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Aaaah can't wait! Been thinking about watching this ever since the recording

I love this kind of discussions! I don't mind about the 'it' in Relax and always took the 'Love confound me' as an imperative too, but I don't like the 'don't make sense' in My Interpretation and Underwater.. We learn to conjugate correctly and then all your fave singers use abbreviations, it's really frustrating About the pronunciation of 'water'; I don't think there is a problem with the way he sings it in the album version, but there has been some live versions where he used a clear [ae] sound, at least in France, so maybe it was to make French understand because we use the same sound

Bonjour tout le monde! C'est rare que je passe dans ce thread mais je vois que c'est animé en ce moment, j'en profite donc pour vous souhaiter à toutes un très bon weekend! On sent l'arrivée du printemps vous trouvez pas? J'ai hâte d'être à ce soir pour les battles de The Voice. La vidéo que Mélanie vient de poster est 'démente' pour reprendre un mot fétiche de Mika

It's always like that, we end up answering at the same time Well better twice than nothing

Mika said to a contestant called Mamido 'Do you choose foie gras (Garou) or caviar (Jenifer)?' And Nikos who is Greek adds in his tweet, 'what about feta?' In his original tweet Nikos tweeted '@mikasounds to Mamido' but on Mika's TL it appears as 'Mila to Mamido'; does that mean Mika mistyped his own name?

MIKA official ‏@mikasounds 13m Can't sleep. Listening to a rough of a new song & dancing around with headphones on. Haven't done this in same way since I wrote Love Today :boing:

Thanks Anne May I just add that the article doesn't say '2 years ago' but '2 years before'; when I read it yesterday I took it as 2 years before the release of LICM, but now I'm not so sure anymore, this is confusing, maybe 2 years before he came out publicly. Not 2 years ago anyway.

New article Anybody continuing Elwendin's translation?

Salut Lucile, bienvenue!

Sorry about the links One more time after tonight I see on Twitter it is starting to bore a lot of people!

I don't think it has anything to do with the Brits, it's more about French people who have a big problem with talking about money. We really rarely evoke it and when we do it is not well perceived. I think they saw that Mika was being honest and they gave it a try very awkwardly I admit. Strangely enough (but Florent is a strange and straightforward man), Florent Pagny has already revealed that he earns 500 000€ for The Voice. And recently he said that each coach had their own deal with the channel and he was joking about how much Mika could earn.

I finally took some time to translate another article. It's the one from Télé Câble Sat: To quote you from one of your first hits, we can say you're very 'relax' on The Voice set. But not at all! Maybe you can't see it but I'm very nervous. The Voice is a strange combination. I need to be myself while being very clear in my explanations. About being clear, have you used the French dictionary Garou offered you? I refuse! I prefer making mistakes in French and saying things than shutting up. Where did you learn French? As a child, I lived for 8 years and a half in Paris. In a way, this French influence saved me. It allowed me to live with this unclassifiable side when I started music in the UK. Over there, you have to make rock or lyrical music. You can't mix. Likewise, I'm doing The Voice in France and not in the UK... Almost 10 million viewers for the 1st show, you must be proud... I'm proud of the team. The production and other coaches live the show at 100%. They want to make something nice. Garou says you have 'eaten' all of them up... You have to be wary of what Garou says. He's a bad guy. I will not fall in his trap! The other coaches must be jealous of your success? No! We had dinner together a while ago. Sometimes, we insult each other but we respect each other. Where does your clothing style come from? From my mother! She works with a designer in Italy. We wanted clothes we couldn't find in shops. It's a style designed especially for TV. I consider it a little bit like a movie character's outfit. With your juvenile enthusiasm, we think about Peter Pan No! The Peter Pan syndrome, who remained naive like a child, makes you suffer. I'm not naive. I'd rather consider myself as an 'enfant terrible'! Like Spleen, the 'UFO' contestant in your team... He's said to have a strong character. Don't you fear he's going to be unmanageable? No. I sometimes make fun of him. I want him to be less theatrical. And also Elodie, the 17 year old girl who joined my team, is as strong as Spleen. I want to find people who are true to themselves and who have strange voices. You'll see, I'm taking risks! Are you a strict coach? I'm frank and direct. There's a singing teacher working with the contestants that we don't see on TV. I like her so much that I'm going to take lessons with her. Are you a competitor? I'd like to win but, as I say to the contestants, it is the process that counts. In The Voice, it is often the losers that are remembered the most. It's true but I'd like to break this idea. At the moment, we don't know who's got more chance to win... We often say that Britons talk openly about their wage. What's yours for The Voice? When I give a gig, you don't ask me how much I earn? And, I grew up in France, and moreover, I am Lebanese! You are more and more exposed. Tabloids are going to nose around your private life... I've already said everything about my sexuality. I've got nothing to hide but I'm quite discreet. I've been with the same person for 7 years. Did anti-gay marriage demonstrations in France shock you? No. All of this takes time. I'm optimistic. Love and tolerance always end up winning. What will the new album you're writing be like? It will be an album with a lot of humour. It will be about life, about the ridiculous side of some situations. There will also be more songs in French!

Thanks Elwendin! I'm sorry I haven't worked on mine yet. Will try to post something tomorrow...

I was going to ask if it was useful to translate some of these as nobody asked for it! I guess I can take some time to translate something tonight or tomorrow, just tell me which one you are likely to translate and I'll do another one

To be honest when I watched The Voice the previous years I never noticed they were always wearing the same clothes for the auditions.. But... they were all wearing black as far as I recall. Blame it all on Mika's blue suit this year

I didn't watch again so I may be wrong but if I remember well he asks her if she recognises Amir from her Tel Aviv gig (like he was in the audience) She teases him by saying yes, so he wonders if it's really true, then she says this isn't true, she was joking What I like in this is that I think it can prove once again that Mika does remember people from gigs

I said he can sound like a child, but NOT because he uses simple sentences. He uses normal complex sentences I'm pretty sure there are French people who don't speak such an elaborate French

About his French, as Guylaine said, he doesn't have any foreign accent to me, British or other, he sounds 100% French from France, the only thing is that in a way you can hear like a child speaking, not because the sentences are too simple or something like that, but in the tone he uses. If you notice his voice is generally lower when he speaks in English. And about mistakes, there are some grammar ones (which generally make him super cute to the ear of French speaking ppl), sometimes he doesn't know a special familiar word used by others, but really there aren't many and there are less and less with time.

Interview for Télé 7 Jours Mika : Who is the 'enfant terrible' of The Voice? Electric blue suit, pranks and acrobatics... The new judge of The Voice, and the youngest one, puts on a real show every Saturday night on TF1! Is he really like this when the lights are off? Not sure, of course... Navy blue jacket on a white shirt, jeans and trainers. Classical, but chic. Michael Holbrook Penniman Jr, 30 years old, is a normal guy. Behind Mika and his flashy coloured show suits is hidden a reserved man whose childhood was disrupted by moves to follow his father's transfers as an American diplomat. Born in Beirut in Lebanon, native country of his mother, he lands in Paris from his 1st birthday. To leave for London 9 years later. In 2007, it is an explosion with the album LICM, its irresistible hits Relax, Grace Kelly, and its 10 million sold copies. A dreamlike, sugary universe, served by vocal achievements that he struggled to impose. Meeting with a soft-hearted showman, whose slightly British accent makes all of France fall for him. How is your new life on television going? I was very nervous at the beginning. Because I'm a shy person. When I'm at a party for example, and that I don't know anybody, I 'collapse'. I don't impose myself, because I don't know how to do it. I feel completely uncomfortable. To cross the room, I need 5 glasses of wine. But when everything goes better, finally, I go back home! So you're not a showman in your life? No! I'm quite a reserved boy. When I go out, I dress up in a classic way. I started really young, with theatre and singing opera. In these fields, there is one golden rule: on stage, you are 'on', and after, you are 'off'. And if you can't switch between the 2 anymore, you start being a little bit crazy. Image and reality are 2 separate things, you have to keep this in mind constantly. When you start thinking about the image too much, it destroys everything. So you play a character on stage? No, there is nothing fake. It's only when I'm at ease. Like when I'm with my friends. And on The Voice, I'm rather well-behaved! For my gigs, I'm like possessed by the devil, and I do a kind of exorcism. This 'click' for music, when did you get it? I started at 5 with a violin that I destroyed. Then a guitar, that I knocked down too. Then I had drums, but for a child, all day long, it wasn't a very good idea. So, I started with piano. I was living in Paris with my family, I was 6, and my parents rent one. The company went bankrupt, we kept the piano. It is still mine today. I loved music and melodies so much! I had a problem at school. I was dyslexic and we used to move a lot, it screwed me up a little bit. I was expelled from school at 11. During one year, I had nothing to do. My mother found a Russian teacher to give me singing lessons. It started slowly, 30 minutes a week, then 2 hours, then 6, then 5 hours a day! For me, it was like a job. On one side, I had school, this disaster where I was technically an idiot, because I couldn't read nor write. And on the other side, this life where I was working, where I finally had value. You have lived in Lebanon, in France and in the UK. What do you retain from it? Culturally, France is tolerant. There is a real curiosity, an appetite for world music for example. In the UK, it's not like that at all. It's more like 'What British can bring to the rest of the world'. In Paris, I learnt the concept of melody, of joy in music, and not to be afraid of colours. The concept of 'enfant terrible' is French, according to me. Naive and harsh at the same time. In the UK, if you are punk, you are punk, if you are pop, you are pop. For my part, I've always had this 'Parisian boy' style. Still today. Even in my way to dress up. Have you suffered from this difference? At the start, nobody wanted to make me sign in a record company, because I was too different. I couldn't find my space, my 'box'. And good for me, it pushed me to accept my identity. I didn't want to enter a compartment just to please. So I stayed on course. With my sister Yasmine, we were drawing and it became the artwork of my album at the time. My mother, my other sisters and me would make clothes. I would go and buy simple T-shirts and decorate them with paint. It is still like this today, even if it is more elaborate. I always keep this balance. This universe brings you considerable success in 2007, when you are only 24. How did you live this? I handled it very well at the beginning, I was thinking I had done something good. I wanted to go on stage immediately, precisely to keep my feet on the ground. Then I isolated myself. I didn't do any interview or TV show, only to sing. One year ago, I realised maybe it wasn't the best thing. When you isolate yourself, it can be destructive. Because you start being afraid of what the others can think about you. I freed myself from this. TV is my antidote today. You are discreet, in fact... In my songs, I'm not. What I write is private. When I'm in public, it's more complicated. It's hard to talk about me. And about my relatives. Like what happened to my sister Paloma. But I have a goal: share this story and its 'happy ending'. It's good to tell scary things when the people are safe. And my sister is coping very well. I want to 'break' sadness. Because what she did is big and brave. It's my example. Even if now, as a result, she is going to shout at me again because I said too much! You tell the contestants in your team that the important thing is to communicate a story while singing. And you, what story do you want to tell? Plenty! But above all this 'enfant terrible' side I was talking about. This naive but not childish imaginary world. Are you this 'enfant terrible'; finally? I don't know. I want to tell stories, like in movies, cartoons. I exaggerate normal life. Have you planned your return to music? I'm working on my 4th album. I've already written 4 songs in French. The album will be funny. It's my strength. Be an 'enfant terrible'.

I don't mind doing it completely. It's kind of a hobby for me really

It literally means 'stay on course', like he didn't change directions

The famous Télé 7 Jours interview has leaked on Twitter. He doesn't say anywhere that he is working on a 100% French album, just that he has written 4 songs in French for it. So now we can relax! PS: The interview is a nice one, even if I can't read everything properly on Twitter, we'll try to translate it asap

I agree with you. I'm not particularly young but I do prefer him singing in English, even if I really like most of his French songs. I really rarely listen to French artists in general, and I don't think I would have cared about a 'French Mika'... About his success, when I first heard EMD, I liked it but immediately thought that French people wouldn't like it... Well, I was so wrong! It was his biggest hit here..

I know he said it on The Voice set in December when he was asked by the presenter; now this bit will only be shown in a month or even later so maybe he's thinking he'll have 50% done by then (twisted thought)

Salut Mary! I was your neighbour last Tuesday at The Voice