lollipop_monkey

Hey Ali! Sorry to hear about your friend. Having been a Lollipop Girl that night I scoured the internet for pics and vids of that finale, but I only ever came across these two videos: Both videos are blurry (man, the difference four years makes in video technology!), but I do see a girl in a sailor-looking shirt in both.

That made me LOL, for real. I'm so glad you got such a great Mika moment.

I always said, even before TBWKTM came out, that Mika going all electronic and unleashing an army of Autotune and synthesizers would be it for me. I felt exactly as you do - that him going that route would be such a blatant waste of his talent and training that I couldn't possibly enjoy such a thing. But...I love this song. You have to look at it not as Mika relying on all these electronic enhancements as a "waste" of his talent, but rather as him simply stretching his creative boundaries to try something different. Whether the end result of said creative stretching works for you or not is entirely subjective, of course. After hearing this song, though, it's abundantly clear to me that this isn't a case of him using these effects to cover up for shortcomings in his talent (like, ahem, so many other artists these days). It's all done for creative reasons, and I'm really happy with the end result. It reminds me of bands like Postal Service and Fun. that are very electro-heavy, but in a way that works. Or the song " by Hellogoodbye, which may be one of my favourite songs of all time (despite my constant whining that I don't like electronic-y music. Go figure). What I like about this song is that it still sounds like "Mika" to me - even slightly, uh, augmented, his voice is still unmistakable and still draws me in. And yet it feels like absolutely the right progression. This song sounds like Mika in 2012, not Mika in 2007, which is what he needs. Music critic types would say he's "staying relevant", especially considering the current musical landscape these days. Well done, Mika.

The lead singer (Nate?) is so much like Mika in his onstage mannerisms. Spooky! Watch from 0:46: [YOUTUBE]wph3AupXMAE[/YOUTUBE]

Wow!!!

So true. I'm simultaneously excited and horrified at the prospect of Overrated being on this album. Like I said in the Twitter Updates thread, the demo is absolutely perfect the way it is. If studio trickery "breaks" it I'll cry.

This is beautiful. I *so* can't wait until we get videos of him performing this at radio stations around the planet. Thanks for posting!

No harm in reporting it, but apart from that I wouldn't worry too much about it. There have been Mika hate pages on Facebook as far back as I can recall, even in 2007. It's just someone with no life trying to get a reaction out of his fans. Don't give them the satisfaction.

I got sent here, and it's all because of Mika and his tool.

This discussion is hilarious. Here's the long and short of it: I don't care if Mika's next-door neighbour is renting out his house for £1 a day. If, as an MFCer, you announce that you specifically chose to stay in South Kensington knowing Mika lives (or lived) there, and then run into him or his family, people are going to assume you were hoping such an encounter would happen. Hell, I ran into Mika in a Brussels airport taking one of the only flights from Brussels to Milan that morning (y'know, his tour route), and people accused me of having dodgy stalking motives. That's the way it goes in Mikaland. If you don't want to be accused of having ulterior motives, don't mention ever laying eyes on anyone connected with him outside of his gigs. :rolls_eyes: All that aside, I'm glad to hear Paloma's recovery seems to be going as well as can be expected. I can't believe it's already been so long since it happened. I wish her all the best.

You're really into this band, hey? I've never heard of them, but I like what I hear. Where are they from? This is my musical obsession of the year. If you like Irish-y, celtic-y, upbeat music you'll love this. [YOUTUBE]DOw3w-00Jqw[/YOUTUBE]

I thought anyone with English as a second (or third, or fourth) language might appreciate this. http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/313217_269580409746732_153592064678901_782839_700691022_n.jpg

I remember that. In fact, when some of us met him outside the venue in Amsterdam a good two months after the GGG live debut, I pounced on him to ask him WTF one of the lines was. It's totally "chicket". In fact, you'll sometimes hear 2007-era MFCers talk about buying a 'chicket' to a gig...this performance is the story behind that. I know for me it's a case of being so acclimated to his accent that I no longer notice it. I remember completely mishearing him in the early days and now listening back I think "huh? How the hell did I ever think he was saying that?" Aww, the wild hair and the bright pink cardigan. Widdle baby Mika was sure a cutie-wootie!

Oi! What you talking aboot, eh???

I absolutely, totally, 100% agree with you. As far as I'm concerned the best use Mika has come up with for Ida yet was the aria on the arena tour last year. That was Ida doing what she does best rather than trying to squash her into a pop mould.

I love this song. This is the first of the new songs that has made me feel all warm and fuzzy again. I woke up this morning with it stuck in my head despite only having listened to it a couple times. Two observations so far: 1) I agree with whoever it was (sorry, forgot to quote) that said it sounds Elton John-ish. And I mean that in all the right ways. 2) Can I just take a moment to say how freakin' cool it is that this community is so into this stuff? It's been a day and a half and the video is already showing 3,000 views, and we have an International Lyrics Deciphering Team hard at work. Another band I'm into has also been debuting some new stuff live and it's like their fans don't even care. They do a new song and someone YouTubes it, but no one even posts a thread on their forum, much less puts their heads together to figure out the lyrics. MFC is awesome that way. *appears in a puff of smoke* I think you've beaten the lyrics out of these vids as best we can. I'm also hearing "You are the port of my call", but I can't f*^%& make out the line after that. If I type it phonetically it sounds like: You are the port of my call You shot a leavea murraw So if we were to extrapolate that into recognizable English...anyone? I think this video is the clearest one of that part, and you can see his lips: [YOUTUBE]A3s24CdaG5M[/YOUTUBE] If he synths up his voice in the album version of this song I shall leave MFC forever as a display of my utmost disproval. No, not really. But I'll whine and stomp my feet for sure.

What a great story! I would have stood there blinking to myself for the first five minutes, trying to convince myself I wasn't hallucinating. What luck! And your pics are great, too.

Not quite. At Compiegne, anyway, I think the capacity was 20,000 to 25,000, and they sold 8,000 to 10,000 tickets (give or take). Even in 2010 he was on TV saying his European tour was sold out...but at some of the gigs (even Stockholm, if I recall correctly) they ended up roping off the balcony because it was empty. But yes, MFC continues to get new members, and people have been talking on Twitter about his festival appearances. That's always nice to see. I do see what you mean there. It's obvious how "into" the set design Mika is, and when you watch videos like the PDP documentary and you see him going "my truckssss, these are all my trucksss!!!" with giddy delight in his eyes, it becomes very clear how much it all means to him. Which is fine, Mika and I can disagree about what the most important element of his gigs is. I can deal with that. Yup. The masks basically reduced your vision to a hazy small circle directly in front of your face - you can't see your own feet, cables on the stage, the stage edge, nothing. Kinda disorienting.