanted and more/ I should have cheated on you / nobody told me I was dating a whore", while later calls out his ex by name. "Gone In September" is a song about Posner breaking up with a woman. "Delta 1406" is a song about Posner's current rise to fame, written on his flight back home to Detroit, after spending 5 months in Los Angeles
, (“I’ve got to book hotels for my Detroit shows”) says Posner as a reflection of what he was dealing with at the time. "Please Don't Go" shows Posner begging a girl to stay.
which takes a North America
n leg. 42 Tour dates were announced via Mike's official MySpace
account, and will take place through the summer of 2010.
On May 31, 2010, Posner appeared on Lopez Tonight
with a performance of "Cooler Than Me". Fifteen days later, he appeared on America's Got Talent with a performance of "Cooler Than Me".
chart, with first-week sales of 29,000 copies.
, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album holds a score of 58 out of 100, indicating "mixed or average reviews", based on 8 reviews. Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly
gave the album a B, praising Posner's breezy anthems. David Jeffries of Allmusic also wrote favorably of the album, stating, "Posner’s entertaining debut is right in line with his reported Duke grade point average of B+."
Mike Posner (musician)
Michael Robert "Mike" Posner is an American singer, songwriter, and producer. Posner released his debut album, 31 Minutes to Takeoff, on August 10, 2010...
, released on August 10, 2010.
Background
Posner's idea for the album was to make something that didn't sound like anything that was already out. In an interview with BillboardBillboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
, Posner argues: "My music doesn't sound like anyone else's, and it's important for me that it stays that way", and that "I want to make songs that will bring people together", Posner has stated that he draws a great deal of influence for his music from his hometown "Where I grew up was a huge influence on my music." He also said that "A lot of people have trouble putting into words what my music is, and it's because of where I grew up". Meanwhile, speaking to Blues & Soul
Blues & Soul
Blues & Soul is a British music magazine covering black music. Genres covered include soul, R&B, jazz, hip hop, reggae and world music. It was first published in 1966 and is known for first using the term Northern Soul....
about the album's stylistic diversity, he described it as "A 21st Century album – meaning that, instead of listening to 12 different artists on your iPod, with my record you can just listen to ONE! Because every song is refreshing and different from the one before, and at the same time BETTER than the one before!"
The title of the album, 31 Minutes to Takeoff, is in fact a reference to something that occurs exactly 31 minutes into the record. As Posner himself describes it "Something happens 31 minutes into the record ... All I can say is that both the listener and I will be in a higher place when it's over". 31 minutes into the CD, during "Synthesizer", there is a sound of an airplane taking off.
Music and lyrics
Musically, 31 Minutes to Takeoff consists a blend of popPop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, R&B, and dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
songs with heavy use of synthesizers straight out the '80s, influences of hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
music while also incorporating electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
with clever hooks and catchy beats. Songs like "Please Don't Go", "Cooler Than Me", and "Cheated", are up-tempo dance songs. "Please Don't Go" is an electropop song with an R&B infused beat and heavy-use "video game" like synths in its chorus. "Cheated" follows a similar path, with a more dance oriented beat and repetitive hook, and "Cooler Than Me", is electropop based with nu-disco
Nu-disco
Nu-disco is a 21st century dance music genre associated with a renewed interest in 1970s and early 1980s disco, mid-1980s Italo disco, and the synthesizer-heavy Eurodisco aesthetics. The moniker appeared in print as early as 2002, and by mid-2008 was used by record shops such as the online...
influences. "Bow Chicka Wow Wow", "Déjà Vu", and "Do U Wanna?" are mid-tempo songs carrying R&B sounds, with "Delta 1406" following the same path with a faded beat. "Bow Chicka Wow Wow" carries it's R&B sound with a rock music feel, while "Déjà Vu" blends 90's R&B sound with contemporary pop and features Boyz II Men
Boyz II Men
Boyz II Men is an American R&B vocal group best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. They are the most successful R&B group of all time, having sold more than albums worldwide. In the 1990s, Boyz II Men found fame on Motown Records as a quartet, but original member Michael McCary...
on background vocals. "Do U Wanna?" is an hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
old-school R&B song, with stax horns, whistles, over a bluesy guitar that samples Ray LaMontagne
Ray LaMontagne
Raymond "Ray" Charles Jack LaMontagne is a Grammy-award winning American singer-songwriter. LaMontagne has released four studio albums, Trouble, Till the Sun Turns Black, Gossip in the Grain and God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise. He was born in New Hampshire and was inspired to create music after...
"You Are the Best Thing". "Gone In September" is an pop acoustic
Acoustic music
Acoustic music comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means...
-rock tune, while "Save Your Goodbyes", and "Synthesizer" are synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
ballads.
Lyrically, the album references Posner's personal experiences, ranging from love, and rise to fame at age 22. Its first single "Cooler Than Me" is about a girl who think's she's cooler than anybody, and "needs everyone's eyes just to feel seen". In an interview with US Weekly
Us Weekly
Us Weekly is a celebrity gossip magazine, founded in 1977 by The New York Times Company, who sold it in 1980. It was acquired by Wenner Media in 1986. The publication covers topics ranging from celebrity relationships to the latest trends in fashion, beauty, and entertainment...
, Posner says the "song was inspired by a girl [I] went to Duke with, but she doesn't deserve any notoriety". "Bow Chicka Wow Wow" is a song 'to reel a women in'. "Cheated" sees Posner singing about his regret at not cheating on a former flame who cheated on him with lyrics like "I should have cheated on you/ I was everything you wanted and more/ I should have cheated on you / nobody told me I was dating a whore", while later calls out his ex by name. "Gone In September" is a song about Posner breaking up with a woman. "Delta 1406" is a song about Posner's current rise to fame, written on his flight back home to Detroit, after spending 5 months in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, (“I’ve got to book hotels for my Detroit shows”) says Posner as a reflection of what he was dealing with at the time. "Please Don't Go" shows Posner begging a girl to stay.
Promotion
Posner was part of Warped TourWarped Tour
The Warped Tour is a touring music and extreme sports festival. The tour is held in venues such as parking lots or fields upon which the stages and other structures are erected. The BMX/skateboarding shoe manufacturer Vans, among others, has sponsored the tour every year since 1995, and it is...
which takes a North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n leg. 42 Tour dates were announced via Mike's official MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
account, and will take place through the summer of 2010.
On May 31, 2010, Posner appeared on Lopez Tonight
Lopez Tonight
Lopez Tonight was an American late-night television talk show hosted by comedian George Lopez. The hour-long program premiered on November 9, 2009, on cable network TBS. Lopez was the first Mexican American to host a late-night talk show on an English-language network in the United States. The...
with a performance of "Cooler Than Me". Fifteen days later, he appeared on America's Got Talent with a performance of "Cooler Than Me".
Singles
- "Cooler Than Me" was released as the album's lead singleLead singleA lead single is usually the first single released by a musician or a band before the release of its home album.During the era of the grammophone record, all music arrived in the marketplace as what is now termed a single, one potential hit song backed by an additional song of generally less...
. The song reached the Top 10 in the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, peaking at #6, and the Top 5 in New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
(#3) and CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
(#5). The song's video was released on YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
and features Posner in a party with girls wearing sunglasses. Snowboarder Louie VitoLouie VitoLouis "Louie" Vito is an American professional snowboarder.-Early life:Louis Vito was born in Columbus, Ohio and raised in Bellefontaine, growing up outside Mad River Mountain. He attended the Stratton Mountain School in Vermont and turned pro in 2005...
makes a cameo appearanceCameo appearanceA cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
in the video. It sold over 3,000,000 downloads in the US.
- "Please Don't Go" was released on iTunesITunesiTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
on July 19, 2010, and was confirmed as the album's second single. It debuted at #94 on the Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
and has peaked at #16. It sold over 1,000,000 downloads in the US.
- "Bow Chicka Wow Wow" was released as the third single on February 3, 2011 and features American rapper Lil WayneLil WayneDwayne Michael Carter, Jr. , better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. At the age of nine, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label, and half of the duo, The B.G.'z, with B.G.. In 1997, Lil Wayne joined the group Hot Boys, which also included...
. The song was released on the radio on February 22, 2011; it debuted at #82 on the Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
and has reached #30. It sold over 1,000,000 downloads in the US.
- "Cheated" was released as the fourth single on June 14, 2011. This song has not charted in any country yet. It will also be released on the radio sometime in the next few months.
Track listing
Commercial performance
The album debuted at number eight on the US Billboard 200Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart, with first-week sales of 29,000 copies.
Critical response
The album has received mixed reviews from critics, with some complimenting the electro-pop sound, while others felt it was neither new nor fresh. According to MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album holds a score of 58 out of 100, indicating "mixed or average reviews", based on 8 reviews. Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
gave the album a B, praising Posner's breezy anthems. David Jeffries of Allmusic also wrote favorably of the album, stating, "Posner’s entertaining debut is right in line with his reported Duke grade point average of B+."
Chart performance
| Chart (2010) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
32 |
| France Albums Chart | 120 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
8 |