suzie

long time no see ! (you know... timezone and all that jazz )

Thanks

I did check the forum now and then, even twitter, it's just that I am too busy nowadays...

It's always good to return and see that not much has changed, really. Some of us are happy whatever the weather and others are just waiting for him to finally prove himself.

I was hoping for that too, but they are on Thursday, 8 August

Just checked the website. Blur is on 9th - same day as Emir Kusturica.

Is it just me who has never heard any of the names on 10th except for Mika and the Editors?

Just started to read this thread, let me post some comments on some of the posts

If it's all because of money, I totally understand that as a human. But that doesn't mean I can support that kind of career change as his fan.. I'm not his mother or sister, but just fan of Mika the Musician!

Shame not many more like you here any more ...

He had every opportunity in the world in 2007. He turned down Canadian Idol because he was busy concentrating on the US. Oh and because once upon a time he claimed to not support these types of shows because it was antithetical to his whole outlook on being a pop artist.

 

The first gig I went to there was no opening act. They just played this animation.

 

[YOUTUBE]-0qFDIAzvN8[/YOUTUBE]

 

THIS is what got people so excited about Mika in those days. He truly was the anti XFactor pop star.

Yes, that sums it up pretty well why people are let down. XFactor is creating karaoke stars and not supporting musicians or even music, really, as most performances are not even with live instruments. He was always the anithesis of 'artists' who rose to fame by singing formulaic songs written by others asimply because he was believed to have an active part in the creative process of his art whether that be songwriting or performing.

I don't mind him sitting there as I couldn't care less about that, really. However, I find it sad that he has given up his 'fight' against trends and accepted that participating in these shows is the only way to keep him over the surface in the business.

This was what I found so incredibly amazing about these performances. It's obvious that it's preferable to hear someone sing directly and not through sound altering equipment. But I could have never imagined how stepping away from the microphone would transform Mika's performances so dramatically. Especially since this didn't happen at the points gig and it's interesting how he seems more liberated and honest performing for a relatively large group in a public venue than in a small private gig.

Yes, even at the points gig where he could't 'properly' sing most of his own songs due to being unprepared and 'down' in general I can clearly remember one mind-blowing part, the end of PickUp Off the Floor. There are songs in his portfolio that sound absolutely mind- blowing when he sings them acoustic as he sings them with classical singing technique where the singer is meant to sing without a mic. I don't know when he will ever understand that that's where his strength is. He does great live shows and festival performances of course but all his best performances I can recall after 20 gigs are connected to some kind of an acoustic environment: usually in chapels, his performances of OMS or Lady Jane, singing with the King's Singers..etc.

I don't know why he can't do similar shows in Europe again. There are perfect churches around for that purpuse as well He should have these shows in the UK ,too, which is a most convenient destination for his European fans and it would be a perfect tool to help rebuild or, rather, build his reputation as a great singer with a marked difference from the rest.

Thanks for the info I was wondering, cause I like to be in one of the first rows (obviously ) and I guess it's pretty hard to get there if there are other artists before Mika..

it depends on the type of the headlining act. Last time it was 30 secs to Mars- a band unknown to me but apparently popular with female fans because of the singer..etc. They spoilt it as they would n't move from front row for a whole day, I think. Should the headliner on that stage be like Blur, for example, ( something I am hoping for) that should be pretty cool. Their fans are more mature and not as mad - hopefully .

This film sounds really promising : both as a script as well as a step forward for Mika.

Sziasztok:)

Én is megyek természetesen,nagyon jó lesz:))

Képzeljétek..barátnőm egy ismerősén keresztül kb minden koncertre,fesztiválra ingyen szerez jegyeket és most ez az ismerőse megkérte, hogy segítsen neki és ő fog vizet hordani meg ilyeneket egy csomó fellépőnek.Remélem Mikához bejutok valahogy:D:D

Ez remek! Ingyen jegy és még énekelned sem kell az idétlen "kórusban"...

Valószínűleg én is megyek a Szigetre.A legjobb az lenne, ha egy napon és színpadon lennének a Blurrel. Úgy abszolút megérné a jegy ára.

The more he talks about his reasons for clinging to Catholicism the less I can find any way to respect his position. How one can "ignore" (as he puts it) crimes against humanity because they love ceremony is beyond me. He tries to paint his contradictions as cute but it's really just irresponsible, not to mention selfish.

I can relate to what he means though. I think religion (including its rituals) can play a significant role in 'coping' and this must be the type of spirituality he feels when he enters a church... Even when I do (typically during sightseeing:teehee:) I also feel more spiritual somehow but it is more a type of universal respect to people who have visited that building in the last hundreds of years... etc. I also love concerts in churches. They elate me somehow. So when he talks about faith and the ceremony playing an important part in some people's life, I can relate to that, even though it doesn't have a role in mine. Basically, what he confuses is where this positive feeling is from: it surely comes from all the people assembling together to celebrate something positive and / or the acoustics of the building if it is with music, so it does not have much to do with the politics of the actual establishment that has 'organzied' it.

There's certainly a lot of honesty in Mika's answers even though I don't agree on the religion part , or what I call it the "supermarket religious practice ".

@Ingie the women in that video seem to have been completely brainwashed. Such level of hatred is common in religious fanatics but I don't think it has much to do with religion itself. It must be pure insecurity and neurosis. A medical case, really.

PS I have just started to read the rest of the article and I am so pleased he is working with Curtis on the album.

But it was never a nuanced statement about the sheet music. He has been unequivocal about it and has repeated it ad nauseam for 6-7 years. Although a friend of mine who went to a music school in London always told me there is no way Mika could get into the RCM without reading music. But you never know, he's a charmer when he wants to be.

I think for a singer it is not an absolute necessity to read music as it is easier to memorize songs / choral works / arias..etc. I know that several or maybe all orera singers use instructors when they are learning their part. For the Royal College of Music it must be compulsory to read music though. Still, given we are talking about the UK, you can probably show them a piece of paper on whatever condition/ learning disability you have and you can take teh course - epecially if you also pay the tuition fee

@DaMango Glad to see you back on MFC! I'm pleased to hear you had a great time. Thank you for the explanation of Century Man - it really helped me imagine it. I can check how well once I hear a recorded version. I am sure it will come - like you say it will show up sooner or later on YT.

I haven't been able to check the reports on the new shows.. How many musicians is he on tour with? only 2?

I think Mika has enough mothers, he doesn´t need us to tell him what to do or not to do:wink2:

Some mothers actually act the opposite way: encourage anything their child does, without questioning its relevance or quality..etc. That is also acceptable, although after a while what one believes is support can become a hindrance of professional development - I'm not talking about smoking cigarettes though.

Anyway, I don't smoke myself but I know that many people smoke cigarettes

to 'brainstorm'. (I prefer walking for that. ) If he doesn't overdo it, a few small cigars now and then won't do much harm to his voice. Especially if he only does it when he writes songs... i.e. not that many occasions.

He's going to play new songs tonight.

Are there any MFCers with a camera going? I'd like to hear new songs.

@guylaine Thank you for the summary:flowers2:

Okay, now I've found my favourite too:thumb_yello: That backround is great and the song is cute (and yes I have to admit that the boys are cute too...). I don't understand a word but it doesn't matter! I just hope that they make it to the final and I wouldn't mind if they won the whole thing:naughty:

My personal favorite by far for now is Hungary:

 

[YOUTUBE]65q4sUq6XOk[/YOUTUBE]

 

It has such a lightness and is at the same time not monotonous and has a lot of playful soundeffects. And it's somehow hypnotic. And it's individual. And most of all it feels total honest and intimate to me.

 

And I love the pictures in the background

 

Hopefully it will reach the final!

My thoughts, too. And I even understand the lyrics that are simple and repetitive at parts but poetic at the same time. It is actually good to have this confirmed that this song does not only work for the local audience (that was the jury's evaluation and he always only got voted in by the audience during the quarter- and semifinals), but a catchy tune as well. He can obliously not sng well but it does not matter. Neither can Bob Dylan. This song is honest vs all the totally fake ones we had. That's why it came across as really distinct. I liked it as soon as I heard it but there was some backlash on him winning this as many would have liked to see better singers represent us. As far as I am concerned, this guy represents me as he is true to himself and wrote a song I can actually listen to.

It's a nice song. I like it too. Unfortunately, such individual songs are usually not the winning ones. I also like that he sings in hungarian. It's really great to hear different languages and it should be the point of such contest. To show the variety. But it's the oposite.

Yes, it is totally the assumption that he has no chance with the song. But why would the 22,439th Beyonce copy get more chance? (the other strong contestant from my country). Let's see. At the same time, it shouldn't only be about chances but about songs that are loved in contries as it often tells a lot about culture and taste. I am not interested in Scandinavian and English songwriters writing songs for a local wannabe. I am interested in one's own thoughts, melodies and styles. So I also agree on the language aspect as well I can totally get why the Serbian entry won some years ago- I liked that song even though I don"t speak the language.

PS: I'll try to catch up with the rest of the songs over the weekend

Szia Nóra!

Régen elég sok magyar volt a fórumon, de mostmár inkább csak akkor látogatnak ide, ha a közelben koncertezik - azaz nem gyakran.

Mindig jó új magyar rajongót felfedezni:thumb_yello:

Hi Nóra,

Yes,Happy Ending is the only reason why I watch X faktor till the very end:teehee:

I watched the videos posted on Eurovision's official's site and I think Russia has the highest chance to win out of those songs and considering all other circumstances..etc. I can't wait to see the rest of the entries.

Mika doesn't have anyone of influence on his side. Gary doesn't invite him onto any big concerts and he SHOULD have invited him onto the Olympic one really, but he didn't. It really is very sad.

What I find said is that Gary Barlow has been considered as the new Bono or Elton in recent years in the UK whilst as far as I am concerned he is one of the least charismatic pop stars ever and even comes across as more of an accountant than a musician.

I don't think its the music, but how he presents himself - but that's so much a part of how he wants to be that I don't think he will change that, and fair play to him. I do think the way he came over in 2007 was distinctive and himself, but relate-able and inclusive. Think of how he looked in the Grace Kelly video and the content of that - he looked like any boy next door, and he was creating a party that looked so much fun, but was really different in including all types of people not the super cool. At that time it was quite a radical statement. I think personally that he kind of lost his inclusivity with TBWKTM - I'm a fan and I couldn't get half of it. Don't think the videos helped either, notably Rain. I felt he was really hiding in that album - to me it lacked the integrity of the other 2 and was just a bunch of stories that might or might not relate in some way to him. I think he's got his relate-ability and integrity back in the music now, but his videos still aren't helping massively.

 

Maybe we should just accept he's not ever going to be a major star in the UK or US, and not worry about it anymore. I really can't see him giving up performing or not being able to sell tickets to gigs, he is so brilliant live...

I don't normally post short comments like this but all I can say is that I totally agree with all that you wrote!

At Eurovision most songs and artists who make it to the final are totally ridiculous: most of them are just a desparate attempt to copy other songs, sounds and images and end up looking stupid. So entries who do not take themselves seriously get the from me. The grannies last year were hilarious and so was Verka from the Ukraine 5 years ago.

Glad you opened this thread! I'll try to watch some of these videos soon. The act representing our country will be selected next weekend.

I Liked the song "Tah Dah" best. They should reopen this poll. Origin of love and Popular song were great too. When i played it my family thought it was from Glee

We have a poll with all the songs:

http://www.mikafanclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27740

What I wanted to say was not that a majority would think that Celebrate is the perfect single if it hadn't been single already. I don't think that it would have made a difference in the "pole positions". But I think that Celebrate wouldn't have done as bad as it is doing now in a poll - last place together with other songs (and really the last place when I wrote my comment).The ones that thought back than it wasn't a bad choice won't think it anymore, even if it wasn't the majority.

It would have been good to see what results would have shown if the album listening sessions took place months before the album release and participants could rate/ make short comments on the songs and in the end try to recall them...etc.

When we first heard Celebrate we only knew 3 other songs (EMD, MYH and Underwater) , so there weren't many songs to compare Celebrate with in terms of single choice. So many fans were 'forgiving' about coming back with a slightly mellow and shallow song that did not sound like making any particular impact. Others like anything, anyway. The way I see it is that after the release of the album with so many great songs on it, there is just no explanation who could have possibly thought this one will work for Mika. It would have probably worked for Jennifer Lopez but not him. And that is where knowing one's audience comes into the picture. It does not mean that songs would need to be written based on market research findings but that one makes the right choices with the available options they have (and he had approx. 10 better options).

Shame it's only 16 options. This crossed my mind today: wouldn't it be great if we could have a poll to vote on our Top 10 favourite all time Mika songs? Just an idea...

and a really good one indeed.

I was thinking that in retrospect I put up the songs on LICM and TBWKTM for voting (it would be really interesting to compare the results after several years as we already have a voting poll for TBWKTM, for example).

So once that is done there can be a list of 15 songs to choose from as all time favourites

It seems they split up and got back together together again, that's what he told Paul de Leeuw anyway. But... how do I say this politely? Mika has a flair for slightly bending history in interviews. I can't say I blame him. We want to know everything there is to know about him, and he naturally doesn't want us to know everything. It makes for a nice game and endless discussions here

He hinted that earlier in 2012 and that's what several of us guessed, anyway. I think it is really apparent in the lyrics of the album as well.

Mika tends to hide part of the truth before he gets into details that helps put the pieces together - not for everyone, obviously. I like his way of communicating to the press about his private life. It is not intense but still has enough clues that those really interested and able to understand will figure out what he means.

@DerMoment1608 Great find:thumb_yello:

I have only seen AL and E (LYL) and don't have time to check this catalogue now but should will try to do so next week