''At Night, Alone.'' is the second studio album by American singer

Mike Posner Michael Robert Henrion Posner ( ; born February 12, 1988) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Detroit.For Posner's full name, see He signed with J Records in 2009 and released his debut single "Cooler Than Me" the follo ...

. It was released on May 6, 2016 by

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

. The album features

guest appearances The term guest appearance generally denotes the appearance of a guest in an artistic or pop-culture setting. The guests themselves (referred to as guest artists, featured artists, guest stars, or guest fighters, depending on context), are disting ...

Labrinth Timothy Lee McKenzie (born 4 January 1989), better known by his stage name Labrinth, is an English singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. Labrinth signed as a recording artist with Simon Cowell's record label Syco Music in 2010, ini ...

and

Big Sean Sean Michael Leonard Anderson (born March 25, 1988), known professionally as Big Sean, is an American rapper. He met Kanye West as a teenager, and signed with his record label GOOD Music, an imprint of Def Jam Recordings in 2007. He gained popul ...

. The album received positive reviews from music critics, who celebrated the record's mature sound, and his autobiographic and introspective lyrical content. The album was considered a qualitative big step forward from his previous album ''

31 Minutes to Takeoff ''31 Minutes to Takeoff'' is the debut studio album by American singer Mike Posner. It was released on 10 August 2010, by J Records. The album includes the singles " Cooler Than Me", " Please Don't Go" and " Bow Chicka Wow Wow". Background Posn ...

''.

Background

Mike Posner released his first single in two years, " The Way It Used to Be" in June 2013, and announced the release of his second album ''Pages''. In October 2013, Posner said in an interview with ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'': "I've made maybe over 100 songs since the last album, so I've got a good 12, 15 I'm proud of." A second single featuring

, "Top of the World" was released in December 2013. In March 2014, ''Billboard'' reported that ''Pages'' would be released later that year, but the release never materialized. Instead, Posner released the

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

, ''The Truth'' in June 2015 on

, featuring four tracks later featured on ''At Night, Alone.'' " I Took a Pill in Ibiza" was released as a single on July 24, 2015, and found international success in a remix by

Seeb Al-Seeb, As Seeb, As Sib, or Seeb () is a coastal fishing province, located several kilometres northwest of Muscat, in northeastern Oman. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 470,878. Landmarks include the Naseem Garden, the Royal Stables ...

. In August 2015, Posner said that he had recorded two albums (''Pages'' and ''Sky High'') since his debut album, ''

'' (2010), which were both shelved by his former label

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

because "they didn't have a hit". Posner said

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

singer

Jake Owen Joshua Ryan Owen (born August 28, 1981), known professionally as Jake Owen, is an American country music singer. Signed to RCA Nashville in 2006, he released his debut studio album, '' Startin' with Me'', that year. This album produced three ...

encouraged him to "tell the truth" in his songs" and showed him artists like

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

and

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential figures in country music, he was a central pioneer of the Bakersfield ...

, which made Posner realize that "you can just literally say the truth and it’s beautiful, and it’s heart-wrenching and it’s funny". The album is inspired by country music according to Posner: "So, like, the way I was inspired by

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

when I first started and would sort of sing hip-hop, this new (music) is kind of my take on country music. It doesn't sound country and no one uses the word country to describe it, but it's me trying to do country and it comes out weird and different."

Singles

"I Took a Pill in Ibiza" was first released on Mike Posner's

, ''The Truth'', on June 22, 2015. The remix version by

was released on July 24, 2015. The song would become Posner's biggest hit to date, peaking at number four on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Promotional singles

"Be as You Are" was released as promotional single in the United States on July 26, 2016. On February 17, 2017 a remix of "In the Arms of a Stranger" by

Grey Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...

was released as promotional single.

Reception

David Jeffries of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

noted an improvement for Posner in the album, writing, "This might not yet be the ultimate showcase for his talents, but ''At Night, Alone'' is both a welcome return and a significant step forward." Jordan Simon of '' Idolator'' wrote, "Posner on the album places his bets as pop's 'born-again' countryman," calling the album "not a pop jamboree. It is truth in advertising, an album exclusively optimized for solitude spent immersed in deep thought." Gwilym Mumford of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' wrote, "Some curios apart—the a cappella revolutionary hymn 'Only God Knows' and rowdy folk-punk of 'Jade'—there is little here that lingers long in the memory, with only Posner's braggadocio and pinched vocals distinguishing him from the singer-songwriter crowd."

Track listing

Notes * signifies an additional producer * signifies a remixer

Personnel

Adapted from the liner notes: I Took a Pill in Ibiza * Mike Posner – lead and background vocals * Eugene Huang – guitar * Nikolaj Torp – piano,

Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from 1954 to 1983. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptually similar to ...

, whistle * Martin Terefe – bass and background vocals * Geoff Lea – drums * Oskar Winberg – additional percussion * Recorded by Sam Keyte at Kensaltown Recording Studios * Vocals recorded by Mike Posner at Mike's House * Mixed by Tony Maserati and Tyler Scott at Mirrorball Studios Not That Simple * Mike Posner – lead and background vocals, piano and space echo * Glen Scott – piano and organ * Adam Friedman – guitar * Martin Terefe – bass * Kristoffer Sonne – drums and percussion * Forrest D. Gray – string arrangement * Recorded by Sam Keyte at Kensaltown Recording Studios, assisted by Kristian Larsen * Vocals recorded by Mike Posner at Mike's House * Additional recording by Oskar Winberg * Mixed by Tony Maserati and Tyler Scott at Mirrorball Studios Be as You Are * Mike Posner – lead and background vocals * Adam Friedman – keyboards, guitar, drums and percussion, background vocals * Simon Huber – bass * Alex Toff – drums * Oskar Winberg – percussion * Ro Rowan – cello * Vocals recorded by Mike Posner at Mike's House * Mixed by Tony Maserati and Tyler Scott at Mirrorball Studios In the Arms of a Stranger * Mike Posner – lead and background vocals, keyboards, space echo * Glen Scott – keyboards * Adam Friedman – guitar * Martin Terefe – bass * Kristoffer Sonne – drums * Recorded by Sam Keyte at Kensaltown Recording Studios, assisted by Kristian Larsen * Vocals recorded by Mike Posner at Mike's House * Additional recording by Oskar Winberg * Mixed by Tony Maserati and Tyler Scott at Mirrorball Studios Silence * Mike Posner – lead and background vocals, keyboards, piano and space echo * Glen Scott – keyboards * Adam Friedman – guitar * Martin Terefe – bass * Kristoffer Sonne – drums * Recorded by Sam Keyte at Kensaltown Recording Studios, assisted by Kristian Larsen * Vocals recorded by Mike Posner at Mike's House * Additional recording by Oskar Winberg * Mixed by Tony Maserati and Tyler Scott at Mirrorball Studios Iris * Mike Posner – lead and background vocals * Adam Friedman – guitar, keyboards, drums, percussion, background vocals * Erick "Jesus" Coomes – bass * MdL – drums and percussion * Recorded by Adam Friedman, MdL and Mike Posner at Mike's House * Mixed by Tony Maserati and Tyler Scott at Mirrorball Studios Only God Knows * Mike Posner – lead and background vocals * Norman Henry Mamey – "words of wisdom" * Recorded by Mike Posner at Mike's House * Mixed by Tony Maserati and Tyler Scott at Mirrorball Studios Jade * Mike Posner – lead and background vocals * Ely "The Creep" Rise – keyboards, organ * Nick Maybury – guitar * Bana Haffar – bass * MdL – drums and percussion, programming * Recorded by Mike Posner and Mason Levy at Mike's House * Mixed by Tony Maserati and Tyler Scott at Mirrorball Studios One Hell of a Song * Mike Posner – lead and background vocals * James Valentine – guitar * Erick "Jesus" Coomes – bass * Adam Friedman – drums, percussion, background vocals * MdL – drums * Recorded by Mike Posner and Adam Friedman at Mike's House * Mixed by Tony Maserati and Tyler Scott at Mirrorball Studios Buried in Detroit * Mike Posner – lead and background vocals, piano * Glenn Scott –

Rhodes piano The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...

* Martin Terefe – bass * Kristoffer Sonne – drums and percussion * Steven Pemberton – drums * Oskar Winberg, John Magnussen – additional percussion * Norman Henry Mamey – orchestral arrangement and conductor * Bob O'Donnell – orchestra contractor * Michael Markman, Neil Sample, Leslie Katz, Rebecca Chung, Lisa Dondlinger, Lorand Lokuszta, Lorenz Gamma, Tamaa Chernyak-Pepp, Marisa Sorajja, Radu Pieptka – violins * Nancy Roth, Pamela Goldsmith – violas * Dennis Karamazyn, Paul Hochhalter – cellos * Kevin Axt – brass * Brian Scanlon, Jeff Driskhill, Phillip Feather, John Carr – woodwinds * Gary Halopoff, Chris Tedesco – trumpets * Charles Morillas, David Ryan, Craig Ware – trombones * Amy Wilkins – harp * Recorded by Sam Keyte at Kensaltown Recording Studios, assisted by Kristian Larsen * Orchestra recorded by Dennis Sands at EastWest Studios * Piano and additional vocals recorded by Josh Connolly, Dominic Jordan, Jimmy Giannos at the Hideout Recording Studio * Additional recording by Oskar Winberg * Mixed by Tony Maserati and Tyler Scott at Mirrorball Studios

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2016 albums Albums produced by Mike Posner Albums produced by Labrinth Mike Posner albums