ellie

Haha I wonder if it is because Federico Aldrovandi is the name of a guy who was was killed by cops and there is an anti-police message in the video ( the ACAB graffity). I would have been offended if I were italian tbh, I dont think its his place to comment on italian society, or well not on this issue which is more of an american problem anyway

I wasnt too far off then

This wouldve sounded less try hard to me I think 'Can you blow my whistle' is gentler than 'I want your ice cream' I personally dont like hearing swear words in pop songs unless the whole song or album contains harsh words or is entirely explicit, but I dont see what random words like 's**t', '####' etc. add to a song - oftenly it actually sounds forced and unnatural

This song is still nonsensical to me

Ive seen a bit of criticism in the vein of 'he's too old for twee pop' and for how juvenile his lyrics are so Im not really surprised this is a favourite cuz the song imo is the most mature sounding on the album both in term of lyrics and sound. Also, their voices work surprisingly great together.

Dunno I got a clear story and mental image on first listen

It does sound like it could be a hit if released by someone else.

Same on spotify, most plays excluding pre released singles.

Kind of the same idea

He was in for a hook up not to fall in love I assumed thats supposed to express anger at himself daydreaming A metaphor for passion? This does sound awkward for me too

I think I was expecting something in italian not a name

So is 'James Dean' what he was singing This was the line I couldnt figure out and I feel so dumb now

Im not italian but I prefer this italian version simply because I find the lyrics much better There's a clearer narrative and more picturesque imagery and he also uhm.. sounds like an adult

Lol thats a reach, Ive never seen Mika confusing words in english and Im pretty sure he said he has problems with handwritting not typing. If the mistakes in the booklet are meant to show he is dyslexic then thats a poorly done job cuz it doesnt mimic his issues

I think we're all on the same page here

Yeah, and that he will have a dozen of dancers on tour and his music videos will be experimental films not promo videos

It looked like he had the artwork ready since may though so I dont get what happened here, the whole booklet looks fanmade

Adele is an english speaking singer based in UK while Mika is an english speaking singer based in France/Italy - no one is really looking at continental Europe for english songs

Was this review posted before? It is the fairest imo. https://www.popmatters.com/mika-my-name-michael-holbrook-2640966941.html Mika Delivers Undeniably Catchy Hooks on 'My Name Is Michael Holbrook' My Name Is Michael Holbrook, the fifth album by the English pop singer Mika, opens with the following lines: It's not a sunrise over canyons shaped like hearts It isn't bursting into song in Central Park It's not the outline of your face drawn in the stars It's a "still-there-Monday-morning" kind of love In just these few lyrics, the point of "Tiny Love" becomes clear. Mika, for all of his global fame and success, wants a loving relationship whose virtues are the small things. At first, the song seems deeply ironic; when you think of Mika, you think of songs like "Grace Kelly", "Underwater", and "Happy Ending", all songs which fall squarely into the "sunrise over canyons shaped like hearts" mold of songwriting. Any of Mika's studio records, with little modification, could be transformed into a jukebox musical as big as any that have graced Broadway stages. Mika's choice to distance himself from such grandeur – even though the arrangement of "Tiny Love" is as Queen-indebted as any tune of his we've heard before – indicates, along with the title My Name is Michael Holbrook itself, that he's perhaps taking a turn for the more introspective and personal. In a key post-chorus of "Tiny Love", Mika seems like he may be doing just that. The bombastic pop instrumentation that makes up the bulk of the track drops out, leaving only Mika and a gently played piano. "My name is Mika Holbrook / I was born in 1983", he states, "No, I'm not losing my mind / It's just this thing that you do to me / You get me high on a tiny love." The inclusion of those two biographical details is interesting. No one familiar with his music would mistake "Tiny Love" for anything but a Mika tune, and the year 1983 doesn't get much mention elsewhere, except in the frequent call-outs to 1980s pop throughout My Name is Michael Holbrook. Yet in the context of "Tiny Love", this confessional moment works. It's a reminder that beneath all the maximalist songwriting and theatricality that defines Mika's music, there's still an ordinary man underneath it all. My Name is Michael Holbrook gestures toward something like the mid-career self-titled LP, a chance for an artist to take stock of his work and what it all means. What unfolds throughout My Name Is Michael Holbrook's 13 songs is, well, not quite that. The record follows the path laid out by 2015's No Place in Heaven, to date Mika's strongest studio affair. My Name Is Michael Holbrook is polished, stadium-ready pop that appeals to a wide range of listeners. Mark Crew, a relatively young producer whose track record consists of work with UK pop and electronic acts like Bastille and Calvin Harris, lacquers nearly every single track on this LP, which keeps with how most of Mika's music has sounded in the past. On the soaring, radio-ready choruses of "Platform Ballerinas" and "Tomorrow", Crew and co-producer Dan Priddy ensure that the arrangements are reduced to their purest and cleanest expressions, which allows Mika's beautiful melodies to shine. As much as this pristine production flows naturally from Mika's songwriting style, it also flattens out the music in noticeable places. Even in the case of a pop singer like Mika, whose music feels of a piece with the way most top 40 artists are produced nowadays, production like My Name is Michael Holbrook's risks smoothing out edges that are at times needed to introduce sonic contrast and variety. The heartbreaking lyrical narrative of the piano ballad "Paloma", in which Mika recounts the night that his sister nearly died after falling off of her fourth-floor balcony, would have been better served by spare production and arrangement, ideally just Mika and the piano. A gentle drumbeat and some perfunctory strings which emerge in the second chorus add too much gloss to a tune whose beauty exists in its simple poignancy. This kind of production does work brilliantly, however, on the show-stopping duet with Jack Savoretti midway through the album, ''Ready to call this love''. A somewhat different production issue crops up with ''Sanremo''. It's a suave tropical number with an excellent chorus that's undercut by a generic pad synth/clap beat instrumental that sounds like the backing music to a promotional video for a Mediterranean cruise. In these two songs and other places on My Name Is Michael Holbrook ("Stay High", the remix-demanding "Dear Jealousy"), the songwriting is sharp, but the production doesn't match it. Edit: This doesnt fit into one post oops

Even younger than middle school I was talking more about the verses though, 'I want your ice cream' isnt the greatest hook

Oh I definitely didnt mean to say that I considered the lyrics meaningless but some stuff do sound jarring or childish to me ( Platform Ballerinas, Stay High ), Paloma is way too on the nose - i just cant really listen to it and also some songs feel too undercooked/ still at the concept phase ( like you said, I dont really hear the story behind Sanremo in the actual lyrics or with Tomorrow for example, the italian version sounds more like what I wouldve expected the song to be like from his description ). Actually, yeah I do get the feeling that he wanted to say more than he is revealing in interviews, but also he didnt really put his stories in the lyrics either. I think Ice Cream is pretty cleverly written for what it is, moreso than Celebrate or Talk abou you.

I dont get this Arent all artists borrowing from whats popular while also throwing in their personality? I agree with the rest, apart from the "able lyricist" part - the lyrics are the weakest part for me after more listenings

He just wants to say that joyful people maybe sour (blue) inside with the yellow line, doesnt he Hes playing up this concept of duality through the whole song. Rainbows come after the rain ( when youre blue ), no? I guess he wants to say that happiness ( rainbows ) doesnt last, and 'loving the blue in you' is what matter most. Dunno, the song makes sense to me but it feels a bit silly to analize the lyrics.

More charts #30 on Canadian Billboard #28 in Spain

These videos of Tomorrow and Dear Jealousy have been refreshing and the best thing he has done this era, WIZ and his pretentious concepts seemed... unfitting to me, dont even like Sanremo that much