Mike Posner Says Avicii's Death Inspired His Walk Across America
If Mike Posner's goal was to show Avicii he was cool, he should consider the mission accomplished.
In an intimate interview with Forbes, Posner opened up about his impending climb of Mt. Everest for the Detroit Justice Center and the loss of both his parents and Avicii. Posner, who successfully walked across the country in 2019, said his journey was inspired by the death of the legendary "Levels" producer.
"When someone you love dies it's like you're sleeping and someone dumps a bucket of ice water on you or something. You wake up," Posner told Forbes' Steve Baltin. "And so those two deaths (my dad and Avicii), reminded me of what I wanted to do before I died. And hopefully that's no time soon. But I'm not totally in control of that."
Posner's 2019 journey across America was inspired by the late dance music legend Avicii.
Dylan Sherwood/Emporia Gazette
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"So the thing I really wanted to do before I die was to walk across America. And it was something I'd been putting off for four or five years. Something had always come up, a new album or a new tour or this kind of thing," he continued. "But when Avicii died, when Tim [Bergling] died I just thought, 'Man, I gotta go do that walk. I gotta do that walk this year. If I don't do it this year I'm never gonna do it.' Then I look at the cascade of events after the walk and how that changed who I am, that changed my whole life and sort of obliterated the box that I was living inside."
Back in May 2020, Posner shared a poignant tweet about Avicii and revealed that he has a number of unfinished collaborative songs on his laptop. Posner was a close friend of Avicii's, famously referencing him in his global hit "I Took a Pill In Ibiza."
While the two never officially released a song together on streaming platforms, they were known to collaborate often. Avicii regularly played out a joint single—tentatively titled "Stay With You"—at many live shows prior to his tragic death.
