French Interview by The Brunette 2012

Mardi 25 septembre 2012

Le jour où j’ai interviewé MIKA

 

Si l’on m’avait dit un jour que je rencontrerai des artistes (que j’apprécie) et que j’en interviewerais certain, je vous aurais certainement ri au nez. Mais voilà, magie d’internet et de ses belles rencontres, me voici un jour assise au café Saint-Germain rue de Baci pendant ma pause déj, entrain d’écouter le nouvel opus de MIKA, entourée de professionnels de la musique, et le voici qui débarque pour écouter nos retours.

 

Le temps de prendre une photo avec lui, je suis de retour au bureau, des étoiles plein les yeux.

 

Même si je ne suis ni musicienne, ni chanteuse, la musique fait réellement partie de moi, certaines mélodies me touchent plus particulièrement que d’autre, j’associe sans arrêt des chansons à des moments précis de ma vie. Bref, je suis ce que l’on peut décrire une mélomane…

 

Je ne vais pas non plus vous raconter toute ma vie ici, mais sachez que ma rencontre avec MIKA m’a énormément touchée, car c’est quelqu’un de touchant, de sincère et j’ai l’impression d’avoir le même rapport à la musique que lui.

 

Ne pouvant filmer MIKA ce jour-là (dommage, j’aurais aimé vous faire vivre ce moment tout simple), j’ai eu la présence d’esprit d’enregistrer l’interview que vous pouvez écouter en cliquant sur la vidéo ici. J’espère que vous ne m’en voudrez pas si je parle parfois un peu trop vite, c’est ma première interview enregistrée.

 

 

Interview MIKA par TheBrunette from Emilie Brunette on Vimeo.

The Origin of Love – MIKA – déjà disponible. Mes titres préférés « Underwater », « Origin of love », « Heroes ». Enjoy !

 

http://www.thebrunette.fr/2012/09/25/le-jour-ou-jai-interviewe-mika/

 

Translation of the audio interview thanks Anne (crazyaboutmika)! http://www.mikafanclub.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3805611&postcount=8

 

Thank you Eriko!!

Interview MIKA par TheBrunette

 

Paris, June 16

 

 

MP3 D/L link 34.49MB

http://www.mediafire.com/?gcdrwk84evlo45v

 

Edited September 26, 2012 by mari62

Anne - crazyaboutmika . is translating as we speak, thanks in advance!!

Anne - crazyaboutmika . is translating as we speak, thanks in advance!!

 

This is the first part

 

Mika Hi again.

Brunette: Can we do the interview in French?

Mika: Yes, I make mistakes but..

Brunette: Where did you get your inspiration to write this album? It is so colorful and joyful.

Mika: I was very sad , lost and I didn't know how to find myself again. In between the first two albums I was always on tour and when I came back all my childhood and teenage friends had a different life, they had children, they had moved to another place. Everything had changed around me, I didn't have my team any more, I mean the people I worked with during the whole tour for five years. All that was over. The change of situation was cruel. I couldn't find a reason to write a song, I had forgotten why I did it and it as that way for a year and a half . And suddenly my sister had this an awful accident one night. It shook me and it felt to silly and useless to have been so bored. Then suddenly I fell in love and I felt I was ready, that was what I needed. I was like the Duracell rabbit, I had a new battery. So I went to Montreal. To be honest after all this time not writing any meaningful lyrics I wrote a totally honest and personal message which is the song The Origin Of Love, the first song of the album. It got out of me as if I was vomiting and after that I knew I needed another six months for the rest of the album and I knew what to do.

Brunette: That was what triggered the album?

Mika: Yes .

Brunette: Then the rest of the album followed?

Mika: Yes, I worked like a mad man for six months , but at the same time as I knew what I wanted to say and what themes I wanted to explore, I was able to work fast enough. For the first time I am not going to talk about love through the others, about other people's lives, it's going to be about my own life and I'll write it as a diary.

Brunette: Ok. What do you prefer in your job? Writing or singing?

Mika: Writing.

Brunette: Is is for you a way to communicate with your fans?

Mika: Well, I like both, it's kind of like Jeckyl and Hyde, like two different personalities and now as I am just finishing writing the album I will say writing because when I go on stage and I'm still in the making of the album, I have to say writing and being in the studio, but once the album is finished I turn into a performer.

Brunette: So you can' t wait to go on stage again?

Mika: Yes, when it is the right period. (when the album is finished)

Brunette: Do you chose the organisation of your tours?

Mika: Yes, at the beginging, but once it has started , you can't chose any more. There is a logic related to the album, to the logistics, because I tour all over the world. It isn't easy.

Brunette: So you live as a nomad for one , two years?

Mika: Yes, and you can't tour to any city as you wish , everything has to be planned in a certain way.

Brunette: And you are famous all around the world, being famous can make things more complicated too. I mean in any place, when people hear your songs, they can't help dancing , you have the power to make people dance and fill them up with energy with your songs.

Not anyone can do that especially with a first album. Then all the constraints of being famous appear of course. This new album is so joyful and positive , I wish you to have lots of success with it.

Mika: Yes, sure.

Brunette: Is there another artist you would like to sing a duet with?

Mika: No, not really (laughs) I never plan duets. If they happen, fine. But I've always said I have no heroe or heroin, and if you have idols, it's best to destroy them before they destroy you. So I don't try to meet my idols ever.

Brunette: It would destroy the myth?

Mika: Yes, I don't ever want to meet Bjork.

Brunette: You would be disappointed probably?

Mika: Yes, I 'm sure.

Thank you Marina and Anne

This is the first part

Mika: No, not really (laughs) I never plan duets. If they happen, fine. But I've always said I have no heroe or heroin, and if you have idols, it's best to destroy them before they destroy you. So I don't try to meet my idols ever.

 

Snoopy got upset with this :mf_rosetinted:

 

But I've always said I have no heroe or heroin, and if you have idols, it's best to destroy them before they destroy you. So I don't try to meet my idols ever.

 

Yes, he always says this. But it's all in vain, Mika! We won't leave you alone

Thanks for finding and posting Marina!!!

Here comes the full translation

I really love this interview, thanks a lot for findind and posting it Marina

Mika Hi again.

Brunette: Can we do the interview in French?

Mika: Yes, I make mistakes but..

Brunette: Where did you get your inspiration to write this album? It is so colorful and joyful.

Mika: I was very sad , lost and I didn't know how to find myself again. In between the first two albums I was always on tour and when I came back all my childhood and teenage friends had a different life, they had children, they had moved to another place. Everything had changed around me, I didn't have my team any more, I mean the people I worked with during the whole tour for five years. All that was over. The change of situation was cruel. I couldn't find a reason to write a song, I had forgotten why I did it and it as that way for a year and a half . And suddenly my sister had this an awful accident one night. It shook me and it felt to silly and useless to have been so bored. Then suddenly I fell in love and I felt I was ready, that was what I needed. I was like the Duracell rabbit, I had a new battery. So I went to Montreal. To be honest after all this time not writing any meaningful lyrics I wrote a totally honest and personal message which is the song The Origin Of Love, the first song of the album. It got out of me as if I was vomiting and after that I knew I needed another six months for the rest of the album and I knew what to do.

Brunette: That was what triggered the album?

Mika: Yes .

Brunette: Then the rest of the album followed?

Mika: Yes, I worked like a mad man for six months , but at the same time as I knew what I wanted to say and what themes I wanted to explore, I was able to work fast enough. For the first time I am not going to talk about love through the others, about other people's lives, it's going to be about my own life and I'll write it as a diary.

Brunette: Ok. What do you prefer in your job? Writing or singing?

Mika: Writing.

Brunette: Is is for you a way to communicate with your fans?

Mika: Well, I like both, it's kind of like Jeckyl and Hyde, like two different personalities and now as I am just finishing writing the album I will say writing because when I go on stage and I'm still in the making of the album, I have to say writing and being in the studio, but once the album is finished I turn into a performer.

Brunette: So you can' t wait to go on stage again?

Mika: Yes, when it is the right period. (when the album is finished)

Brunette: Do you chose the organisation of your tours?

Mika: Yes, at the beginging, but once it has started , you can't chose any more. There is a logic related to the album, to the logistics, because I tour all over the world. It isn't easy.

Brunette: So you live as a nomad for one , two years?

Mika: Yes, and you can't tour to any city as you wish , everything has to be planned in a certain way.

Brunette: And you are famous all around the world, being famous can make things more complicated too. I mean in any place, when people hear your songs, they can't help dancing , you have the power to make people dance and fill them up with energy with your songs.

Not anyone can do that especially with a first album. Then all the constraints of being famous appear of course. This new album is so joyful and positive , I wish you to have lots of success with it.

Mika: Yes, sure.

Brunette: Is there another artist you would like to sing a duet with?

Mika: No, not really (laughs) I never plan duets. If they happen, fine. But I've always said I have no heroe or heroin, and if you have idols, it's best to destroy them before they destroy you. So I don't try to meet my idols ever.

Brunette: It would destroy the myth?

Mika: Yes, I don't ever want to meet Bjork.

Brunette: You would be disappointed probably?

Mika: Yes, I 'm sure.

Brunette: It might be true (laughs).

Mika, is fashion influencing you ?

Mika: No, never.

Brunette: Your universe is totally pop and your own.

Mika: Yes, I don't belong to a sound, I'm free.

Brunette: Free.

Mika: Yes, I was self made, I was born in Lebanon , then grew up in Paris , I am half American , half Lebanese , I 'm also English, all those contrasts and influences forced me to find an identity for myself that is a mix of all of those. Fashion is the exact opposite , I don't find my identity in fashion, fashion is outdated too fast.

Brunette: True. What are your favorite songs in the album?

Mika: The Origin Of Love, Lola, Kids. Did you hear Kids last time?

Brunette: I don't think so.

Mika:: That's right. It wasn't finished then. Karen , Underwater...

Brunette: Yes, I've heard Underwater and I loved it. It is a truly very moving song.

Mika: It is yes, I love it, it is a strong song and I wanted to release it as the first single, but I was told not to. I was told it wasn' t a summer song for the radios.

Brunette: Maybe in October? So it'll be the next single?

Mika: Yes. That's the reality when you release an album, you can't do what you want to . You can't release the song you want first , it has to be for the radios first.

Brunette: But then it happens and that is good. I know you shot the video for Celebrate, can you tell me about it?

Mika: Yes, it'll be out soon. The director's name is Be Be Gan ? I am in my apartment in New York. This is the first time I had a video shot in the United States. Before that, my videos were always shot in England but for this album we made two videos and a short film. One of them was shot in Paris for Elle Me Dit, Make You Happy the short film was shot in Montreal, and Celebrate in New York and I have another movie that is going to be shot in Santiago in Chile but without me, it is a short film.

Brunette: Ok.

Mika: It is funny, after two albums made in England, now I don't do anything in England and for the American clip I thought it was a good idea as I wrote lots of this album in the United States. The video starts, I am in an apartment and I'm trying to write, I'm seated in front of a piano and I'm frustrated so I rip lots of sheets of paper , then more and more and at the end of the video the apartment which was clean to begin with ends up as if a paper hurricane had been there with papers absolutely everywhere. And suddenly I have enough of it so I get out of the apartment into the street and all those stories develop everywhere and at the end I'm at a party and I don't want to dance but suddenly all the pieces of paper come in through a window and they fall everywhere, on everyone like confetti. So something like this little piece of paper which represented my frustration and my sadness at the end of the video becomes a confetti . There's a transformation. I found this idea very beautiful, very simple .

Brunette: And poetic.

Mika: Yes, poetic and simple . Not Hollywood style.

Brunette: It suits you. You are not Hollywood style yourself. The video is more like you. This is good.

Mika: There's always a homemade side in what I do, my shows , my videos. If they become too brilliant, it's not me any more.

Brunette: Elle Me Dit video has that homemade touch too .

Mika: Precisely .

Brunette: You want your clips to be that way. Do you have variety French songs, singers that inspire you?

Mika: Variety? I don't think that applies to Barbara who is my favorite French singer.

Brunette: Yes, she would be in the French songs category .

Mika: I like Barbara, Camille, Phoenix, it's funny that French people don't realise that Phoenix are super stars abroad.

Brunette: Well, it is considered as underground music by some French people . My little sisters always tells me to listen to Phoenix, how wonderful they are, but they don't get played on the radio so you really have to look for them.

Mika: That's it. Apart from Phoenix I also like Colette Mani, a singer of the sixties and the seventees.

Brunette: Yes, your musical universe is really varied.

Mika: Yes it is very varied.

Brunette: That's also why you're own sound is different.

Mika: Yes, when I was growing up, I had no marketing posters on my wall, music was simply music. There were no marketing , no idols, no pictures. Today it is different, the first time you hear about an artist, like for me the first time I heard about Lana Del Rey for example, there was so much marketing around her that I almost didn't felt like listening to her music because I couldn't discover it by myself.

Brunette: I react the same.

Mika: Too much sound around the music. Then when I finally heard it , I found it beautiful, but it took me a long time to get into listening to it. Too much marketing.

Brunette That's it.

Mika: Yes, I am always a bit frightened by that.

Brunette: I had the same reaction, it took me a long time to listen to her music because of the "brainwashing" and it is the same when everyone tells me that I should see a movie, I don't feel like watching it.

Mika: Yes, everyone says "You must listen" but no one says why. I think is is very important that there is some magic in what you do, a magical thing you can't explain, something like a fairy tale side to it. What I tried to do with my album there is something special about it, there are the colors and it's a bit like as in the book The alchemist for example, it's like a wierd travel when you listen to this album that I've just wrote. It has a bit of a magic side , not dark, but as if it came from another world. And I like the idea of creating art that makes people wonder where it originated from. "Where does it come from?"

Brunette: Yes, because all the sudden we go from songs like Celebrate to The Origin Of Love.

The Origin Of Love being such a beautiful and impressive song to Celebrate which is like an explosion. And Underwater in which you share so many different emotions through your voice.

Mika: Yes, the album is like a travel, like a whimsical path, a bit enchanted.

Brunette: You know I can't wait to hear the rest of the album and see the video which is going to be out soon I believe. Thank you so much Mika.

Mika: Hi again.

Brunette: Can we do this interview in French?

 

Note by the translator I don't know if that is a joke or a tech issue but it is funny anyway

Edited September 26, 2012 by crazyaboutmika

Thank you anne, you're a great translator!

Thank you very much for your great work Anne!!

Thanks a lot for your translation !!!

t4p and for the translation!

i found it interesting what he said about the choice of the singles, think it's the first time he says that so clearly.

and the duracell bunny comparison made me laugh.

t4p and for the translation!

i found it interesting what he said about the choice of the singles, think it's the first time he says that so clearly.

and the duracell bunny comparison made me laugh.

 

Yes, well, it made me laugh, because it wasn't a DURACELL bunny, it was the ENERGIZER bunny.

 

 

But anyhow, thanks for translating, Anne!

 

And yes, I thought it was interesting that he said he actually wanted Underwater as the first single. I agree, though, that for the radio Celebrate was the better choice, even though it's far from my favorite song on the album. Still, I can imagine that it's frustrating to not be in total control of the way you are marketed.

Yes, well, it made me laugh, because it wasn't a DURACELL bunny, it was the ENERGIZER bunny.

 

 

But anyhow, thanks for translating, Anne!

 

And yes, I thought it was interesting that he said he actually wanted Underwater as the first single. I agree, though, that for the radio Celebrate was the better choice, even though it's far from my favorite song on the album. Still, I can imagine that it's frustrating to not be in total control of the way you are marketed.

 

In Europe it's traditionally a Duracell bunny, and it never stops...

 

I'm happy to see Underwater as his second single, I hope it will do well. It's my absolutely favorite on album, but I'm still a bit surprised to see it as a single (even I know he loves the song himself).

 

Thanks for posting and translating!

But I've always said I have no heroe or heroin, and if you have idols, it's best to destroy them before they destroy you. So I don't try to meet my idols ever.

 

Yes, he always says this. But it's all in vain, Mika! We won't leave you alone

That thought crossed my mind too and my conclusion is the same as yours

Thank you anne, you're a great translator!

 

Thank you very much for your great work Anne!!

 

Thanks a lot for your translation !!!

 

t4p and for the translation!

i found it interesting what he said about the choice of the singles, think it's the first time he says that so clearly.

and the duracell bunny comparison made me laugh.

 

Yes, well, it made me laugh, because it wasn't a DURACELL bunny, it was the ENERGIZER bunny.

 

 

But anyhow, thanks for translating, Anne!

 

And yes, I thought it was interesting that he said he actually wanted Underwater as the first single. I agree, though, that for the radio Celebrate was the better choice, even though it's far from my favorite song on the album. Still, I can imagine that it's frustrating to not be in total control of the way you are marketed.

 

In Europe it's traditionally a Duracell bunny, and it never stops...

 

I'm happy to see Underwater as his second single, I hope it will do well. It's my absolutely favorite on album, but I'm still a bit surprised to see it as a single (even I know he loves the song himself).

 

Thanks for posting and translating!

You're all welcome I was happy to translate it

Yes, in France it was the Duracell rabbit

It filled me with joy that Mika wanted Underwater to be the first single to be released and that he said in Cauet's radio show that it was his fav song in The Origin Of Love

Edited September 26, 2012 by crazyaboutmika

Thanks for the translation, Anne. This was a good interview, interesting comments about the singles.

 

 

 

 

btw it's "hero and heroine"