Pascale

Very wise of him. It's probably best if he just stays the silent object of all our projections and thoughts and isn't involved actively in any discussion or drama at all. Why people ever want to be famous is completely beyond my understanding. Must be exhausting. Except for the fact that you are in the position to meet or work with a lot of interesting people. I don't think he really expects it. He just would like it to be so, because he is so happy being him at the moment and he wishes us to be just as happy as well . Let's agree he's a bit self centered. And that's very normal. I understand your feeling perfectly but let's just wait and see what happens. Too many nervous fans will make Mika more nervous as well. So relax. As he's often said himself: he likes challenges and he likes to be scared. It keeps him alert. Edit: Reality check: I just discovered about the situation in Brussel. That news makes this whole dicussion rather irrelevant now anyway.

sorry, my reactions are a bit behind in this discussion. I got your point and agree with it. Just wanted to react to the : "used these days to getting only compliments so no need to work hard anymore" aspect of it. I do think it's too harsh to characterize it as "spoiled". Just as I think it's too harsh to call it "bordering to narcissism" if he is happy because he had the feeling his fans were like him when he saw all the flags in the Adelphi. But perhaps you attach less negative connotations to those terms than people usually do.

Yes, thanks for your reaction. I was very buzy these last few days, so I didn't have the time to answer until now. By the way, my disappointment was not about his not interacting with fans in general. But in this -IMO somewhat exceptional- case his silence leaves room for the possibility that he doesn't care at all if he gave a long time fan a miserable time by his rather careless comments.That might be not true at all but that's where my feeling came from when we heard nothing at all. Part of my personal fandom for Mika is the sympathy that I feel for him as a clever and kind and generous person who is aware of his motives and actions. I realize it is an idealized image based on a public persona but even so, i do feel that sympathy and so I also felt deception and disappointment when he (possibly) didn't live up to that image. Rather bizar since I don't know him and he doesn't owe me any explanation of course. I guess i should have been a fan of a popstar when I was sixteen, so I wouldn't be so surprised and intrigued by all those things now I'm 48. (and loving it )

I think it's a bit of everything. I don't believe that his meeting his fans and talking to them was originally done only to to please the fans and make them happy. I wasn't there but from what I read and watched on this forum I think he really liked most of the interaction and he liked inventing ways to keep the fans involved. And as said in several posts, he still enjoys it and does it once in a while. I also believe he realizes very well that he as an musician and performer will always need a public for his music and performances, not just for the money but because it inspires him and gives him energy. So he probably is still grateful even now as he said in Montreal. However of course the novelty of this interaction wears off after a few years especially when you like changes and exploring new things like Mika does. In the beginning it probably felt very natural and enjoyable to him to please fans and most of the the time not hard work at all to make them happy. But without the curiosity and excitement from the new experiences in the beginning I can very well imagine that, after so many years, gradually something he once liked is starting to be more demanding and he is beginning to feel obligation and pressure instead of enjoyment. Not because he rationally doesn't appreciate the gifts and favours of fans anymore or wouldn't like to meet any of them anymore but because he has seen and done it all a thousand times before. Then indeed it becomes too much not because he doesn't want (or feel the need) to please others anymore but because there's too little in it to please himself too. Except for special moments like in Montreal. I don't have the feeling it has a lot to do with the fact that so many fans nowadays are thrilled out about him anyway so he doesn't have to work hard to keep them. But who knows: it may be a factor as well. He said his new Chinese fans gave him new energy. That probably says it all even without understanding how this all works for him.

To be honest, I find it a bit disappointing that Mika hasn't reacted at all after the commotion about the interview and goes on twittering about Dita Von Teese as if nothing has happened. Probably it's too much to ask that he bothers about things like this. Maybe he doesn't even know. Or possibly he (probably rightly) thinks it's best for everyone not to say anything in public about it (yet) so the storm will blow over and more drama can be avoided. Or it could also be that he's still fine with what he said in the interview and sees no need to get back on it. Or.... Many possibilities. But since we don't know or hear anything, I feel kind of dissatified with the present outcome. However it's not that I know what would be the right solution. It's hardly any of my business anyway since I said myself that in the end this is between Mika and Jemma. But because it's all been so in the open and there has been so much discussion about it, it would be nice to see an openly happy ending or any ending at all. Weird thing this artist/fandom/social media thing. The conflicts are the same as in real life but there's an extra complicating element because of the involvement of so many people watching it all happening and commenting on it from the sideline.

Yes, me too, I'm a fan of Waiting for love. Last week, a duo sang a nice cover of that song at the auditions of Voice France. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NER4NvL4HMwI just read on wikipedia that Avicii is the 6th fastest growing compagny in Europe in 2016. It really is the scandinavian Era now. The vikings are back! No, I'm not going. Would be nice but I'm saving money to visit Vilnius and Riga at the end of May to go to a concert of a certain Lebanese/English/French singer. Maybe not as modern as Kygo but a great performer and I'm curious to find out how the fans are in that part of the world. And how life is in the Baltic states. I want to go by boat if it isn't too expensive. Seems the right way to travel to those Hanze cities.

I like Kygo's At least we stole the show a lot. Weird but funny video. Good performance at Ellen's indeed. I hadn't seen it yet. He did an very good acoustic version in a Dutch tvshow ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxHKnXZuMJs) . although I prefer the official version. The acoustic one is a bit too slow to my taste. Parson James has an incredibly strong life voice though, at least if they haven't tricked the recording in the shows.

I don't know about the others but I keep writing because I like dicussions about Mika, fanhood, expectations and life in general a lot. And although there is a lot of repetition there's still enough new material or new ways of bringing the old arguments to keep me interested. Second reason: I'm kind of addicted to being on the Internet lately, probably a way of escaping real life. You didn't hurt my feelings but i'm afraid you may have started a new discussion. . The best way to make us stop is not to answer at all.

but remember: he is doing it for your own good. Your world would be so much nicer if you were open to more influcences. As opposed to your egoistical reasons that he should make music that you like.

Yes exactly. that's why his disappointment is just as big as yours. He should listen to himself more often.

Is it pointless? But I agree too many differentations and refinings make an argument unbearable and nondescript. So i won't argue against this. I don't implicate that. I'm just questioning if that's the reality. Maybe there's no reason for you but I like watching people trying to be a diamond as well. I find it much more interesting to see people struggling and learning even if in the end they will never be a big artist. I get bored by watching all those diamonds (i.e.great and established singers having fabulous shows). For example Celine Dion. I'm sure she is a very good singer but she doesn't interest me half as much as what's going on (like the interaction with the coaches) in the following auditon that was broadcasted in the last episode. https://vk.com/video232312753_456239065?z=video232312753_456239051%2Falbum232312753%2Fpl_232312753

https://vk.com/video232312753_456239065 I'm posting the link to this interview (posted in Asian thread) here because I think the answer starting from 7:50 is very relevant to the discussion here. I don't mean it's the ultimate justification for Mika's doing and we should stop the discussion because the Master has spoken. But I think it makes more clear why it's so important for him that people accept his foreign influences. I completely agree with him that having no expectiations can make you much happier. It's pretty impossible for us humans though so he very well might give up that expectation as well. (though it's quite sweet the way he says "trust me, I'll take you somewhere cool", it makes me very inclined to trust him a little bit longer). Anyway having some expectations and disappointments is part of the deal with life and makes things more active and interesting as well. You very well might go and sit happily on a mountain doing nothing for the rest of your life if you haven't got any expectiation of life and people. It's all about the balance as always

Very interesting interview. Thanks very much for posting.

Haha, I think you'd better start from the premise that whether Mika is happy or not is much more important to loyal fan B than whether disappointed fan A is discontent or not. Then it's all suddenly becoming very logical. Well okay, maybe here you are talking about yourself but lots of times you're drawing conclusions for the whole English speaking population. But I'm going to bed now so I won't search all your posts now to prove my point. That's for another time. Good night.

I don't object to this attitude or choice. I object to you generalising your taste into the taste of all English speaking people. (not good english at all but I hope you get the point) and to you implying that this choice is the only logical choice (English) people can make. But thanks for your explanation. It's nice to hear more about this because I've never completely understood that it's like this for a lot of English people. Being Dutch I come from a completely different world since hardly anyone outside of Holland speaks Dutch and most of us are used to watching foreign movies, series etc. and to listening to music in different languages. It is part of our childhood and so part of our reference framework. That's a bigger difference than I realized until now. Oh but I totally share this frustration. I hate it that, whatever effort I'm making I will never be fluent in any foreign language anymore. I hate my "dutch"constructions in English. I'm very irritated when, re-reading my posts, I see new grammatical and spelling mistakes all the time. I would love to have a bigger vocabulary, so I could write more funny and original sentences. And English is my best second language, so you can imagine how frustrated I am trying to learn French or Italian, let alone Chinese or Turkish. If I could do it all over again, I would insist on learning at least 5 foreign languages before the age of 10. But strangely enough, this frustration doesn't stop me from enjoying learning completely new languages (and forgetting them just as quickly ) or trying to improve the languages that I'm more familiar with.

That's a good point you're making. I can't remember all my earlier posts and I won't go reading them again. But it might very well be that I made that connection as well somewhere. The conversation: A: I'm discontent that Mika is singing French B: Well, he likes singing French and he is happy doing that. sounds very logical to me. But when you think about it, it's not logical at all. However somehow there ís a correlation but there are some steps missing in this dialogue. Interesting, I'm going to think about it when I'm less tired..

no, it's more like asking why people that have their fridge full of food like their mother made, don't want to go out and do shopping for foreign food like falafel or quiche Lorraine.It's not like foreign entertainment is old fashioned or lags behind English culture. Noone should be obliged to eat different things than he/she already knows and I absolutely don't mean to say that sticking to familiar food is narrow minded (or intolerant) but some people enjoy trying out things that are foreign (I'm sure you do as well in other areas). I studied Classical languages because I am interested in different languages and grammar and because I believe the way to understand a culture more fully is to learn the language. One thing that I like about Mika is that his singing and talking in French and Italian stimulates me to learn those languages as well. I'm not saying everyone should be like me but to say that since the English language is the Lingua Franca, there's no reason for English speaking people to learn other languages is a denial of the great pleasure that a lot of people get from doing that

The reason why I mentioned his happiness during performing the old songs was not to defend his decision to perform them. I was just mentioning a reason why he still did it after all those years (except for giving his fans a good time). I don't believe that Mika is entitled to expect his fans to pay for his happiness. I believe he is entitled to choose whatever setlist for whatever motivation (happiness/money/fan-wishes/ career opportunities) and his fans are entitled to go to the concert or to stay away and they are fully entitled to dislike his new music and his participation in tv shows and to repeat that over and over as well.

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I'm puzzled about his -inner- reaction at the concert and his remarks in the interview. It all seems so out of proportion. At first it made me also think that he meant someone else. But let's not start the whole discussion over again, hopefully time will give some answers. Interesting analysis. There's some truth in it but as usual I don't agree completely. I don't listen to the "uninteresting" songs because I want to be a good fan. Actually I don't want to be a fan at all. It sort of happened and now I'm okay with it because it's more fun than I ever thought it would be. So the reason I keep listening to those songs is either because they are on the cd's and I don't like skipping songs or because there is something that intrigues me in the clips on YouTube (like Mika's interaction with the Boyzone boys and the crazy dancing girls behind the singers) or because there's something in the melody or words that interests me or appeals to me even if I don't particularly like the song as a whole in the beginning. For example I listened to L'Amour a lot because I wanted to understand the lyrics and practice pronouncing French. And like I said I really love his voice, so I don't have to "force" myself to listen to any song. However it is certainly true that I wouldn't have listened to a lot of his songs more than once if they weren't Mika's and it's also true that they don't reflect my taste in music even if that taste is very eclectic and I like all different kinds of songs. I don't know if I adore Mika. Maybe I do, he certainly means something special to me although my sun doesn't rise and set (anymore) with the light in his eyes. But I don't think it's this "adoration" that makes me like the more recent songs. There are quite a few nice songs at TOOL and NPIH and even the more "uninteresting" songs have catchy melodies. I might not think that they are very good but i don't think they are bad as well (with a few exceptions, but again even those songs have catchy melodies) And as a whole the cd's give me a happy mood, so that's a very good reason to like all the songs But why use the word "blame"? He couldn't go on doing the same things the did on his first two records so I think it's fine that he tries to find other inspiration and why not outside the English pop game. There are great French or Italian artists that could be interesting influences. Okay, I agree that at the moment the result is not great (at least not to me, there are a lot of people that love his new music) but it might very well be again one day. It's not easy to renew yourself. Most artists never do and some artists have a few "lesser" cd's and than suddenly they are back with wonderful new things. I'm not sure if participating in the Voice/X-factor or immersing in French ad Italian music will be beneficial to his music in the end but time will tell. At least he tries different things. By the way what I think is just as distracting from re-inventing himself as his participation in the Voice ad X factor is that he keeps performing so many of his old songs. I understand very well that people still want to hear those songs in a gig. I'm glad i myself got the chance to hear them live because i wasn't there in 2007/8. And I guess it's still fun for him because he looks very happy at his gigs. On the other hand, I can't believe it's very inspiring or creative to perform Grace Kelly or Lollipop for the 300th time even if he uses new arrangements. I 100 % agree with this

Oh but I agree that L'Amour isn't great pop music. It ís kind of dated especially in the album version. But in this piano version it's a sweet simple song and I like the soft quiet way he performs it here (more rythmical than on the album) and I like his voice. Funny thing with Mika' music is that even if at first I didn't really like some of his songs I got used to almost all of them and I don't mind hearing any of them now. There's something about his timbre and intonation and his way of pronouncing words that I really love. It's sort of soothing and comforting. It's even like that when he talks. And he is great in writing melodies that stick with you. Having said that I find a lot of his songs rather cheesy but strangely enough I don't mind that at all and it doesn't stop me from listening to them. For example the song Gave it all away (sung with Boyzone) or Good guys are the kind of songs that I usually never listen to or find interesting. But if Mika sings them, I'm fine with it, I keep repeating them and I even like them after a while. I'm not saying his recent music is very good. Stromae's Formidable (love love love that song and clip) is much more relevant and stronger (IMO) than any of Mika's recent songs. I'm definitely missing something in the NPIH-songs that used to be there in older songs, so I understand you very well when you say you miss "British Mika" . I miss him mostly in the combination of the songs with the clips or in most tv performances. There's nothing new or interesting happening there (again IMO). He was so much more intense in earlier performances for example Pick up off the floor at Jools Holland than in performing L' amour in the clip above. But there's still enough in his songs and performances for me to like, so I'm still a fan (although presumably not a good fan in the eyes of many here). Listening to NPIH gives me very good energy and a very good mood. I prefer his first second albums to TOOL and NPIH, I find them much more energetic. However I'm glad there is new material and there are some songs that I love on those two later records as well. In a different way but I still love them. About the difference between the French and the English songs to get back on topic, i think TAY and Staring at the sun are just as dated as L'Amour and Je Chante. And on stage I prefer the rythmical and energetic BBB a million times to the sentimental Good guys. But since French and English are both foreign languages to me and I like them both just as much, I 'm not in the same position as you so I get it that you feel different about that.

And again, i'm with you in this, although I like the beginning of Les baisers perdus. And I like this version of L'Amour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yTbgPniDvM

Well, you could learn/ perfect your French/Italian and watch the Voice/X-factor so we can talk about that.

Well, that's a general human quality IMO. Don't we all do that usually? It's rather difficult to step out of your own worldview. edit: I just read Naectegales post. Why say anything anyway. It's all been said and done before .

Let's agree to disagree about that too.

You could have fooled me. Or actually you did fool me. And then they say we Dutch are direct. I imagined you all sitting behind the computer, like this. I'm slowly getting used to the way of communicating here . It's just a bit confusing that there are so many different ways of doing that on the Forum. But let's say that's a challenge. I had fun too. At least people are reacting to my posts in this thread.