When American singer Mike Posner denounced illicit drug use and materialism on X last week, addiction and publicity experts applauded the move but wondered what took the 36-year-old so long to come out against substance abuse.
The lyrics in the 2015 hit drug song “I Took a Pill in Ibiza” describe drinking alcohol at an Avicii show, accepting the offer of a pill from a mystery man in the crowd, and ingesting it.
Avicii was a successful Swedish DJ and electronic dance music producer with whom Mr. Posner had co-written another song called “Stay with You.”
“I took a pill in Ibiza to show Avicii I was cool and when I finally got sober, felt 10 years older, but [expletive] it, it was something to do,” Mr. Posner sang at the time.
After sweeping the European music charts, “I Took a Pill in Ibiza” landed at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2016.
Nine years later, Mr. Posner is a new man while Avicii died by suicide at 28 years old in 2018.
“I wish Mike Posner would’ve felt supported enough to come clean and worry not so much about his fan base but more so about the number of people he could impact positively by saying it nine years earlier,” T.R.U.E. Addiction & Behavioral Health founder Benjamin Dobbs told The Epoch Times.
On Feb. 14, Mr. Posner posted about his regret for driving a sports car in Los Angeles while glorifying money spent on shoes, girls, and sports cars. He posted a followup on Feb. 22 stating, “The tragedy of my 20’s was desperately wanting to be famous while at the same time eagerly trying to disappear.”
These days Posner drives a Toyota 4runner, has donated his Air Jordan basketball shoe collection, and sounds more settled than when he was hedonistically traveling through Ibiza.
“Don’t need to prove anything to anyone other than God, love myself,” he said. “If I buy myself something nice, it’s because I love myself and I deserve it, not because I’m trying to prove to others I’m good enough.”
But, in some cases, admitting the error of his youthful ways could turn out to be a double-edged sword if the anti-drug messaging offends fans who aren’t ready to give up the party lifestyle, according to David Triana, director of public relations at Empathy First Media in Florida.
It could also put Mr. Posner at odds with certain people in the music industry.
“If people are viewing him as too preachy now, it might shrink the fan base,” Mr. Triana told The Epoch Times. “The flip side of that is it could open him up to a new wholesome audience that never really tried to listen to that kind of music before.”
In exploring the past, Mr. Posner, who later revealed that the pill he had taken to “show Avicii I was cool” was ecstasy, expressed shame about his behavior.
“Yesterday I celebrated my 36th birthday,” Mr. Posner revealed. “I feel proud to look at the song lyrics and know that NONE of them are true anymore. I’ve grown into a completely new man…one that I’m proud of.”
Peer pressure and low self-esteem are common precursors to drug and alcohol abuse and shame about poor behavior is often a side effect, according to Dr. Justin Jacques, a Washington, D.C.-based licensed professional counselor and certified addiction counselor.
Mr. Jacques is in private practice at the Human Theory Group he founded in 2020.
“Knowing the industry that he’s in and the party lifestyle that’s involved, a lot of people who would normally use substances in a healthy way might start to misuse them because of peer pressure,” he said.
Today, Mr. Posner values himself over peer pressure.
He wrote on X, “I love myself more than ever, no longer do shit that harms my body to try to get people to like me.”
Mr. Dobbs believes Mr. Posner’s change of heart is likely a function of the aging process, the changing demographic of his audience, and his desire to cultivate a mature following.
“Most of us in that category of that age look at drug use as a risk factor where it’s like Russian roulette,” he said. “A lot of people have moved on past that. I think his X post could have been more of a publicity statement to try to appeal to generations that are done partying.”
If Mr. Posner were to take a mystery pill today, he might not be so lucky as to survive because a pill of unknown origin could potentially be laced with fentanyl and lead to sudden death.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows that last year, 112,000 people died of a fentanyl overdose in a 12 month period.
“We know that fentanyl is an absolute killer and it’s been in the media a lot,” Mr. Jacques added. “It may be about his image and we can’t assume that there isn’t a publicist involved in his post as well.”
Mr. Posner did not reply to requests for comment.
