Mika wears his heart on his sleeve - Mika heeft het hart op de tong - September 2012

[IngievV]

No time to translate it, but maybe another Dutchie will?

Mika heeft hart op de tong

Op zijn openhartige derde album The Origin of Love laat de flamboyante Mika de sprookjes en fantasieverhalen voor wat ze zijn. De onlangs uit de kast gekomen zanger durft eindelijk gewoon zichzelf te laten zien.

Het mysterie Mika is niet meer. De ooit zo ongrijpbare Engelse Libanees zingt op derde album The Origin of Love niet meer over kleurrijke fantasietjes en vreemde sprookjesfiguren, maar gewoon over zichzelf, zijn leven en zijn nieuwe liefde. Daarvoor moest hij wel even een drempel over. „Ik ben de jaren van mijn carrière heel erg bezig geweest met wat mensen van me dachten. Die angst is natuurlijk dodelijk voor je creativiteit. Het ironische van echt goede pop maken - muziek voor een groot publiek dus - is dat dat alleen lukt als het je geen reet kan schelen wat iedereen van je denkt. Pas toen ik mijn ego de nek had omgedraaid, was ik klaar om te gaan werken aan deze plaat. Een album met het hart op de tong, met menselijke warmte. Iets wat de hedendaagse pop ook eigenlijk wel een beetje kan gebruiken.”

Sprookjes

Een nieuwe koers dus, maar de uiterst beleefde en spraakzame Mika benadrukt dat ook zijn succesvolle debuut Life In Cartoon Motion en opvolger The Boy Who Knew Too Much op hun eigen manier wel degelijk oprechte platen waren. „Ik groeide op als moeilijk, alternatief kind in een angstaanjagende wereld”, vertelt de zanger, als worstelende puber ooit een tijdje van school gehaald ter bescherming tegen pestkoppen. „Sprookjes en verhaaltjes verzinnen waren mijn manier om met mijn omgeving om te gaan, dus uiteindelijk gaan die liedjes op mijn eerste twee platen ook allemaal over mij. De eerste is eigenlijk een heel roze liefdesplaat, de tweede een donker breakup-album, alleen is het dan allemaal nog heel raar en geheimzinnig verwoord. Het heeft tot nu geduurd voor ik zelfverzekerd genoeg was om echt iets van mezelf te laten zien.”

De vraag is natuurlijk wat dat betekent voor zijn uitbundige liveshows, met sprookjesdieren, opblaasbare big girls, echte big girls en ander fantastisch spektakel. Trekt Mika de serieuzere lijn van The Origin of Love straks door op tournee? „Het wordt nog steeds groots en meeslepend, maar dan meer muzikaal. Het zal wel wat minder veren, ballonnen en theater worden, ja”, belooft Mika, 27 oktober te zien in Paradiso. „Niet dat ik ooit heb gedacht dat al dat gedoe de aandacht afleidde van de muziek, hoor. Misschien als je losse fragmenten op YouTube zag dat het wat vreemd overkwam, maar in de show viel beeld en muziek juist prima op zijn plaats. Maar ik ben er nu wel een beetje klaar mee. Ik ben toe aan wat meer hart en ziel, ook op het podium.”

Homoseksueel

Bij zijn nieuwe zelfvertrouwen hoort ook het veelbesproken interview eerder deze zomer in tijdschrift Instinct, waarin Mika bevestigde wat vrijwel iedereen allang vermoedde: dat hij homoseksueel is, en in een relatie bovendien. „Wat voor mij het belangrijk was, is dat ik het moment om uit de kast te komen zélf heb kunnen kiezen. Op een moment dat ik blij en gelukkig was - en verliefd - en niet om er maar vanaf te zijn dat iedereen steeds maar bleef vragen hoe het toch zat met mijn geaardheid.”

Dat er in de media veel over werd gespeculeerd maakte hem niet uit, al is hij over de manier waarop minder te spreken. „De toon van sommige journalisten was zo hard, zo boos omdat ik niet op hún verzoek uit de kast wilde komen en gewoon mijn eigen tempo koos. Dat heeft me echt verbaasd; ik heb me nooit anders voorgedaan dan ik was, ik heb nooit een nepvriendin gehad om de schijn op te houden en als je naar mijn teksten luisterde zat het er altijd al in.” En dan, feller: „Moet je je voorstellen hoe het voor een onzekere jongen van een jaar of dertien is, om te lezen hoe kwaad er gereageerd wordt op iemand die zijn homoseksualiteit nog even voor zichzelf wil houden. Ik vraag me af waar die woede in godsnaam voor nodig was.”

https://www.spitsnieuws.nl/archives/...art-op-de-tong

[IngievV]

Right, this was supposed to be in the news section

[smokesignal]

Originally Posted by IngievV

No time to translate it, but maybe another Dutchie will?

Sure. At least with this one I can start from google translate (not that that necessarily improves the result, but I think it's understandable now)

Mika wears heart on his sleeve

On his candid third album The Origin of Love the flamboyant Mika leaves fairy tales and fantasy stories for what they are. The singer, who recently came out of the closet, finally dares to show himself.

Mika the mystery is no more. On his third album The Origin of Love, the once so elusive British Lebanese no longer sings about colourful fantasies and strange fairy tale characters, but just about himself, his life and his new love. He had to cross a threshold first. "The years of my career, I've been very busy with what people thought of me. Of course that fear is deadly for your creativity. The irony of making really good pop - so music for a large audience - is that this only works if you do not give a **** what anyone thinks of you. Only after I had killed my ego, was I ready to start working on this record. An album with heart on his sleeve, with human warmth. Something contemporary pop really could use a bit. "

Fairytales

So a new course, but the extremely polite and talkative Mika emphasizes that his successful debut Life In Cartoon Motion and successor, The Boy Who Knew Too Much in their own way were sincere records. "I grew up as a difficult, alternative child in a terrifying world," says the singer, who as a struggling adolescent was pulled out of school for a while to protect him from bullies. "Inventing fairytales and stories were my way to deal with my surroundings, so eventually those songs on my first two albums are also about me. The first is actually a very pink love record, the second a dark breakup album, except that everything is worded in a very weird and mysterious way. It has taken until now for me to be I confident enough to really to show something of myself. "

The question is what that means for his exuberant live shows, with fairytale animals, inflatable big girls, real big girls and other great spectacle. Will Mika be extending the more serious line of The Origin of Love on tour? "It is still grand and compelling (my guess is his quote would have been "It's still going to be big", but this is the best translation I can come up with), but more musical. It will be less feathers, balloons and theater, yes, "promises Mika, who will perform in Paradiso 27 October. "Not that I ever thought that all that stuff distracted from the music, though. Maybe if you just saw some loose clips on YouTube it might have looked weird, but in the show the images and the music worked great together. But I am a bit done with it now. I'm ready for some more heart and soul, on stage as well. "

Homosexual

With his new self-confidence also comes the much-discussed interview earlier this summer in Instinct magazine, in which Mika confirmed what almost everyone had suspected for a long time: that he is gay, and even in a relationship. "What was important for me is that I could choose the time to come out of the closet myself. At a moment that I was glad and happy - and in love - and not just to get rid of the endless questions on my sexuality. "

It did not matter to him that the media speculated about it a lot, although he is not happy about the way they discussed it. "The tone of some journalists was so hard, so angry because I did not want to come out at their request and just chose my own pace. That has really surprised me, I've never been different than I was, I've never had a fake girlfriend to keep up appearances and if you listened to my texts, it was always there." And then, fiercer: "Can you imagine what it is like for an insecure boy of about thirteen years old, to read how angry people react to someone who wants to keep his homosexuality to himself for a while. I wonder why in god's name that anger was needed."

[dcdeb]

Originally Posted by IngievV

Right, this was supposed to be in the news section

I'll move it.

Even though I can't understand a word of it.

[mari62]

Thank you Ingie and Irene, it's an interesting interview

[Marilyn Mastin]

Originally Posted by smokesignal

Sure. At least with this one I can start from google translate (not that that necessarily improves the result, but I think it's understandable now)

Mika wears heart on his sleeve

On his candid third album The Origin of Love the flamboyant Mika leaves fairy tales and fantasy stories for what they are. The singer, who recently came out of the closet, finally dares to show himself.

Mika the mystery is no more. On his third album The Origin of Love, the once so elusive British Lebanese no longer sings about colourful fantasies and strange fairy tale characters, but just about himself, his life and his new love. He had to cross a threshold first. "The years of my career, I've been very busy with what people thought of me. Of course that fear is deadly for your creativity. The irony of making really good pop - so music for a large audience - is that this only works if you do not give a **** what anyone thinks of you. Only after I had killed my ego, was I ready to start working on this record. An album with heart on his sleeve, with human warmth. Something contemporary pop really could use a bit. "

Fairytales

So a new course, but the extremely polite and talkative Mika emphasizes that his successful debut Life In Cartoon Motion and successor, The Boy Who Knew Too Much in their own way were sincere records. "I grew up as a difficult, alternative child in a terrifying world," says the singer, who as a struggling adolescent was pulled out of school for a while to protect him from bullies. "Inventing fairytales and stories were my way to deal with my surroundings, so eventually those songs on my first two albums are also about me. The first is actually a very pink love record, the second a dark breakup album, except that everything is worded in a very weird and mysterious way. It has taken until now for me to be I confident enough to really to show something of myself. "

The question is what that means for his exuberant live shows, with fairytale animals, inflatable big girls, real big girls and other great spectacle. Will Mika be extending the more serious line of The Origin of Love on tour? "It is still grand and compelling (my guess is his quote would have been "It's still going to be big", but this is the best translation I can come up with), but more musical. It will be less feathers, balloons and theater, yes, "promises Mika, who will perform in Paradiso 27 October. "Not that I ever thought that all that stuff distracted from the music, though. Maybe if you just saw some loose clips on YouTube it might have looked weird, but in the show the images and the music worked great together. But I am a bit done with it now. I'm ready for some more heart and soul, on stage as well. "

Homosexual

With his new self-confidence also comes the much-discussed interview earlier this summer in Instinct magazine, in which Mika confirmed what almost everyone had suspected for a long time: that he is gay, and even in a relationship. "What was important for me is that I could choose the time to come out of the closet myself. At a moment that I was glad and happy - and in love - and not just to get rid of the endless questions on my sexuality. "

It did not matter to him that the media speculated about it a lot, although he is not happy about the way they discussed it. "The tone of some journalists was so hard, so angry because I did not want to come out at their request and just chose my own pace. That has really surprised me, I've never been different than I was, I've never had a fake girlfriend to keep up appearances and if you listened to my texts, it was always there." And then, fiercer: "Can you imagine what it is like for an insecure boy of about thirteen years old, to read how angry people react to someone who wants to keep his homosexuality to himself for a while. I wonder why in god's name that anger was needed."

That's a great interview! He's exactly right. He's never hid what he was. He never said he had "girlfriends", never pretended he had one. It was always there in his lyrics. People who think he came out to sell his 3rd album should listen to Billy Brown and Toy Boy, from the previous 2 albums. He's always been out really. He just didn't want to talk about it then. That's why they were so angry with him.