Quote:Alex Preston ‏@RealAlexPreston 23m23 minutes ago
Fun times in Punta Cana with y'all

@haleyreinhart caseybassy @clarkbeckham @immattgiraud… https://www.instagram.com/p/BCGgcOzonQk/

Quote:bassman_court Bad Ragaz, Switzerland

I love playing pop ballads!! #hollywoodlivemusic #christinaaguilera #beautiful

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCUCwcMDLjY/?taken-by=bassman_court

Quote:bassman_court

Had an amazing show tonight with Christina Aguilera in Bad Ragaz, Switzerland! Being in such a beautiful place makes me even more grateful to be able to do what I love while having fun! #hollywoodlivemusic #christinaaguilera

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCT66YLjLjd/?taken-by=bassman_court

Quote:Wide Open Country: Meet Lily Meola, Willie Nelson’s Protégée

With a jazzy, throwback feel to her voice, Lily’s talent comes off as effortless and sultry. Her tone is beautifully unique and carries you back to a different era — think Haley Reinhart with a country twist.

Quote:Tusk ‏@HaleysTusk 23m23 minutes ago
@TheJamesBellX I assume you're going to catch @HaleyReinhart at one of her @PMJofficial shows?

Quote:James Bell X ‏@TheJamesBellX 16m16 minutes ago
@HaleysTusk @HaleyReinhart @PMJofficial I'd love to-they're an inspiration! Think I'm in London this week.Hopefully going to the roundhouse.

Quote:James Bell X ‏@TheJamesBellX 10m10 minutes ago
@HaleysTusk It's crazy cause I have so much respect/love for Haley's voice and suddenly Im jamming with her on the other side of the world.

Quote:jsayswho
Honored to be a member of @mikeposner new band! Beautiful cats and incredible musicians bringing life to thoughtful songs! Looking forward to these upcoming tours and shows. #Itookapillinibiza #Coolerthanme #MikePosner

Quote:So did you really take a pill in Ibiza?

I was working with Avicii in Sweden, and it was ice cold -- so when he had a gig in Ibiza, I flew down there. He played a song he had written that week, and people liked it. I'm an artist -- I'm insecure and a bit narcissistic, so I'm feeling a little jealous. Then these people recognized me. People don't usually know who I am, so that felt good. When they were like, "You want one of these?," and offered me this plastic baggie, I said, "Sure, man."

Quote:You have written for acts like Maroon 5 and Justin Bieber, but you haven't released much of your own music since "Cooler Than Me" hit the top 10 in 2010. Why not?

The honest answer is I made two albums, which got shelved by my last label [RCA]. They're sitting on my laptop right now because they didn't have a hit. I'll read on Twitter, "Do you still do music?" Music is all I do, all day. There was just this dark spot [after] my first album.

Quote:After recording and putting aside two entire sophomore albums, Pages and Sky High, Posner has shifted labels from RCA to Island and is working on yet another project, which he says is "almost done" and sports a different sound, something more singer-songwriter-oriented and melodically flavored than 2010's 31 Minutes To Takeoff, which he began to reveal during his 2014 Unplugged concerts and at performances during this year's South By Southwest.

"I was what they call 'shelved,' which meant if I didn't have a big song on the radio my album wasn't going to be released," Posner -- who's also been a go-to writer for Justin Bieber, Maroon 5, Nick Jonas, good pal Big Sean and more -- tells Billboard. "I don't feel bitter about that at all. I asked RCA to let me off the label and they very graciously did, and after that I sort of stumbled on this new material, this new style. I could probably put out Sky High and Pages, but that music is no longer current to me. It's no longer true to me. It's true to who I was then, but the music I'm writing now is true to who I am now, and I wanted to make a new, third album. And hopefully," he adds with a laugh, "this one comes out."

...The songs Posner previewed during SXSW -- including "Buried in Detroit," "Took a Pill in Ibiza" and "Craving Me" -- are definitely more introspective and revealing, which Posner admits took him a minute to get his head around. "In my heart I knew the songs were among the best I'd written, but when they came out I was like, 'What the hell do I do with this?' " he recalls. "To be honest, I equivocated for, like, six months, when I was like, 'Maybe I'll do a side project with this stuff or whatever.' And then I realized I was just being scared, so I was like, 'If you're gonna do it just do it.' You have to adjust to the material, not the other way around."

Posner says he was also influenced by country singer Jake Owen, a friend who took Posner on the road with him for a few days last year and encouraged him to "tell the truth" in his songs. "I rode the bus with him, and at night he and his tour manager would take me to country school," Posner says. "I learned about Willie Nelson like that. I learned about Merle Haggard like that and I learned about Hank Williams, Jr. and Hank Williams, Sr. So, like, the way I was inspired by hip-hop 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.

"It's just about being honest," he adds. "I listen to a lot of stuff that's out there, some of which I wrote, and I'm like, 'Where is that? Where's the honesty?' So that's what I want to get to in my music now."

Quote:James Bell X ‏@TheJamesBellX
@HaleysTusk @HaleyReinhart My favourite is "better" on your channel with all the betters! hahaha :-)