Christine

I guess Adele has only been super busy the past 6 months so maybe they have had chances to see each other over the past few years. I actually saw them chatting once after his London gig in 2009 and would have loved to talk to both of them obviously but did not dare interrupt them. I had hoped maybe she would have come to the London show this past October but it was the day after her son's birthday and things were starting to kick off with her promo by then.

I heard something about Mika talking about Adele's album (saying it was good) before it was released. I assumed he was able to hear it through her. I am not sure they have the kind of mutual professional connections that would allow him to randomly hear her album and it's not like copies of it would have been floating around very far in advance. Her team gave me passes to a listening party in Montreal but the album was being released the next day so I didn't want to travel all the way from Toronto. Even then there were no copies of the album given out, no recordings allowed. You weren't even allowed to tell people ahead of time that there was a listening party. The whole thing was a secret.

We are not going to resolve what Ben Stiller truly thinks about Mika since we can't read minds. But the reason Ingie and I jumped into this comversation is because fans were reacting as if Ben Stiller behaved rudely or disrespectfully towards Mika and he didn't. As far as I'm concerned this is indisputable. If anyone interprets it that way then I'd have to say they do not fully grasp American/English culture especially as it pertains to comedians and/or are oversensitive to what people think about Mika to the point of irrationality. Fortunately Mika does get American comedy. He loves Seinfeld, Larry David and Zoolander and he let Ben Stiller dress him up like a Borat double for heaven's sake. A character that Mika also looks remarkably similar to but is far less complimentary than being compared to a character who is a supermodel. He is not only stupid but unnattractive as well. I don't know how what Ingie said quickly derailed into a discussion about Ingie not thinking Mika is perfect...the point is if Ben Stiller doesn't think Mika is the greatest human being on earth it doesn't make him a jerk. All that matters is what he actually said and he didn't say anything bad about Mika. Yes he does not seem at all prepared to live the life that big international popstars do. Adele is really the only one out there who doesn't have to hustle non stop every single year to keep her career afloat. But no one else has that luxury and even in Adele's case she is sacrificing this entire year to promo and touring. I am not sure if she'll ever do it again because her son will be in school by the time she can release another album. Yes there are hundreds of artists whose popularity fizzles out. But the reason I talked about Katy Perry et al is because they were friends and admirers of Mika's work, not just random singers. Calvin Harris used to create mixes of Mika's songs. If he did that now and put it on one of his own albums it could be a real international hit for Mika. When Adele and Lady Gaga met Mika they were already huge fans. Lady Gaga used to write messages on his MySpace wall when she was unknown and I remember Adele talking to a TV presenter at the 2008 BRIT Awards (which was her first big public showcase) saying she was looking around backstage for Mika, hoping to meet him and saying she thought he was cute. When Mika can make fans of all these people who turned into huge international pop stars it seems absurd that his career went the way of Leona Lewis, who is just an X Factor winner when it comes down to it. I get what you're saying though about Mika being in a better position than James Morrison because of his success in parts of mainland Europe. He has a lot more going for him than they do.

Yes it seems really strange in retrospect when he had more success at the time than all these people who were in his sphere - friends and admirers - that went on to become massive international stars and still are to this day. Calvin Harris, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Adele. I think Mika is happy with his success and I am not because he is living in this echo chamber of Italian/French/South Korean adoration that doesn't penetrate my world at all but is probably just as satisfying to Mika as touring the UK in 2007. It doesn't matter to him who is in the audience shouting his name, it only matters to the fans who are or aren't there. I'm sure he had his moments when it felt like a failure to lose momentum in the UK/not break the US, but I'm also sure he doesn't sit around thinking about it anymore. It's like by the time you turn 37 you are not sitting around feeling the same angst of turning 30. You just adjust to being over 30 and move on with enjoying your life as much or more than you did in your 20s.

Yes, I say it is denial because he literally says he doesn't likes fashion and tries to reframe it as something else (art). To me this is insecurity about what people think and an attempt to stay consistent with his 2007 image of someone who has his own style and is not obsessed with labels and the pretentious world of fashion. If he said "I love fashion, it's very important to me." it would be a different story. This is what I mean when I say he doesn't completely own it. And it is the same with the TV shows. All of the illogical and contortionist explanations he came up with to convince people why doing reality TV is not a betrayal of the artist who wrote Grace Kelly were not about his enthusiasm for working on TV. It is not like saying that his new book is going to be really special or that some photographer who shot is album cover is best in the world. I'm not sure what you mean by careful because this guy is not. He is a writer (not a politician) but his politics are very conservative. His audience are not exactly the type to support gay rights but he pre-empts all the gay slurs by calling his tour the Dangerous Faggot Tour, for example. If you genuinely own it and show people you don't care what they think then they are not going to see this as a personal vulnerability in which to attack you in lieu of engaging with you on the basis of your work alone. People criticize and protest him for his politics not because of his vanity or his sexuality. He is just using his vanity and sexuality to get attention for his political views.

Well yes, no human being is really Zoolander. As you said earlier he is a total caricature. But IMO Mika is in denial about how vacuous his interest in designer clothes and shoes and the whole world around them comes across. He makes nonsensical claims that he is not interested in fashion and tries to portray the people who make his clothes as brilliant artists (as opposed to other designers, even other designers at Valentino, who we all know are directly responsible for the exploitative and shallow world portrayed in Zoolander). This is another area, like starring in reality TV, that Mika doesn't completely own up to, since he tries to convince himself and others that it is as noble an artistic pursuit as his music. I follow a gay political writer on Twitter who is obsessed with his image. He tweeted a pic of himself the other day and said "I just checked my privilege and it's fabulous". This embracing and exaggeration of one's own vanity is how you make yourself impervious to mocking by others. Not trying to disguise vanity as some sort of artistic endeavour.

Yes I watched it again and I am not seeing it. If I understand the French correctly (?), someone asked if he found Mika shy or eccentric and Ben Stiller said "no, I love Mika, he's an incredible artist". What could he possibly have said that is more positive than that?

No, the character was created when Mika was a teenager. I just meant that obviously Ben Stiller has a fondness for his own character, so I think it is inherently a kind of compliment for him to compare Mika to Zoolander. I don't know what exactly happened with Mika getting a part in the movie, but I would think it had everything to do with Valentino and was not Ben Stiller's idea. If I understood correctly they used a Valentino fashion show for a scene in the movie. I think it was Owen Wilson who was walking down the runway in one of the suits I've seen Mika wear.

I think it is too much to ask. Honestly I am amazed that Ben Stiller knows or remembers anything about Mika. That's why I thought his reaction was cute and perceptive. Ask anyone else in Hollywood what they think of Mika and chances are you will just get a blank stare (kind of like Owen Wilson's).

But this is exactly what Mika is projecting to the world now, especially in this context of getting a job in a movie because of his relationship with Valentino and no other reason, since I highly doubt Ben Stiller & co would have sought Mika out themselves. I have no interest in convincing anyone that Mika is not perfect. I just find it ridiculous when someone is demonized for not worshiping the ground he walks on. If Mika comes across as a bit of a Derek Zoolander to people who barely know anything about him, I really don't think it's Ben Stiller's fault. To me the comparisons are obvious, especially since Mika looks like Ben Stiller and fans even have names for Mika's own Blue Steel (Da Stare, the Apple Pose). Even if you want to take Stiller's comments as mockery, it is so mild compared to the kinds of things Mika's detractors said about him in 2007 it is not even worth noting IMO. After all, Ben Stiller created this character as a likeable sort of hero, so it's not like he hates him or thinks he's repulsive, etc.

Yes I remember you very well. I was on the side of the stage so I could see your face during the gig. I remember one moment I thought you were going to faint due to your proximity to Mika. It was really funny/sweet and it was nice to see so many people in the room adore Mika to remind me of when I felt the same way. It's fun to see him through your eyes. So you needn't be envious, "reality" has its good points and its bad points. Thanks for the compliments. I don't care what people say or think about me because I don't value the opinions of people like that, but it does make me angry that I am being portrayed as a bully by people who are insulting and harassing me (or anyone else) just because it is such a dishonest and infantile way of responding to an opinion you don't like. The thing is I like down to earth Mika. I like the things about him that are not "perfect", I don't see them all as flaws. One of the reasons I've gone off him in the past couple of years is because all I see in interviews and on TV shows is this fake image of "perfection" that doesn't appeal to me at all. To me it is not a criticism or an insult to point out that his TV persona or the marketing spin he tells interviewers is not what he's really like when the cameras are switched off. My experience is the exact opposite of yours where all of this fake image and interests Mika seems to have now is what has made me come down from my cloud. I adored down to earth Mika.

There is plenty of criticism and honesty coming your way from Mika fans if you have a reputation for being a bitch. Then people have no qualms about telling you what a bitch you are, at the same time pretending they have been bullied because you spoke to them (or perhaps if you didn't, there is no winning this game). To this day I have fans I've never interacted with before calling me an ugly, fat rat and claiming I've bullied them. Apparently it's a lot easier than just accepting someone else's point of view or trying to formulate a logical argument to help them see your point of view. This is now going on in the real world. Students at ivy league universities swearing and screaming at professors over Halloween costumes, demanding safe spaces where they can pet puppies and colour in books to get over the trauma of someone they don't agree with making a speech on campus, speakers requiring body guards because they are being physically threatened by the same students who claim they need safe spaces. This is the way of the world now. On the subject of Zoolander, I am amazed that Ben Stiller is at all familiar with Mika's music. He is an A list celebrity and Mika is virtually unknown in the US. I thought his reaction, saying Mika has the Zoolander DNA, was not only cute but very perceptive. I have been saying the same thing myself ever since Mika began this Valentino obsession. He complimented his looks and talent, how this can be construed as disrespectful is beyond me. Mika has not been "promoting" Zoolander. He has been bragging about it. I guess he is naive about how these things work and didn't realize there was a good chance he would be cut, because he is not Justin Bieber. I am sure he is disappointed and I am too because I wanted to see it. But that is the way these things go. I heard a story from a comedian recently who took all his family and friends to the premiere of a movie and was embarrased because the director didn't tell him he didn't make the cut.

Does this mean there were 1 million views? (Or maybe 500,000 since they are half naked? )

Yes I didn't say he lied, just that he can say things that are not true. He may be misinformed or confused or whatever. In any case I would not make an assumption that someone is a liar because they contradict something he said.

It is really frustrating/time consuming not having the tickets come from a central database so that you know you are getting the best available tickets at any given moment. It's a terrible system. Just about everything here goes through Ticketmaster/Live Nation, which offers maps and print at home tickets. Having additional ticket sellers is not going to give you better options because Ticketmaster gives you everything and there are never any hassles. It completely eliminates the endless nonsense I have had to endure over Mika tickets through these UK ticketing agents. Just to give you an example of the superior service they offer...I got printed tickets for the Fratellis a couple of months ago because I wanted to give them to a friend for her birthday. I forgot my tickets at home on the way to the venue and it would have taken me an hour to go home and come back again so I thought I would probably have to buy new tickets. When the box office opened I told them I forgot my tix and they printed a new batch for me in 30 seconds. I didn't even need the receipt or order number, I just gave them my driver's license and the venue could access my tickets and reprint them instantly. Meanwhile in the UK...how many stories have we heard about fans having to buy duplicate tickets because See Tickets would not release them before the doors open? This happened to me in 2007 and it is still happening 8 years later. What about all those Sandbag disasters in 2009/2010? I would come home from the gigs and the tickets would be in my mailbox because they never mailed them out on time. Then there is this problem of trying to buy seats in a theatre and some of the best ones are available in places that Team Mika has not informed fans about. Even my friends in the UK do not know all the options available in advance and it's such a stress and waste of time that we all have to be online at the same time, trying to buy tickets from this one and that one, hoping someone is going to find the best seats available. Even in the early 1980s when you had to physically queue up or call over and over to try to get tickets, there was still a central ticketing system and one pool of tickets to draw from. I can't believe in 2015 the UK still has this inefficient way of selling tickets. I don't understand it at all.

Yes I lived in Reading for a few weeks when we had a car and I was fine with that (although I don't really understand roundabouts if I'm honest ), but when I was in London I would just go from my flat directly to the nearest grocery store and back. I am sure I would have learned to venture out further eventually but it's not something I want to tackle now that I am always tired and jetlagged and only in town for a few days. Even going outside the city, chances are it is easier and at least as fast to take a train. If I was going to drive around the countryside I would probably take a train to the nearest large town and rent a car from there.

Oh wow that would be so cool if you could come!! (I wouldn't completely give up hope of a US tour in 2016 though.) As someone who has been driving with a clutch since 1987 and has lived for a couple of years in London, I am not sure I would advise trying to drive around London I managed to get a lot of practice with right side driving when I was in Johannesburg, where the boulevards are wide and the city is laid out like a grid...which wasn't too bad. But London is a total nightmare. There are millions of one-way streets, roundabouts, tiny lanes that look like a block on a map but are actually just a few yards apart, roads that criss cross all over the place. Maybe it will be easier with GPS and maybe you are just a more adventurous/competent driver than me, but I have avoided driving in central London almost entirely. I would at least recommend you try to get your bearings outside of London first before you venture right into the city.

I don't think I even saw you in October so hopefully this time around. (I did see Abby though so I guess you weren't far away).

I think you are expressing yourself quite well and people wouldn't read your posts if they thought they were too long. No one is more annoyed than I am that so few fans these days seem to have any interest at all in music, nevermind Mika's music - and are only obsessed with Mika because of his looks or because they think his giggle is adorable. I totally agree with you about that. I haven't read any tweets, but I can imagine. But what I don't really agree with is your portrayal of Mika as a victim and the assumption that people are pushing him around, etc. I remember another comment you had made recently calling Fedez a liar because he said something about this collaboration that contradicted Mika's account of how it started. I have no idea what really happened or who said what, but Mika tells stories, exaggerates, says things that are simply not true at all, etc. all the time. Even on the night of the Paris attacks he tweeted that he had played his first gig in that venue when I am pretty sure that he hadn't. I would never assume that someone else was a vicious liar because they don't corroborate Mika's version of events. In fact, probably the opposite If all these fans tweeting bothers you, I would advise you to not read his timeline. I doubt Mika wastes much time on it. He used to be hesitant to block fans on Twitter because he didn't want to look like an asshole, but now you can mute people without them knowing, so if anyone is seriously bothering him, he doesn't have to read it. And when it comes to Fedez, XF producers, I am sure he can look after himself and is being well compensated for whatever he has to do that he would prefer not to. We all have to do things in our jobs we'd rather not. That's life and Mika is not exempt from it. I don't think he needs the pity of me or any of his fans. We have our own problems to worry about.

Speaking of fans incessantly tweeting him...

Aw, bummer. I am sure I'll see you at some point though. I think we met in...Brooklyn...earlier this year? Yes I think they sometimes remove rows A & B depending on the production, so I guess some of the seating plans are different to this Mika show. I expect plenty of more tickets will be sold in the coming months.

I am trying to like your post but getting a weird error (I think I tapped it twice so it liked and then unliked and I can't like it again). So yes, I agree. I am imagining that whatever they come up with will only be embarrassing to Mika for its sillyness (not unlike many of the things that happen on these TV shows and indeed in Mika's own videos), rather than trashy a la Miley Cyrus.

Why should Mika or anyone else care what the average public person thinks about him? After all this time someone either buys his music or they don't. He obviously doesn't care at all what the UK public and media think about him and makes all his decisions in opposition to that, so why should Italy be any different? If Mika has to pretend to be some kind of asexual to ingratiate himself to prudes and homophobes...f*ck 'em.

I would say Italy, welcome to Mika. This is not the first time he has made such a promise so I don't know what makes you believe that people are pushing him around. Have you seen the WAG video? Have you seen what he said at the time? http://www.digitalspy.com/music/news/a176090/mika-tempts-fans-with-naked-video-blog/ It's amazing how we can have such different perceptions of Mika. To me this kind of thing is totally in character for him whereas too much of what I've seen him involved with since XF strikes me as pretentious, vulgar and compromising of his artistry. I think if people watching XF can handle those hideous Valentino suits, they can handle his birthday suit.

I don't know. Try emailing their support http://support.songkick.com/customer/portal/emails/new