charlie20

Let me know if you need help to do translations of the last two articles, please.

You are welcome! And I totally agree with you

Thank you very much Anne and Eriko for translating and sharing it!

Another article about Mika and "Good Guys": http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2015/05/27/mika_s_good_guys_video_has_a_powerful_gay_message.html Mika Sings a Hymn to Gay History in New Single “Good Guys” By J. Bryan Lowder It might be because I recently published a long meditation on gay male culture and history, but damn if Mika’s new single “Good Guys” and the accompanying video doesn’t have me a little teary in the office today. The bittersweet song, which is from the openly gay artist’s fourth studio album No Place in Heaven (out June 16), is a psalm of pining for the gay past, explicitly so—the first stanza ends by asking “Where have all the gay guys gone?” Mika’s skill as a songwriter is on full display here in a gorgeous arrangement benefiting from lush string, piano, and children’s choir writing. But the real draw is the song’s lyrical construction. Mika clarifies that he’s not just nostalgic for the heady days of pre-AIDS gay liberation (“It’s not the cowboys that I’m missing anymore/ That problem was already old in ’94”), but instead looking back to a time when gay men saw themselves as having something special to offer to the mainstream, or at the very least to each other. He acknowledges that gay exceptionalism is out of fashion these days (“Don’t be offended, this might seem a little wrong”), but then repurposes a line of Oscar Wilde’s into a moving hymn to the power and insight that can come from oppression: “If we are all in the gutter, it doesn’t change who we are/ cause some of us in the gutter are looking up at the stars.” The most touching part of the song is Mika’s séancelike summoning—“To all my heroes that were dressed up in gold/ only hopin’ one day I could be so bold”—of all the gay figures that have inspired him: W.H. Auden, James Dean, Walt Whitman, Cole Porter, and Jean Cocteau, among others. This pantheon comes after a striking bit of songcraft, in which Mika shifts “gay guys” to “good guys” in his question, insisting on the still-powerful equivalence “gay is good.” The video, a stately contemporary dance number, is a perfect match for the song. Mika is moved around like a doll through a number of different personas by the dance troupe: a straight-laced businessman, a queen, an astronaut, and a prisoner sentenced to hard labor—probably a reference to Wilde’s debilitating time behind bars for “gross indecency.” Indeed, much of the choreography communicates a tension between external constraints and a desire to escape—a struggle all too familiar to the gay men Mika misses, and to many of his contemporaries today. J. Bryan Lowder is a Slate associate editor. He writes and edits for Outward, Slate’s LGBTQ section, and for the culture section.

Is there already anyone who is doing the translation of it? Let me know if any help is needed

Here is an article in Hong Kong Press: http://www.scmp.com/magazines/48-hours/article/1810018/mikas-back-more-perfectly-crafted-pop Mika's back with more perfectly crafted pop Lebanese-British singer-songwriter who performs in Hong Kong next week has a new album out that shows a new maturity and which, he says, is the product of a liberated mood There is no shame in listening to Mika's perfectly crafted tunes. Unlike scores of exiled pop princes and princesses before him, Mika has enjoyed indefatigable popularity: his records aren't relegated to dust-ridden cupboards, he lives less in the shadows of his previous hits and more in the light of his next upbeat single, and his name isn't mentioned as a nod to the past. Mika, born Michael Holbrook Penniman Jnr in Beirut to a Lebanese mother and an American father, is a purveyor of pure pop. This means he takes its basic verse-chorus-verse form very seriously. Yet none of the songs on his four released albums sound the same. His 2007 breakout single, Grace Kelly, capitalised on his impressive three-octave range — he trained as an opera singer — while also speaking about identity crises and circumventing stuffy music conventions. Allegedly, Mika wrote the song after being asked by an industry schmuck to mimic the style and sound of another singer, which resulted in the nice self-deprecating lyric: "I tried to be like Grace Kelly/ But all her looks were too sad/ So I try a little Freddie/ I've gone identity mad". On one hand, it's just a pop song — and a very popular one, hitting No 1 on the UK charts — but on the other, it subtly reveals Mika's penchant for the extraordinary. Its chorus is a riff off an aria in Rossini's The Barber of Seville and it features dialogue from the 1954 film The Country Girl (for which Grace Kelly won an Oscar). Grace Kelly was followed by Billy Brown (about a man exploring a homosexual affair), Love Today and Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) — a positive ditty about the female form — all from his first studio album, Life in Cartoon Motion. His second and third albums were creeping hits. The singer — known for emulating Freddie Mercury both stylistically in clinging skinny costumes and in vocals — was overwhelmed with tour bookings. However, at this point in 2013, he began to face creative difficulties. "I took a break from making records," he says. "I needed to do something else so I could really make another record that had a different feel. I launched myself into another adventure." Different means stints as a judge on X Factor Italy, a coach onThe Voice France and a fashion collaboration with Valentino. He took a year off to write new material and when he sat down to put pen to paper, he was in a different state of mind. "Time was really pressed because I didn't have that much of it, so it concentrated me — I wrote and recorded it all in seven months. It was disciplined and precise, but also easy, because I was in a good mood. I felt liberated and came to the realisation I could make whatever record I had in me and not think about the consequences." Against that backdrop, Mika's new album, "No Place in Heaven", due for release on June 15, is a more mature set of songs. It starts with Talk About You, a flossy but perhaps necessary introduction to the tracks ahead, one that shows Mika still knows pure pop. Other songs are finely wrought: Last Party is a soft, piano tribute to Freddie Mercury (the video was shot by Peter Lindbergh) that would have been saccharine if not for Mika's haunting voice; Rio is a hands-in-the-air track with a feel-good melody; Good Guys is a more organic pop workout. The only thing that can truly cut through it all is something that's not a copy of a copy — something that's extremely personal and intimate. MIKA Then there's the title track, which Mika believes pulls the entire album together. "It's a kind of prayer; the whole album points to that, too," says the singer, who was raised a Catholic. "You expect a prayer to be full of melancholy and a little bit grovelling, but it's not — it's a defiant prayer. It says 'Here I am, this is who I am, I'm happy with where I am, will you forgive me, will you give me a place in heaven? This is your last chance, because I'm telling you even if you don't, I don't care.' I think what I'm saying is that I'm not asking for permission any more. If there's no place in heaven for me I don't give a damn. If this is purgatory, I'm pretty happy here." Fans will get to hear these songs on his Asian summer tour, with stops in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shenzhen on the schedule. Mika's soft rebellion should work in his favour; after all, Grace Kelly was an experiment in rejecting industry standards and became a huge hit. The only caveat to going against the grain is that everything must be carefully curated by Mika himself. His latest album cover is his own illustration, most of the photographic images are taken by a friend, and his songs revolve around his friends and family. The 2007 song, Lollipop, which bumps along to a Diwali Riddim sample, has Mika preaching to his younger sister and imploring her not to have sex too early. "I represent something different, and I have to constantly work to achieve that because I don't have a big machine behind me like a lot of other artists," he says. "When I was younger, doing all that kind of work was really draining. It felt like I was being squashed because I didn't know how to handle it. Now it's the opposite: I see it as freedom." At the age of 31, Mika could be reaching the apex of his career with "No Place in Heaven", but a large part of his charm is his ability to be pop-oriented without falling prey to trends. "I wanted to create something that sounded timeless," he says of the album, "so you wouldn't know if it had been recorded five years ago or in five years' time. That becomes irrelevant for the record. It feels like the most important things are the lyrics, the melody, the song and the voice. "Travelling around the world, I've realised that within the noise and cacophony of all these different places and cultures, the only thing that can truly cut through it all is something that's not a copy of a copy — something that's extremely personal and intimate."

Thanks a lot, Anne!!

Thaks a lot for sharing it!!

Thank you very much, Eriko!!

Many thanks, Chloe for sharing it, and Anne!! Another beautiful and interesting interview!

Thanks a lot for sharing, Lucrezia! Wonderful interview!

Thank you very much, Eriko!!

Another video interview: http://video.tvzap.kataweb.it/show/mika-cosi-x-factor-mi-ha-migliorato-come-artista/5893/5918 Mika: 'Così X Factor mi ha migliorato come artista' In occasione della presentazione della giuria di X Factor 9 a Milano, la pop star Mika (alla terza edizione nel talent targato Sky) ha parlato a TvZap di quel che si aspetta da questa nuova esperienza ma anche del nuovo disco in uscita a giugno dal titolo No Place In Heaven e di come fare televisione abbia migliorato la sua vita di artista. Intervista di Fabio Pisanu Mika: 'So X Factor improved me as an artist' During the presentation of the jury of X Factor 9 in Milan, the pop star Mika (in its third year in the talent branded/of Sky) spoke to TvZap of what he expects from this new experience but also of the new album coming out in June entitled "No Place in Heaven" and how television has improved his life as an artist. Can anyone put the video on youtube or somewhere else, please?

The link is of the last year's press conference, of XFactor 2014.They have corrected it now: https://youtu.be/Jxo0eyf4amc Yes, Elio and his band are very good, their songs are full of irony and satire The funniest things in the press conference were the irony of Elio, the expressions especially on the faces of Elio and Mika, but also of Fedez and Alessandro Cattelan, to certain things that Simon Cowell said, but especially their laughter to the bullsh*t that Cowell said about Andrea Faustini, the Italian boy who last year participated in XF UK ("I don't mean to be rude, but...") . Mika spoke well, his answers were good and smart and it was interesting what he said about X Factor UK (the judges don't choose the songs that the contestants have to sing) and about the Italian version (judges have a lot more freedom, but also more responsibility). The difference between the articles, the reports of journalists and the real atmosphere at the press conference, especially for what concerns Cowell, was really interesting, and also typical.

Thanks for sharing it, cathouzouf! Here you can see it better, I found it in pdf:

Yes, it's really a big problem in all countries.In Italy there are government, institutions and other organizations initiatives, but when it comes to bullying and discrimination against LGBT people, the opposition of the Church and Catholic extremists are really a very big obstacle and in fact, unfortunately, they have already blocked some of them.Continue to insist and talk about it openly is very important.

Thanks!

I'm really trying to avoid discussions and polemics, but as others have expressed their "like", so I'll just say: I don't agree with you, at all.

If you talk about XF7 I agree with you, but Elio e Le Storie Tese, his band, are not, they are all excellent musicians with great e varied musical competence and talent.Try looking at some of their video on youtube, there are many.

Thank you!

Yes, thank you Eriko!

You are welcome! And I totally agree with you, unfortunately it's a problem underestimated by many people and it's a real injustice that in many countries, the government leaders and institutions don't want to take serious initiatives to combat it, and when they do support them against the usual detractors, especially if it is exclusively associated to harassment / bullying towards LGBT students (and not also outside the school, obviously), despite the many suicides.Not knowing what to do and the feeling of being alone against their tormentors must be the worst thing, so well be those who speak openly about this and gives or tries to give advice to deal with it.

If anyone has doubts, also because the media, press, social networks, and even wikipedia (and of course what the same Mika often says in interviews, although he doesn't speak of nationality, but of cultural belonging, indeed the mix of cultures in which he and all his family belong), are confusing: http://www.mikafanclub.com/topic/14964-what-nationality-is-mika/page-3?hl=%20mika%20%20nationality http://in.reuters.com/article/2009/09/19/us-mika-idINTRE58I09520090919 Quote: "Mika was born in Lebanon but has a dual U.S. and British citizenship" http://beirutspring.com/blog/2008/08/04/guest-writer-why-it-matters-that-mika-is-not-lebanese/ Although here there is of course the same mistake regarding his mother, because she was born in the US and she's Us citizen.And, in any case, not even she can/could have the Lebanese nationality because her mother is Lebanese, but her father was Syrian. If anyone is interested, here there are some other article about Lebanese women's rights in English, Italian and French: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Mar-21/167487-hariri-vows-to-achieve-womens-rights.ashx#axzz1rdonZ68l https://nationalitycampaign.wordpress.com/ https://beirut7.wordpress.com/2014/04/24/351/ http://www.lorientlejour.com/multimedia/583-le-ras-le-bol-des-libanaises-qui-ne-peuvent-transmettre-leur-nationalite-randa-awada-3-3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Asia#Lebanon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanese_nationality_law http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condizione_della_donna_in_Asia#cite_note-85 I think that Mika has clearly and understandably always felt the need to protect himself, his family, his partner and the other persons close to him by too much outside attention.Now he is definitely more open and honest, but some defense mechanisms are obviously still there (old habits die hard!) and this too is understandable.

You are welcome!

You are welcome