Christine

Yes there was a time when all I knew about or heard from Katy Perry was on her MySpace page. I did not see her on TV, or hear her on the radio or see her CDs in stores. She just posted her music online and connected with potential fans directly or through the fanbases of other artists (like Mika).

No actually it doesn't. Promoting does not only mean your record label booking you a guest spot on the number 1 TV show in the country or automatically being added to high rotation on top 40 radio. It means selling yourself and your product. I know an independent singer songwriter in the UK who is prettier than Mika and his record label also wanted him to be like Robbie William et al. So he quit his record label to make the music he wanted to make and not be turned into the next Justin Bieber. Just like Mika his songs are not played on BBC Radio 1, Simon Cowell is not asking him to be on X Factor, etc. He does not have a record company supporting him in any way at all because he doesn't have a record company! There is no question about whether he can promote in the UK. He MUST do it. And he does do it. Every day of his life. Because he has chosen to make a living doing music in the UK and not somewhere else. Just because Mika has chosen to promote himself in other markets because it is easier and more fruitful doesn't mean it is impossible to tour and focus promotional efforts on the UK. I don't care what he says in interviews. These are the facts. It's a choice. And to be clear I respect his choice to focus mostly on France and Italy for touring and other promotional activities directly related to his music (ie not the talent shows). At this point he would be crazy to give up lucrative opportunities to play bars all the time in the UK or US or Germany. But it is simply not true that he doesn't have that option. Anything is possible, especially for someone with Mika's resources. He has sold millions more albums than the vast majority of working musicians in the UK and these pity parties for him and how disadvantaged he is are absurd to me. You do not have to be Katy Perry or Adele or Justin Bieber to produce albums or perform gigs. Thousands of people are doing it every day. Thousands of people with far less resources at their disposal than Mika has. People without his millions in record sales. People without a record label. People without the best producers in the world. People without a PR firm. I honestly do not care what Mika does at this point but I just can't listen to this nonsense about how it is necessary to do all these things he is doing in order to make an album and perform it for an audience. The only thing that all these things are necessary for is making a whole lot of money. Adele is fortunate that she can make a whole lot of money just by selling records, but neither one of them needs that kind of money to actually make records. Both of them were making fantastic music when they were teenagers living with their parents. And now that anyone can create a finished album on a laptop it requires less resources than ever.

No. My musical tastes are not derived from Mika's artistic choices or the choices that anyone else makes for any reason. My desire to listen to one song and not another is internal and based on 47 years of listening to music, my cultural and life experiences. I don't understand why anyone would even considee replacing their own taste with what a total stranger likes/wants to create. That doesn't mean I am not open at all to foreign language music or interested in listening to something I would not have otherwise discovered except for Mika. I have always liked Elle Me Dit a lot, I saw Yelle live several times as a headliner (and not just opening for Mika) and I saw Christine and the Queens this summer. But I am not going to listen to something I don't like because of Mika or anyone else. Additionally I don't think Mika is competent enough in Italian or Spanish to write good songs in those languages and I find it ridiculous that he is getting others to write Italian and French lyrics for him instead of sticking to his own (English) songs. I can't imagine how hiring someone else to write your lyrics so you can produce a foreign language song can be considered an artistic choice and not a commercial one. I would think Mika could write French lyrics himself but his reliance on and collaboration with Doriand is what puts me off most of these French songs. Even their English attempt Blame it on the Weather is the worst thing Mika has ever done. I would rather poke my ear drums out with an ice pick than listen to that.

But even that was only a given for this new album. When her last album was released she scheduled a tour of North America and was booked into a club where I saw Mika in 2008. It wasn't until later that the album blew up in way that could not have been expected or they wouldn't have booked her on a club tour. Sadly they moved the gig to a massive hockey arena

This bears repeating because it never seems to get through which is why this discussion never ends. It is a choice he has made and it is not impossible for him to tour. Artists tour all the time even though they could never hope to sell as many records as Mika has in his career.

Thank you. This song is so bad I can't even be bothered to critique it. Holy cow. I mean it was probably great in the 80s but not now. Mika's vocals are interesting but I just can't imagine listening to this in 2015. It's too bad they didn't do a modern arrangement.

"American" is not an ethnicity and since both his parents were born American citizens and Mika is also a US citizen, then he cannot be classed as half-American by anyone except his PR firm. But yes I agree about the spelling of centRE

My point re Katy Perry was that there was a time when she did not have a huge promotional machine and was not guaranteed a number one album. Mika had sold 4 million albums at that point and she had not even released hers yet. But still she went to the UK and played gigs even if only 200 people turned up. Unless someone is some kind of an instant star via X Factor then they all have to start at the bottom. Record companies don't just launch a huge promotional machine behind every artist from the minute they sign a contract. In fact if you're going to compare Mika and Katy Perry, Mika was the one who received massive hype and success surrounding the launch of his project and had a #1 album within a few months. It took Katy Perry many many years from playing in bars as a teen to playing the Superbowl halftime show. If Mika wants to concentrate his energies outside the UK I can totally understand that. He has good reasons at this point. But I don't understand the point of posting here that Mika is doing everything he can in the UK when he has clearly decided to invest his time in other markets instead.

That would be great but I think the whole impetus for this concert was for Mika to make an advert for the album and for Sky to showcase its TV star so I wouldn't hold my breath.

The French music market and its ability to influence other regions like Quebec, Belgium, Switzerland, etc. is pretty substantial so under the circumstances (ie loss of support in other markets) I can understand a focus on France. But I just haven't seen much evidence since EMD was a hit in 2011 that pushing French songs is working. I don't think people want French songs per se but good pop. EMD was good pop but any random song is not going to appeal just because of the language.

Are the majority of French fans really more interested in all these French songs than the English ones? It is not just the UK where his album sales have fallen since LICM and TBWKTM. And you can't blame lack of promo in France since he's been on prime time TV more in the past 2 years than in the entire rest of his career put together.

That would be great sarcasm if it weren't for the fact that he's American and not just pretending to be so to pander to an audience. Where can I hear this genius work of obscure 80s Italian music reinterpreted by Mika? I doubt I will find it on Canadian iTunes or Spotify. (Both of them paralyze my computer so I am not going to attempt it.)

I would love an album with symphonic versions of Happy Ending, Any Other World, Over My Shoulder, Make You Happy and Overrated but I guess it is not going to happen. They only released 4 videos of the points gig even though they recorded the whole thing so I am not really surprised. And as for this new version of NPIH with 50 random French songs, Italian rap etc. WTF?? If Mika wants to do a French album and a French tour by all means do so. But why does everything else have to be polluted with these songs that he claims have been written in 15 minutes, written with one collaborator who never works on his other music, has themes and a sound that do not match the theme and sound of the album, often appear to be total afterthoughts since he seems to pull one or two out of nowhere every few months. "French is a part of Mika"...yeah yeah yeah. But why must it be some totally incongruous part of music projects where they don't fit? Part of the reason LICM and TBWKTM were great records is that they were a cohesive project. It is like the symphonic songs. Many of them are beautiful but it would be extremely odd to just slot one into a pop album as a regular track or suddenly start performing one of them in the middle of a festival. They require their own album and their own special performances. He is making it virtually impossible for his fans who do not want to jump on this world music bandwagon to enjoy any of his music. You can't expect people to buy an album that is half full of songs they will never listen to.

The only thing I see people complaining about is that his music wasn't promoted in the UK, Netherlands, etc. How is promoting his music "bending to market rules"? And maybe the Queen should let him live in Buckingham Palace too? This mentality is astounding to me. That everyone in the music industry should just hand over success to Mika on a silver platter and it's all their fault if his promo is lacking. All artists are playing by the same rules, it is not some special case for Mika. If you put absolutely nothing into a market you will get absolutely nothing back. Do you think other artists can spend 40 weeks a year in France and Italy and expect any kind of opportunities elsewhere? Do you think even top pop stars like Katy Perry did not have to pay their dues by repeatedly playing small dive bars of 200 people in London before they earned radio play and spots on TV shows? People are disappointed that Mika and his team have chosen to focus all their efforts on Italy and France and it is not Simon Cowell's or anyone else's responsibility to find opportunities for him elsewhere for heaven's sake.

Adele is back and everyone else should just go home for the next 18-24 months because she will crush them all. The video is about to hit 100 million views and it was just released on Friday. The single and album are #1 in just about every country in the world and no one even knew they existed a week ago.

Yes it must be a direct translation from some other language because it's very awkward English. Also awkward is the other phrase you used...should be "for the life of me". It's an idiom and doesn't make grammatical sense as a normal English phrase.

We say "don't look a gift horse in the mouth".

His management also manages Clean Bandit and I see them on Corrie commercials all the time. Not just their music but the band actually has speaking parts.

Thanks for the reports everyone. Sounds really lovely Nice to hear from people who were sad to miss the Montreal shows and got a chance to go to Como.

I think BBB was composed entirely for commercial purposes, but in any case I'm not talking about BBB here, but just generally. At some gig or another I think I have had to listen to almost every French song he's ever recorded even though I have only seen Mika in Canada, the US, the UK, Ireland and Japan. In other words, not France.

They played Talk About You in the Rovers on Friday's episode of Coronation Street.

The arrangements were written for the Montreal shows, months before the album came out. Think the only "new" song on here is Stardust.

Would have loved to have heard Make You Happy, Overrated and Stardust at any gig, nevermind a symphony one. Will this whole thing be broadcast on TV? Please tell me all the other singers were classical and not Chiara or similar.

I would have agreed with that several years ago, but in the interim he has rented out his art to corporations, TV stations, etc. There is no artistic integrity in ignoring your audience when choosing a setlist and instead conspicuously inserting BMWs into your music videos. Fans have bought millions of albums and are spending £48 per ticket to see him perform - in other words more money than he ever receives from BMW, Swatch, Valentino and others who are influencing his choices all the time. Influencing choices in things that are ostenibly made for his audience. We deserve even more consideration than these corporations, not less. If Mika just wants to please himself and his corporate sponsors then he's going to have to get my £48 from someone else. I am not a charity. I spend my money on things I want, not what works for Valentino or a pop star's French market. Yes sadly this is the case for so many and why funding from BMW and a collaboration with an Italian rapper is now necessary. It's an endless downward spiral.

Good plan Enjoy everyone!