Format CD
digital download Length 4:40
3:19 (SeeB remix) | Recorded 2014 Label Island | |
Released July 24, 2015 (2015-07-24) Genre Folk pop (original version)
tropical house (SeeB remix) | ||
"I Took a Pill in Ibiza" (also known by its censored title "In Ibiza" or its clean title "I Took a Plane to Ibiza") is a song by American singer Mike Posner. The song, originally acoustic guitar-based, was remixed by the Norwegian duo SeeB and released in the United States on July 24, 2015, digitally as a single from Posner's second EP, The Truth as well as the lead single from his second studio album, At Night, Alone..
Contents
The SeeB remix reached the top ten of the charts in twenty seven countries, including number one in Belgium, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom. In the latter country, the song remained at the top of the charts for four weeks. It has achieved high chart positions in Posner's native United States, where it reached number one on both the Billboard Dance/Mix Show Airplay Chart and the Billboard Pop Songs chart. It also peaked at number four on the main chart Billboard Hot 100. The song became Posner's biggest single, outperforming his debut, "Cooler than Me" (2010), and was later nominated for Grammy Award for Song of the Year.
Background
It was sort of a mystery pill. I was already under the influence of alcohol at the time. I had written a song with Avicii that week in Sweden called “Stay with You” and he was playing in Ibiza so I said, ‘I will just go there with you,’ because I was already in Europe. I don’t have like a regular 9–5 job … so might as well go to Ibiza, right? I had never been there before. So I went. We were at his show and I was drinking at the time. I just sort of moseyed out into the audience to watch Avicii spin from their point of view. I would go back and forth between the backstage and the VIP area and then where the actual kids were. And most people didn't know who the fuck I was in Ibiza except for this one guy who recognized me. He was like, 'Are you Mike Posner?' and he was all excited. He holds up this little bag of pills and is like, 'You want one?' And drunk Mike Posner was like, 'Fuck it, yeah.' So I took one and I had never done that before, and then I felt amazing. Then when I came down I felt 10 years older.
Regarding their remix, SeeB told Official Charts: "We got it from Island Records. It was really slow and we only listened to the vocals on it. Our friend Matt sent us the multitrack of Mike's new EP and we picked "Ibiza" right away. Such a brilliant lyric and melody but it needed a new soundscape to be a hit." Posner has called the success of the remix version both "ironic" and "beautiful": "I wrote this sad thing, and it was me processing some dark and heavy emotion, and now people seem to be having their own joyous memories out of my sadness. That’s a very beautiful thing as an artist."
Composition
The original version of "I Took a Pill in Ibiza" by Posner is a folk pop song, while Seeb's remix is a tropical house song. The remix is written in the key of G minor in half time with a tempo of 102 beats per minute. It follows a chord progression of Gm – F – E♭maj7 – B♭, and Posner's vocals span from B♭2 to D4.
Critical reception
Billboard ranked "I Took a Pill in Ibiza" at number 30 on their "Billboard's 100 Best Pop Songs of 2016: Critics' Picks" list, writing "The weirdness of 2016 might be best encapsulated by Mike Posner earning his first Hot 100 top 10 in nearly six years -- and ending the year with a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year -- for a song lamenting his status as "a singer who already blew his shot." That’s due in part to the power of SeeB’s buoyant, tropical house-flavored remix, but the cautionary tale of post-fame and excess drives it home, even as it ironically became Posner’s biggest hit yet.”
Time was more negative of the remixed version of the song, stating “Originally conceived as a folksy pop song in the vein of Jason Mraz, there was something clever about Posner’s withering takedown of drug-taking EDM bro culture. But the much more popular Seeb remix sapped it of its wit, turning it into the exact thing it was satirizing. What a comedown.”
Performances
Mike Posner performs the song live in the style of SeeB's remix, but with a live band and adding the third verse on vocals and guitar only. He has performed the song on a number of talk shows including The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. In his rendition on the talk show Conan, he brought in a 10-piece string orchestra and 4 backing vocalists, and he introduced a new intro and final verse to the song, the latter of which talked about Posner's father having cancer. He also performed an acoustic version on Elvis Duran and the Morning Show at the Elvis Duran Performing Arts Center.
Artist Tom Odell performed a cover of the song on the BBC Live Lounge, which received very good feedback from fans and critics.
Controversy
In April 2016, it was reported that tourism officials in Ibiza (Spain) were "annoyed" by the song as they felt it contributed to Ibiza's reputation for drug-related debauchery due to lyrics in the song such as "I took a pill in Ibiza" and "You don't want to be high like me." The island's tourism director Vicent Ferrer stated, "We have invited the author of this song to discover Ibiza because we have much more to offer besides the nightlife which is known worldwide," and noted that the island had been "typecast" due to its reputation for nightlife and as a partying destination.
Music videos
A music video featuring the SeeB remix was launched via Posner's YouTube Vevo account on February 26, 2016. It portrays Posner as a druggie whose face is replaced by a papier-mâchéd mask. The man spends the video becoming increasingly intoxicated as he mingles with girls and his equally self-destructive friends. The man sings about how his fame, having long since faded, left him completely empty inside and unable to feel any kind of fulfillment, causing him to attempt to fill the void with his rampant hedonism and material possessions.
A second music video featuring the original version was released on March 15, 2016. It features Posner with sheets of paper depicting lyrics of the song in a style similar to Bob Dylan's 1965 electric folk song, "Subterranean Homesick Blues".
In other media
The song is featured in the television shows Scream, Superstore and Riverdale.