Only one verse in and we are already given this heartbreaking perspective.īut it’s these next set of lyrics that best show the depressing nature of these lyrics and the song: It’s through these first couple of lines where he details his life as a washed up one hit wonder and how he regrets the way he handled his fame. It’s not him advocating this lifestyle, but denouncing it (this lifestyle he once lived). Posner is reflecting on his past when he was in the limelight, but sings these lyrics not with enthusiasm, but with regret. He then mentions how he is living in Los Angeles, drives a sports car, and made a bunch of money that he spent on women and shoes. The mention of drugs is not for the purpose of fun like in most songs, but to show the listener what he does to desperately look cool even as a one hit wonder. It’s a sad attempt to still be noticed by physically harming his body (he literally says when he came down from the drugs, he felt “10 years older”). He’s not taking these drugs because he is a celebrity living a lavish lifestyle, he’s taking them to look cool in the eyes of someone more famous than him (Avicii).
Your standard lyrics of a party song, but it is the next set of lyrics that change everything. The title, “I Took A Pill in Ibiza”, on the surface is just a celebrity bragging about his life: he is taking drugs and partying in an exotic location.
This context is crucial to understand because under that dance party, electronic beat, “I Took A Pill in Ibiza” is Mike Posner is explaining his life as a one hit wonder with all the things that fame did to him and his story is not a fun one, but gripping to listen to and this is where the brilliance comes in. Fading into obscurity, it pretty much seemed like he would be a one hit wonder joining the ranks of Gotye, Magic!, and Foster The People. It was one of the biggest songs of that year, but after that, we basically never heard from the man again.