Teddy Riley Made ‘Bangers’ For Mike Posner’s Debut

R&B newcomer Mike Posner is just about ready to make his official introduction this summer with his still untitled debut. While the singer wrote and produced most of the album, he’s also been in the studio with producers like Benny Blanco and R&B legend Teddy Riley.

Posner told VIBE recently that he recorded two tracks with the king of new jack swing. 

“He’s the only producer that isn’t afraid to work as hard as me in the studio. We were literally sleeping in the studio,” Posner said of Riley’s work ethic. 

“It was dope. We actually sat down at the piano and wrote. I think what makes me different from a lot of artists is, I write songs and then we produce the master so I don’t have any bad songs because I can sit down at the piano and sing any of my songs and they’re gonna be dope and then all we have to do is not mess up the beat.” 

Meanwhile, the experience reminded Riley of his studio time with the King of Pop, according to Posner. 

“Teddy’s an incredible pianist so the first thing we did was he sat down at the piano and I brought up a chair next to him and we just wrote over notepads,” said Posner. “He was like, ‘I haven’t sat down at the piano with anybody and wrote like this since Michael Jackson.’ I was like, ‘Cool, let’s write more!’ They’re upbeat [songs]. They’re bangers.” 

As for guest appearances, Posner said he’s hoping to keep the project cameo free. “There’s a very high chance that my album has no features. I’m just very confident in my ability to make a classic album without anyone’s help and I don’t think I need to trick people into liking my music,” he said, adding that the project is halfway complete. 

“We gotta put the bells and whistles and gratuitous gloss and the finishing touches on a lot of tracks. I’d say we have like seven or eight that are all the way done. It’s gonna be crazy.” —Clover Hope