meimei88

I couldn't find trace of this article already here - but apologise if its here lurking somewhere! ************************************************** Mika, Koko, London - FT.com By Ludovic Hunter-Tilney Published: March 1 2007 18:13 | Last updated: March 1 2007 18:13 Mika’s rise has been rapid. The Beirut-born singer – real name Mica Penniman – has scored UK number ones with his first single, “Grace Kellyâ€Â, and his debut album, Life in Cartoon Motion. His music is as bubbly, gaudy and saucy as a hen party, and it zeroes in with hidden ruthlessness on the British public’s insatiable appetite for camp. Announcing himself tonight with a falsetto yelp reminiscent of The Darkness, he played a short set whose songs veered often within the space of a single beat between being catchy and irritating. They were unashamedly derivative – a sprinkling of Elton John, a helping of Robbie Williams, a lot of Scissor Sisters and Queen – as if distilled from some flamboyant pop formula. Not since Williams bellowed “Let me entertain you†has a performer been so blatantly eager to please. I went harbouring deep misgivings, having found the album exhaustingly hyperactive, but was partially won round. The high vocals and disco abandon of “Relax, Take It Easy†were indisputably entertaining, “Billy Brown†with its jaunty horns and Britpop chorus came across like a sugar-coated Sgt Pepper, and I even found myself enjoying his inane ode to voluptuous women, “Big Girlsâ€Â, which was illustrated by two plump dancers in cowboy hats. Never accuse Mika of subtlety. In person, the singer looked like a cross between Rupert Everett circa Another Country and a children’s television presenter. Floppy-haired, beaming, bouncing up and down, he only faltered when he tried to slow the tempo and show off his lesser-seen sensitive side. “My Interpretation†was a terrible power-ballad, and a moody number oddly reminiscent of Radiohead featuring a cellist and counter tenor (Mika briefly attended the Royal College of Music) was all but drowned out by audience chatter. In contrast, “Lollipop†– a song so sugary and childishly upbeat as to verge on imbecility – was greeted with fervour. Resistance was useless. ★★★☆☆ *************************************************** Anyone else notice that the last paragraph is wrong?! The song featuring the cellist and counter tenor (Alexander Millar) was not 'My Interpretation' but' Over my Shoulder'!! You would think these journalists would be able to get a small detail right

Ooops... sorry I didnt see this thread and posted it again! Try to include the title of the article in the thread title when posting (makes it easier to do a search to see if its already been posted). It's great to see Mika featured in a huge paper like USA Today

March 15, 2007 12:00am Herald Sun, Australia NEW British pop sensation Mika has some heavy hitters in his corner, so shut up and listen. CAMERON ADAMS reports BRITISH dandy Mika is on stage in Camden, briefly slowing down his non-stop poptastic live show for the haunting, classically influenced ballad Over My Shoulder. Though the show is a sellout and his first London show since topping the British charts with the single Grace Kelly and debut album Life in Cartoon Motion, it isn't stopping loud talkers drowning out his tender balladry. A familiar looking man with impressively high hair turns around to a particularly noisy couple and fires off a stern ``shhh'' a librarian would be proud of. The hirsute man handing out the shush? Brian May, legendary Queen guitarist. He's also one of Mika's most ardent fans, even if that means dealing with noisy crowds himself. ``He's so supportive, to the point of defending me,'' Mika jokes the next day. ``He's also been defending me to the press. It's amazing. I think that's why he's survived so long, he's still awake to it all, he's receptive. And he's not up his own a---, despite all the success.'' The shadow of May's old bandmate, Freddie Mercury, has followed Mika all over the world as he starts on his road to global domination. Mika's camp antics, flamboyant image and liberal falsetto have fuelled the constant comparisons, and Mercury even gets name-checked in Grace Kelly when Mika sings: ``So I tried a little Freddie.'' Some critics say he's tried more than a little to channel Mr Mercury. What does May think? ``Brian says he sees things in me that he saw in Freddie,'' Mika says. ``He sees those things in other performers too, like Robbie Williams. He says there's only about four people in the UK he's seen that in and Freddie was one of them and there aren't many left. He's so incredibly supportive. ``Anyone who tries to diss me in comparison to Queen, it just renders all their criticisms completely futile. That's quite pleasurable.'' It's been a fast, giddy ride for Mika, even though he considers himself ``an overnight sensation 12 years in the making''. The Mika story is as colourful as his music. Born Michael Holbrook Penniman in Beirut in 1983, his family left war-torn Lebanon to move to Paris, then London. Penniman then adopted his nickname Mika (pronounced Meeka). Targeted by school bullies and suffering from dyslexia by age 11, he had a ``little breakdown''. Mika then enrolled in a musical school, met a Russian music teacher and started earning money as a young teen by singing jingles for everything from British Airways to Orbit chewing gum. ``At the same time as I was singing inflight music I was singing with the Royal Opera House, so I had no snob attitude when it came to what I do,'' Mika says. ``It definitely helped.'' Soon he was wooed by the music industry, at a time when Craig David was the role model for male artists. ``Record companies were coming to me saying `You can be successful, we'll support you but you have to be this','' Mika says of requests to make him more R&B. ``I wasn't going to change. I told them to f--- off and wrote a song about it and moved on.'' That song became Grace Kelly. Lyrics such as ``Why don't you like me, why don't you like yourself, should I bend over, should I look older just to be put on the shelf'' were not only aimed at a specific music-industry target, but Mika printed them out and sent them to the person in question. He was vindicated in January when, after signing a more creatively liberating record deal, the song became a British No.1 hit and his global calling card. ``It is really nice,'' Mika says. ``I forget about where that song came from sometimes. It's ironic, to break through with a song like that that is such a statement of honesty is really gratifying.'' Mika isn't honest across the board, however. Since his arrival on the scene, he's had to dodge questions about his sexuality. ``I don't see any reason why you should talk about it,'' Mika says. ``I can see why people are interested simply on a pop-culture basis, but people don't really care. They care for a little bit, because it sells newspapers and magazines, but as far as the work is concerned I don't think it really matters.'' One gay newspaper suggested Mika was keeping his sexuality under wraps in preparation for his mentor Tommy Mottola (the former Mr Mariah Carey) launching him in the notoriously homophobic US market. ``People say `You don't want to talk about sexuality because you're worried about having success in the US and you're worried about sexual taboos','' Mika says. ``I say `Have you heard the f---ing album?' There's a song called Billy Brown about a married man who has a homosexual affair and one of my lyrics goes `I tried to be like Grace Kelly'. ``If I was worried about sexual taboos I certainly wouldn't have made the record I made. It has nothing to do with that. It has more to do with self-respect.'' Mika points to the old-school pop stars who didn't offer their personal life up for mass consumption. ``I'm not creating an enigma or leaving mystery, I'm just respecting myself enough as an artist to give myself room to grow and not to be devoured all in one go,'' he says. ``We all have to be dishes on a plate eventually, with the way we are marketed, but I have no intention of being a cheap Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet.'' Mika says he deliberately knows nothing of the private lives of his musical heroes. ``I'd never compare myself to Freddie Mercury because I look up to him far too much. As an artist, not necessarily as a person. I'm not interested in people as people. Never have been. Never had a poster on my wall. It almost ruins it,'' he says. ``I'm a huge Harry Nilsson obsessive and I'm so uninterested in his personal life because he was horrible and it makes me like him less. So I just know nothing about it. It's so boring.'' Mika is ready for the backlash that comes from instant success. ``The reviews of my album are polarised and that's an achievement,'' Mika says. ``I know people like to have a sacrificial cow they can fatten up and then slaughter, but I'm not willing to play that game. ``People are talking about a backlash but I'm at the beginning of my career and I've got a long way to go creatively and a lot of things to achieve. ``But I'm willing to go for it. I can get away with it now. Actually I've always gotten away with everything. It's important to get away with everything.'' Life in Cartoon Motion (Universal) out Saturday.

USA TODAY By Elysa Gardner, NEW YORK — When "bird" means girl, "hooker" describes a rugby player and "rock 'n' roll" in Cockney slang refers to welfare, it's no wonder that so much British music doesn't translate to U.S. charts. You only have to look at Robbie Williams. In England, he's the bomb (a towering smash). Here, he was also a bomb (a smoking crater). USA TODAY looks at four hot U.K. acts aiming to hop the pond and make some waves. He's only 23 and largely unknown in the USA, but the Beirut-born, London-based Mika could teach a master class in pop-star self-promotion. At a Midtown restaurant, the tall, striking young artist is fastidiously gracious and just cheeky enough to suggest an air of street cred. Told that his label boss, former Sony honcho Tommy Mottola, called his interviewer to rave about his talent, Mika laughs. "He's deliciously insane, isn't he? I didn't trust him at first. But I didn't trust anybody." Mika, whose last name is Penniman, has cause to be in a less suspicious mood these days. After signing with Mottola's Casablanca Records, the singer/songwriter released a debut album, Life In Cartoon Motion, that shot to No. 1 on the U.K. charts, and also launched a chart-topping single, Grace Kelly. Life, which showcases an eclectic style that Mika has described on his MySpace site as "Beck via Queen and Elton John with a touch of Rufus (Wainwright)," won't arrive here until March 27. But Grace Kelly is already a rising radio and MTV hit. Growing up in Paris, where Mika relocated with his Lebanese mother and American father as an infant during the war in Beirut, and later in London, Mika turned to music "partly as remedy, partly as refuge. A lot of it had to do with having had a horrible time in school." Mika fared better at the Royal College of Music, cultivating influences such as Kurt Weill to Harry Nilsson. He also developed a talent for sketching. While working on Life, "I was handing in cartoons before (recordings). To me, it was the same thing. There is a circus-master element to what I do. I wanted to represent this fantasy world, very Alice in Wonderland." Mika isn't assuming U.S. fans will be fighting to get into his tea party. "Geographically, the country is very daunting. I just hope my performances are strong enough that I can win it over bit by bit." —Gardner

hehehe! Got something on your mind Fillip?

ooo..... I claim all the plastic surgeons, personal trainers and beauticians in the world!! Can I also claim the secrets of longevity and youthful looks!

Forgot the search that one I claim the Rio Carnival and Mardi Gras!

What a good husband!! I claim all Mika Gigs and after show parties!

I want Waitrose!!!

oooo darn it...I claim New York!

More claims for me! Carrot Cakes Chocolate Fudge Brownies Custard Apple Crumble I'm have dessert cravings.. can you tell!? Pinot Grigio de Venezie (white and blush) Olives! (black and green.. yummy!) .. not quite sure where that's coming from.. weird cravings... hope I am not pregnant with Freddies love child!! .. or it could be Lukes

muahah - sorry I already have Malaysia... but you can come visit!! If I can scuba dive your seas!

Great work hubby!

I claim all loft apartments and penthouses in New York!

I claim Star Trek Transporters!! That will get us there... oo and the XMen stealth jet... and the Batmobile! haha!

Morning Husband! Were you out late last night?

Cool!... I also claim China New Zealand (Yoppapop has Australia!) Africa ooo and Cuba (I do love to salsa!) Malaysia

Morning everyone! Wow.. lots of claiming going on... sorry was watching a movie (Memoirs of a Geisha) last night! Has Japan gone? I want to claim Japan!.. looks like Kata already got it! Can Freddie and I visit?!

Great Thread Fillip!!!! Loads of fun

Where else shall we claim Freddie!? Oo by the way.. I have not set foot in the Butterfly Bar at all yet.. the thread is huuuuuge.. so as a good wifey... you can claim that just behave yourself <covers ears and doesnt want to know what goes on in there>

I claim Thailand... for my honeymoons.... and the Canadian Rockies for more snowboarding trips yay! (8 days to go woohoo!) phew.. too many claims!! where will I stop?! oo ooo.. also De Beers and Tiffanys.. for my huuuuuuge rock engagement rings!!

I forgot his hair!!... ok I claim Mikas braces and skinny jeans!

So are we having weddings :flowers2:

ooo.. we should have a wedding thread..... I'll get my white dress out