*Vv*

I haven't seen this posted yet so I'll do it. In the Italian page of Mika's Facebook this appeared. It says: "A new song from Mika is coming. Talk about you will be available for listening from Wednesday online for Italian fans too, but surprises are not over, a new single is to be released soon in Italy." Does it mean TAY is not gonna be a single in Italy instead another song will be?

Why on earth was I thinking all the contestants chosen after the battles would go straight to the live shows?! It doesn't make sense... I'm dumm!

Thank you Thank you Thank you!!! Fanny's speech is very touching!

That sums up the whole concept perfectly

Is it really going to be the first single? I thought they would share the video of The last party caught during his performance with the OSM as a promotional thing as they did with Make you happy back in 2012.... Anyway if it is I'm very glad he chose a song which is this catchy and won't stop playing into many people's minds, mind you it's quite sad; if I were him I'd choose something more joyful as first single...

I was wondering: Am I the only one who loves the piano/guitar version better than the orchestral one?

I'm very curious to know how this song came to life, what was the idea that popped up in his head when he wrote such sad words. The music is just heartbreakingly bittersweet... It plays in my head no stop!

thanks a milion, as always!!

Is there a good soul who's able to upload these files on a website with a videoreader so that we can watch it without downloading them? with my old pc and my internet connection is impossible to achieve it I would usually watch them on mikawebsite site but this time they didn't make it possible to:blink: thank you in advance!

Hahahah how could you keep following the lesson after such news?

Love his suits!

:cheer: that's how i feel right now after reading this!

Lmfao! This one was hilarious! Thank you for all you reports and stuff! I'm trying to imagine the wonder....

I so much love this colours and textures! I love the line with the man and the dog playing together! So cute!

Very interesting!! Let's hope we'll be able to listen to at least a few bits of those amazing moments! Lucky those who can be there and enjoy it, and will also listen to some new stuff... Album end of April...... Amaaaaazing!

I'll do it with pleasure as soon as I get home. I've taken a couple of days off and I'm spending some time with a few friends on the island of Malta. I'll post it next Monday or Tuesday. Greetings from Il Belt:huglove:

I'll do it, I've already read it, it's quite long and some parts are really boring, I'll translate Mika-related parts and other parts that might be interesting when it comes to Xfactor. ---------------- Here it is! I've translated the first part completely, as he speaks about the beginning of his XF and Mika, then I translated the other few parts where he says something Mika-related, and I summerized the most interesting parts. All you ever wanted to know about talent shows, explained by Alessandro Raina We’ve interviewed Alessandro Raina, he can explain a talent show like Xfactor from the point of view of someone who worked inside it: he told us about the gay lobby power, about the presumption of the talent, which is hidden but is still there. A long reading that would shed some light on how things work both in tv and in some major labels. Let’s start from step one: Xfactor. How did everything begin, and what was your first impression about it? Let’s point out from the beginning, I’ve never followed Xfactor. I only followed the seasons when the Aram Quartet won and Giusy Ferreri reached the second place and the one of Mengoni. I would’ve never imagined I would enter this kind of programs, unless working as an author, but without a snob attitude. I’ve never been critic towards this talent, maybe I was for Amici (another Italian talent) that I pararadoxically followed more than the others, mainly to understand how the singing lessons were going on. I arrived at Xfactor completely out of the blue, when I got a call from Giulio Mazzoleni, a former collaborator of Universal, that meanwhile had joined Mika’s staff, he knew me because of the promotion of the last record of Amor Fou (I think it’s an Italian group), in particular thanks to one thing we worked together for Vanity Fair. When Xfactor decided to add this new figures, the producers, he proposed me, who in this contest was a brand new and a bit different element, who came from a much more alternative environment than the other ones that had been suggested, I was younger and with a more international attitude, all things that he believed Mika could like. At the end it came out as expected, but when I went to the Assago Forum for my job interview, in August, I walked away feeling furious because everything lasted three minutes after a 4-hours waiting, with Mika who would turn his back on me while making some tea, and me who would try to fill these embarrassing silences. After me it was Bertallot’s turn, he stayed inside for 40 minutes and came out with his arm around one of the author’s shoulders, for me the outcome was quite clear, but I was wrong. What kind of interview was it? They asked me what, in my opinion, hadn’t work the previous year, what was my opinion about Mika and his choices. I simply told them what I could and what I couldn’t do…so in case it came to my mind someone who could do better than I could, I told them I would suggest them the right person. On the contrary, on the things I know I could do, I was pretty sure I was the right person. So I told Mika I wasn’t a fan, that I only knew 2 or 3 of his songs and that I would never have an adoring or servile attitude towards him. I thought it was better to tell the truth, without trying to be cool, even if I really thought I wouldn’t make it because I was convinced that people like me, wouldn’t fit in a contest like Xfactor’s. Unexpectedly I received a call after two months, in which I was told that Mika hadn’t talked about that anymore after the interviews, because he had already chosen I would be the right person (even if anyone had figured that out), he told me during a great meeting of two hours at his place in which we laid the foundations for our collaboration. Truth be told, they didn’t know what the role of a producer, in that program was; for them it started out as an experiment as they had to find someone musically competent who could support the judges and who was closer to the contestants’ age, someone who wouldn’t seem a teacher and who could dialog with the judge as well as with the bases producer machine. You should imagine Xfactor as a big city with many branches that don’t communicate too well between them, then there’s the loft where the contestants live, that’s a parallel world. At a certain point anyone must face anyone and that might create some problems, for this reason they looked for someone who could talk in a professional way both with the judges (who are perceived like Gods, who can decide and are allowed to do whatever they want ), with the authors and with the guys, with whom we would spend a lot of time. ----------------- He then talks about his role, he would spend many hours (5-6 per day) with the guys, either alone or working with the vocal coach, he says that his relationship between him and the guys was very siblings-like, he would help them both artistically and psychologically. He then says that many talents are real artists who can play tons of instruments, work really hard (as the winner Lorenzo Fragola) and see Xfactor as a university where they can learn a lot from big artists and professionals, and some others who have just come out of a singing school and may have some problems such as not being able to create a strong image of themselves or having the right attitude for a show like the one they’re in. He points out that that the 80% of the voting audience is very young and therefore the young naïve artist is what this program seems to be looking for. He thinks that this kind of talents can survive as long as this genre of music sells, the interviewer point out that men are mostly songwriters, and women tends to be interpreters and have songs written by others, he explains that in this last few years singers like Malika Ayane o Francesca Michielin are beginning to write their own music or the ones who don’t, are more and more willing to have credits and larger parts of the profit. He tells that authors like him, have to write at least 3 great hits per year if they want a big profit, while once they only have to write a few big-hits and they would live thanks to those for years. He lists some of the authors that influences him: Radiohead, Venditti, Minghi. In his point of view shows like Xfactor have an audience that wants to be more and more protagonist, and that’s not always a good thing. The positive aspect of these shows is that they are a good way to invest and build talents, which is something that the music industry is always in need of. He goes on talking about hidden talents and stuff and says that in Italy, girls like Miley Cyrus would be covered with insults and not valorized as they are abroad. He then refers to the Roman girl who, during the auditions took off her clothes showing a Wonder Woman “dress“, who walked off stage repeating “Italy is not ready for this” when the first person who voted against her was Mika who’s half-English half-Lebanese! The thing he had to teach the most was discipline, in particular to those who think to be not-understood-talents and behave like children when the attention is not completely on them all the time, or claim to sing a particular song, not listening to their suggestions. He narrates about his work with Malika Ayane, Emma Marrone and other artists. Later on he says that the kind of musical language that’s used by himself, De Gregori, Mika or a songwriter of the 70es is pretty much the same, as it comes from music studies. He confirms the existence of the lobby, pointing out that authors working in Xfactor, are mostly gay or aged people, and that it affects the choices, the direction and the interpersonal relations inside XF.

"Musically this time should be the Lebanese-British singer Mika the one to entertain the 400 guests. The Audi Night held in the same hotel was, as always, without media coverage on stage The British-Lebanese singer Mika, a surprise guest at the hotel "Zur Tenne"." That's a quick translation if you were wondering...

I thought the very same thing ad soon ad I stumbled across this story!

Eventually....!

I know it's a bit off topic but as it concerns Italy I thought I could add it here. If someone is interested, Stardust has just been certified Platinum for the 4th time.

Meee tooooo!

Mika at the piano!

Mika at the piano!