Mike Posner is an American singer, songwriter, and producer. He has collaborated with such artists as Kid Cudi, Wale, Big Sean, Bun B, One Be Lo, Eric Holljes, and 3OH!3. He worked with Don Cannon and DJ Benzi on his first mixtape, "A Matter of Time," which was released in early 2009. In early 2009, he hired manager Daniel Weisman of Elitaste, Inc, who also manages Wale.
In July 2009, Posner signed a major label deal with J Records (RCA/Sony).
Posner's second mixtape, "One Foot Out The Door" was released on October 27, 2009.
The web series accompanying this mixtape, also titled "One Foot Out The Door," first aired on September 30, and ran every other week through December 2009.
He performed on national television for the first time on the TV show Last Call with Carson Daly on Tuesday, October 27, 2009.
In 2015-16, his comeback single "I Took a Pill in Ibiza" charted in the Top 10 in dozens of countries. In 2021, Posner's 2010 single "Please Don't Go" went viral on TikTok, where where users would wear a scarf and glasses and drive in a car.
Iris
Mike Posner Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I would be what you're craving
Six foot three with steel blue eyes
Sweep you off of your feet before you count to five
But the truth is I am just a man
Standing five foot ten doing the best I can
And I've lived long enough to see
You will never be craving me
Oh whoa
I watched her go
After she planted her love in the top soil
And from the top soil an iris bloomed
It was pretty in May, but it died in June
If I could sing the way I feel inside
It'd sound happy and sad at the same damn time
'Cause when you smiled at me on that dance floor
It was the prettiest mask that you ever wore
Oh whoa
I watched her go
After she planted her love in the top soil
And from the top soil an iris bloomed
It was pretty in May, but it died in June
From the top soil an iris bloomed
It was pretty in May, but it died in June
In Mike Posner's song "Iris," he expresses his desire to be the perfect man for the woman he loves, imagining himself as a tall, handsome man with piercing blue eyes who could sweep her off her feet in an instant. However, he acknowledges that he is just a regular man who is doing his best to be the best partner he can be. He has come to the realization that no matter how hard he tries, he will never be the man of her dreams, and she will never crave him as much as she does the idealized version of him in her mind.
As the song progresses, Posner paints a picture of his love interest planting her love in the topsoil, which later blooms into an iris in May. Though the flower is beautiful, it dies in June, much like the fleeting nature of their love. Posner ends with a poignant lyric about the mask his love wears, noting that despite her beauty and grace, it is merely a facade, and he may never know the true depths of her feelings.
The song is a poignant exploration of unrequited love and the pain of never being enough for someone, no matter how hard you try. It speaks to the universal feelings of longing and desire for connection, while also acknowledging the harsh realities of life and the fleeting nature of relationships.
Line by Line Meaning
If I could be just one thing
If I could fulfill your desires perfectly
I would be what you're craving
I would become that thing you crave for the most
Six foot three with steel blue eyes
The physical aspects you desire in a man
Sweep you off of your feet before you count to five
Capture your attention so quickly that you would get romantic with me
But the truth is I am just a man
I am just a person
Standing five foot ten doing the best I can
Trying to be the best version of myself
And I've lived long enough to see
I have enough life experience
You will never be craving me
You will never desire me as I am
Oh whoa
Expression of realization or emotion
I watched her go
Saw her leaving
After she planted her love in the top soil
After she put in her feelings for me
And from the top soil an iris bloomed
Our love started to grow
It was pretty in May, but it died in June
Our romance was short-lived and ended suddenly
If I could sing the way I feel inside
If I expressed myself through music accurately
It'd sound happy and sad at the same damn time
It would be both joyful and melancholic
'Cause when you smiled at me on that dance floor
During that moment when you liked me on the dance floor
It was the prettiest mask that you ever wore
It was the most beautiful facade that you put on
From the top soil an iris bloomed
Our love began and grew
It was pretty in May, but it died in June
But our love died just as quickly as it started
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: ADAM FRIEDMAN, MASON DAVID LEVY, MIKE POSNER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@robinschonle1737
This song saved my life.
It was sometime shortly after the album dropped. You were out on tour. I was working in an office a stone’s throw from LAX managing the financial operations from the tour.
My life was a living nightmare at the time. I was living with an ex-boyfriend who I owed money to and was roommates with while paying off the debt. I hadn’t learned the word gaslighting yet and it would take some time before I’d even begin to understand the level of abuse I was facing.
I had taken that job because months ago, I had agreed to move up to LA with him to support his career. While interviewing, it seemed like the most interesting opportunity for where I was at that point in my life. The interview was a vibe and I knew it was the right place for me at the time.
I went to one of the early shows of the tour at the Fonda. Watching the fans and how much they were enjoying themselves was such a powerful experience…it was magical realizing that in that venue there were so many strangers from all walks of life sharing that time together, yet each in their own unique way.
At that point, something in me shifted. Suddenly, my own work was about something far bigger than crunching numbers and meeting deadlines. It actually had some god damn meaning and was far more than just complying to god knows how many sets of rules and regulations.
It wasn’t long until I started getting sick and for a while I was able to hide it and pretend it wasn’t happening. I’d ignore the pain, the small tremors, the bouts of brain fog…because I had promised myself I’d give my everything to supporting the tour. It was what was keeping me going at that point in time. Throwing myself into that work was my way of coping.
Flash forward to late spring/early summer. I was on the 405 heading home from the office. Midway through my hour and a half commute home during rush hour. I was just below the Getty in the usual bottleneck that left me hating LA traffic. At Night Alone was playing and just as Iris came on, something like a seizure struck.
I was terrified of what was happening. Thankfully traffic was stopped. For whatever reason, that song grounded me. It brought me back to reality and kept me focused on the road ahead of me. I set the stereo to loop the song. I was able to stay cognizant to finish the drive up to Northridge.
As soon as I got through the door, I collapsed on the couch. My dog was in a panic. At that point, I lost nearly all awareness of what was going on and continued to have seizure after seizure after seizure. I don’t know how long it lasted. I lost track of time. At some point in a moment of near coherence, my phone rang. It was my ex. As I tried to explain what was happening, I could hear the malice in his voice. His tone was near mocking if he asked if he wanted him to drive me in to the hospital.
A part of me realized that if I had gotten in the car with him then, I wouldn’t make it to the hospital. There was a part of me that knew that I likely wouldn’t live through the night. For the first time, I realized that something was very, very wrong. I walked on egg shells for a few weeks until I could leave.
The months that followed were devastating. No one in my life really seemed to give a damn what was happening to me or how sick I was getting. There were no offers to help. There weren’t offers of comfort and support. So much happened during those months that showed me how truly alone I was.
I continued to get sicker and sicker. Still, I put my all into doing my small part to make sure the tour could go on. It was something I could do. My work, my efforts were something I had full control over.
By then I loved the album, I loved the fans, I loved the tour. I had people I cared about, people I could care so much about. And while there was so much darkness unfolding in my life, I had something to keep me going.
Midway through the summer, I learned that the symptoms I was experiencing were consistent with severe mercury poisoning. At that point, I began to be suspicious. The possibility of me getting mercury poisoning from either food or dental filings was next to zero. But my ex had, on more than one occasion, expressed an unhealthy interest in the effects of mercury on the human body. He had probably gotten the idea sitting in a workshop at a rave several years before. The words ran through my head over and over again “mercury is the most toxic element in the human body.”
I had to order the tests myself, my GP didn’t really care that much and wasn’t that interested in rushing me to a specialist to figure out what was going on. The process was agonizing as I sent in samples to labs for analysis.
In August, I got the first set of results back. Heavy metal poisoning at alarmingly high levels. I had dangerous levels of mercury in my body and was naturally chelating. My organs were struggling so much that they were beginning to shut down. There were nights where my heart nearly stopped. Other nights I’d wake up trying to suppress screams because my kidneys and liver were in so much pain.
I was able to make it out to two more shows right around that time. I knew I would very likely be dead within a year. There wasn’t anything medicine could do since I did not catch the exposure in time to undergo medical chelation. Those shows were such a gift to me. They were truly beautiful moments in an otherwise hellish nightmare. I’m grateful for those moments every day. I haven’t experienced such joy since.
You gave me a hug at after the performance of the Clive Davis theater and I needed that hug more than anything else in the world at that moment. I was in such a scared and vulnerable place. Less than a week before I had held in my hands evidence that I had been poisoned and that I very likely would soon be dead. For the first time, I felt truly scared. Very shortly after, I felt such intense pain in my kidneys that I nearly collapsed. I couldn’t even say much and rushed away, knowing it would take all of my focus to drive to where I was staying in La Verne.
On the drive home, I couldn’t help but contrast the experiences I was having in my personal life versus my professional life. It seemed so backwards and almost ironic. Friends and family didn’t care, doctors didn’t care, and after a few more test results came in and I gathered up the courage to even go forward, the authorities didn’t care.
At one point, my doctor looked at some test results, agreed that I would very likely drop dead without much notice and said she had made notes as to what to tell the authorities when my body was found. I was 27 years old.
I still don’t know how I survived. I think the fact to get up and leave everything and everyone behind helped. I was able to work through a lot of things and let my body heal and begin to repair itself.
For years, I thought I was living on borrowed time or that I had somehow cheated death. That was hard to grapple with as I spent every day wondering if I should even still be here. Grief is such a strange and messy thing. I knew why I fought so hard to stay alive while tour was going on…to take care of everything and everyone. It gave me such a sense of purpose knowing there was something I could do, something small yet so meaningful to me with each day I had. I treated it as a gift.
It was much harder once I left LA.
All I can say now is that I’ve accepted what happened. I’m grateful for surviving. I’ve grateful for how much I’ve healed. Things could be far worse than what they are.
In ancient Greece, Iris, the Goddess of the Rainbow traveled between heaven and earth carrying messages between the living and the dead. Her flower was planted on graves to guide the dead on their journey. In Egyptian tradition, the Iris symbolizes life and renewal. In the Victorian language of flowers, an Iris symbolizes faith, hope, wisdom, and valor.
I don’t feel like I cheated death anymore. I realize what a blessing and what a miracle it is to be here. And I realize that I might not be had this song not played at that exact moment in time.
@donaldduck9548
If I could be just one thing
I would be what you're craving
6 foot 3 with steel blue eyes
Sweep you off of your feet before you count to 5
But the truth is I am just a man
Standing 5 foot 10 doing the best I can
And I've lived long enough to see
You will never be craving me
Oh, I watched her go
After she planted her love in the top soil
And from the top soil, an iris bloomed
It was pretty in May but it died in June
If I could sing the way I feel inside
It'd sound happy and sad at the same damn time
Cause when you smiled at me on that dance floor
It was the prettiest mask that you ever wore
Oh, I watched her go
After she planted her love in the top soil
And from the top soil, an iris bloomed
It was pretty in May but it died in June
From the top soil, an iris bloomed
It was pretty in May but it died in June
@Monsefrommars
“If I could be just one thing, I would be what you’re craving” “n I’ve lived long enough to see that you will never be craving me” one of the truest and most hurtful things ever said in a song
@brooke7852
One of those rare songs that addresses something that is very real for the audience, and reminds you that the singer is equally as human to be able to communicate, and put in to words something we live day by day feeling.
A very bittersweet, beautiful song. Thank you.
@ijv_echoes
The intro gave me chills then it lasted throughout the entire song.
@kawaii7084
same
@TimHaunFishing
"If I could sing the way I feel inside, it'd sound happy and sad at the same damn time" :*)
@da1newyorkg
My favorite song on the album 🙏🏻
@colorfulrainbowlove6045
Ikr
@camrynbeathley1550
same
@ccxmc
I'm so mad that I never discovered his 2015 and 2016 music at an earlier time. I am absolutely a huge fan now. Out of all of his beautiful songs, "Iris" is my favorite one. I can't wait to see him perform live.
@MonosDBZ.
We really die inside when our first love leaves, we just pretend to be ok and move on