Coraline6

15 hours ago, ladyolivier said:

Another american chiming in: I don't think he's disliked here at all, in fact I'd say he's generally liked by the people who have heard of him. Problem here is, no one has heard of him! I wear a Mika t shirt to school (college) fairly often, and I...might have pictures of him all over my laptop and phone  (it's cute and tasteful I promise! ) Point being, I usually have a mika reference somewhere on my person in a building full of 2007 pop-music aged people. I've only ever run into a couple people who know who is: one who's one of my friends who actually really knows him (a rare case) and loves him, and two people who kind of know him and respond in the exact same way: "Isn't he the guy who did the song with Ariana Grande?". If I hear that one more time I might scream! The annoying thing is he's rather invisible in america despite his popularity in Europe. His music is never played on our radio (and I do mean absolutely never. It is used as background music in malls and stores every now and then though - heard Staring at the Sun in my mall and Celebrate being played in a Toys-R-Us) and you cannot find his CDs even on the shelf in most stores which carry CDs and even dedicated music stores like FYE. Basically, it would be possible to live an entire, full and pop-culture-literate life in America and never hear of Mika once. It makes me sad! I've turned a couple people into fans/made them aware of him and everyone I've seen introduced to him at least liked him if not loved him, so I think if people here knew about him more he would be pretty well loved.

 

Get with it, american radio. Play us more Mika!!

Oh I never thought he was disliked...just sadly not very well known.  I agree though..play more Mika!!!  

May I ask you where you bought your Mika tee shirt?  I tried to purchase the one on Mikasounds but it is sold out:( I really like the shirt with the "No Place in Heaven" illustration on it.

21 hours ago, frenchfan84 said:

Well, as a French, I don't think that he has got all the support that he should have at all. I mean... Everyone knows him as the one who's talking too much in The Voice (Even if nobody remembers that he was the only coach to turn his chair for kendji who is now quite famous in France and won the season two years ago). It's so sad to say that this is the only way that people remember him... BUT there is quite a big Mikafan community in France (which is awsome)!

Living in the UK I've also been able to see if he was well known over here as well. The answer is no. Definitely not. Some devoted fans are here (the bests ;-)) but nobody remember him. Most of the people that I asked only recognised him when I played Grace Kelly or Lollipop but didn't know it was him ! 

I agree with @teenagedreamer98, He should do a UK tour and meet his fans ;-)

Wow!  That is sad he is known as the one who talks too much.  I think he is charming and honest and funny! So some people who watch The Voice  in France view him negatively??

I watch The Voice clips on youtube even though I don't speak french just to see Mika:) and I have been introduced to some good content as well!

I agree he should try to tour the UK/Canada/USA and remind people why he is so amazing!

Hi everyone:)

I was just thinking the other day about how Mika is mostly involved in France and Italy these days.  

I am from Canada and am a really big fan of Mika...I wish he received the notoriety he deserves.   I have never understood why he isn't popular in the U.S.  His music is amazing and of course he is very handsome and a lovely person.  I am always shocked that not many people here in Canada talk about him or know his music (I am not from Quebec though).  

I saw a commenter say he should try the USA/UK audience again and I agree! His music is too amazing to go unnoticed by these countries. 

So how is Mika perceived in your country?  

Hello everyone!

I realize that Mika hates his song "Erase".  I understand that it sounds much more mainstream for the time than his other songs did.

I wanted to know though...when I listen to Erase and especially the chorus piano part, it reminds me of other songs from around 2007.

I cannot think of one actual song name though and it is really bothering me!  Some people in a fourm a while ago mentioned The Climb being similar but I don't think it has the same atmosphere as Erase (and I really dislike The Climb!).  I know a few songs from that time period felt very similar though and I want to know what they are!

If anyone can remember any songs from the 2000s that sound like Erase please comment!

Thank you

There's not a lack of mobility these days unless you believe there is.  Some children born into poor families seem to think they are doomed to remain poor while others see it as an incentive to better themselves.

 

There are lots of people from unpromising backgrounds who have worked their way up to becoming millionaires.

 

But I agree with Sosi that class consciousness is not on most peoples' minds these days.

I'm glad to hear that!

Whether it's silly or not it happens. I am from Yorkshire, in the north of England. Northern accents are sometimes considered to make people sound 'thick' . When I was growing up, and realised that I wanted to work as a nanny, I made a conscious effort to change my accent to a level which would be more acceptable to possible employees in London. I didn't want to go to interviews and be judged by my accent rather than my ability to do the job. Interestingly, in my first job, my employer said that when I talked to my family or boyfriend on the phone she couldn't understand a word I was saying as my accent changed, but I wasn't aware of that.

I didn't mean it was silly if people did try to change their accent....I meant to ask if my question was silly:)  Hope I didn't come off as offensive!

Thanks for sharing though this is all so interesting to me

There is far less emphasis on class than there used to be, and I don't think we try to classify immigrants in this way.  There are plenty of immigrants highly qualified in their own countries who end up doing relatively poorly paid work in the UK for one reason or another.  Your immigrant lawyer would probably be seen as upper middle class, if anything.  And a tourist is just a tourist

 

You have to remember that many of the aristocratic families effectively ruled Britain for hundreds of years so they have always seen themselves as a class apart.  It's the lack of this historical glass ceiling that enabled Americans and Canadians to break away from the class system and encourage people to achieve wealth by their own efforts (the American dream).

Are people in the UK upset by the lack of mobility considering you cannot help which family you are born into or is it something just accepted?  

It is indeed very confusing. I don't know that people in the U.K. Would try and 'class' visitors because it wouldn't really be relevant.

I have worked quite extensively as a nanny and I once worked for a man who had an arosotcratic background. He hated his accent as he saw it as a real disadvantage because people considered him 'too posh'.

As Silver says there is a big difference between Old money and New money and some people tend to look down on people who have become successful and it isn't admired like it is in North America.

Wow that is something!  Do some people in your country try to change their accent to appear more or less posh (depending on what they want to achieve and who they want to fit in with) or is that silly? 

Believe me, the class system can baffle us too.

 

It's based on occupation as well as income.  I guess working class = blue collar, middle class = white collar, as a rough comparison.  But middle class itself can be split into lower, middle and upper too.

 

Someone from a lower class background could work their way up to middle class - say your father was a miner but you became a teacher.

 

However, upper class is generally thought of being aristocracy - pots of money due to illustrious ancestors.  There is a definite division between old money (upper class) and new money (people who have made a fortune from their own efforts).  But today's new money people would gradually become old money people over the course of a few generations, simply because their children could go to the top schools and afford to mix with the upper class.  Dukes and barons have been joined by the descendants of 19th century industrialists.

 

Generally, however, you could marry into the upper class, but otherwise you can only be born into it.

 

So your family moving to the UK would probably be "classed" according to the occupation of the parents.

Wow.  So it seems like "new money" is looked down upon?  That is strange considering someone working for their fortune is very admirable vs just inheriting it!

In North America (Canada/US) a doctor or a lawyer can be upper class based on their income and be part of the 1%.  There can be a middle class doctor or lawyer not making very much money (respectively) but white collar workers can very much be part of the upper class 1%.  Think successful plastic surgeons in Beverly Hills etc.  

So you are saying a successful lawyer immigrant would only be middle class in the UK despite being wealthy? Interesting!

Do people from the UK try to "class" (I don't mean this in a rude way at all, just trying to phrase it correctly!) people traveling from other countries to the UK for vacations and is it hard because their accent doesn't really give them away?  Or does it not work like that?

Thanks for the insight into your country:)

Mika has described himself as having an 'airport accent' which I think is pretty accurate. I would agree with Silver that his accent varies depending on where he is. But to pick up on one of your original points about 'class' yes, it does affect accent and I would describe Mika's English accent as 'well spoken' in line with his family background but no, not as posh as HRH and not RP.

Thanks for answering!  Since you went back to my class point, I have another question if you don't mind answering it.  The British class system is very confusing to me.

So let's say someone moves to the uk from somewhere such as the US or Canada when they are young with their family.   How does that person and their family fit into your class system?

Even if they are very wealthy, I heard money doesn't really have anything to do with class (which is not true in North America, money has a lot to do with class).  Who your ancestors are has a lot to do with your class.  So how would those people be perceived from fellow UK citizens considering they don't really have any ancestors from the UK? I'm sorry if this is a strange question I'm just trying to understand better:)

This is a difficult question to answer, as Mika's accent tends to vary.

 

If he is in the US and does interviews, he picks up a lot of American words/phrases and sounds more American.  He also has more of this mid-Atlantic accent if he is giving an interview in English while performing in Europe.

 

But if he is in the UK for a while, he gradually sounds more English

 

To a lot of UK fans, he also pronounces some words strangely (like "golden" in "We Are Golden" and "water" in "Underwater") and we have had many long  discussions about this

 

He doesn't have the RP accent in my opinion.

Thanks for your reply, that was interesting:)  I love the British accent I wish I had one! When brits go to America, people swoon over their accent! When ever I travel to America they just make fun of the way I say about or how they hear it "aboot"....sigh.

An interesting thing he has said about his accent is that when he's in America in a place that he likes, for example New York, he starts sounding more American. But when he's in a place that he hates, like Los Angeles, he sounds more British than usual. 

That is interesting! Did he ever say why he hates LA?

Hello everyone! Hope you are all doing well:)

I am new here but I have a question about Mika's Accent.

This question is especially for those living in the UK.

I am from Canada so I am not too familiar with the accents in the UK, but I know there are a lot.  I like learning about accents.

I learned that social class has a lot to do with accent with is very strange to me and my Canadian friends!  

To those from the UK, how would you describe Mika's accent?  

I hear a little bit of an American accent in his voice.  Am I the only one who thinks this?

It doesn't sound very much like Prince Charles...but I know the Prince has a very posh accent of course!

Would you say Mika has the "Received Pronunciation" accent, or something else?  If you could tell me what  you think that would be great:)

Thank you!