IngievV Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Don't know if this is posted yet. British pop phenom Mika, 23, is celebrating chart success around the world with his debut single "Grace Kelly." From Hong Kong to Berlin, and from Tokyo to New York, people are raving about his debut album "Life In Cartoon Motion" that is packed with sugar-sweet, frivolous and ultra-catchy pop tunes. But even though Mika's music appears to be all about fun, the Lebanese-born singer doesn't shy away from discussing more serious topics in his songs. Take for example, "Billy Brown," which is about a married man falling in love with another man, or "Big Girl," which is about the beauty of plus-sized women. Pictured on the cover of OUT Magazine this month, Mika has kept mum about his personal life. He refuses to disclose his sexuality and rather lets his music speaks for itself. This has sparked a controversy among bloggers and fans about whether he has a duty to be more forward as a public role model or has a right to maintain his privacy regardless of his fame. After meeting Mika late 2006, Arjan met up again with the singer recently during his U.S. tour to talk about his global success, feeling like an outcast and the media's fascination with his sexuality. What is your life like now that "Grace Kelly" is topping the charts all over the world? I live like a gypsy! A slightly glamorous gypsy, but not always glamorous believe me. Are you surprised by the extent of the success? Do you have to pinch yourself every five minutes? "Grace Kelly" is a powerful song to have as a single, but what is most exciting for me is how the album as a body of work is connecting with so many people in so many different countries around the world. It feels amazing. It is completely surprising and feels very unreal. It hasn't really sunk in yet. It is very hard to sink in when you're at 30,000 ft eighty percent of the time. Have any particularly unusual things happened to you in your trips around the world? It is really hard for me to point one, single thing out. My life has been unusual from the age of eleven. I have been lucky enough to have had a quite abnormal life for the majority of my growing up years. Does that make me jaded? Perhaps. No, because I'm not. I'm excited about getting a brand-new brand of toothpaste in a little goody bag when I fly. I love it. I collect them now. Do you like celebrity and fame? No. That's not important to me. Buying coffee and getting recognized most certainly doesn't make my world spin. It does feel that I've been doing this for a while. I started singing when I was eleven. I've always had such a hard time in every aspect of my life, from academic work, to at home, to the financial situation with the family and moving around all the time. I really got serious about music with my Russian coach. My first gig was at eleven at the Royal Opera House and since then I have been traveling most of my time even when I was in school doing jobs all around Europe. So it does feel I have been doing this for quite a while. But of course it looks like an overnight success even though it was 12 years in the making. What I am getting at is that what I do hasn't changed, only the things around me have changed. I saw you perform at Coachella and I was impressed that you were able to get die-hard rock fans to bounce to "Grace Kelly." Your music touches all kinds of different people. You're right. I get 16-year-old goths, drunk 22-year-old pill-poppers, hyperactive 7-year-olds and 40-year-old musos. So what is it about your music that has this mass appeal? Have you figured it out yet? It is honest. You can call it pop; you can call it rock; you can call it dance-induced organic versions of pop with influences from the '70s and the '90s. You can try to write a doctorate about it and you would be wasting your time. At the end of the day, it is just honest credible music that takes a serious approach to put things across in the most empowering and accessible way and that's what good pop music is. In your lyrics, you often choose the side of the outsider or the outcast. Absolutely. I have been an outsider myself my entire life. I never was an outsider by choice. I was made to be the outsider -- like most people are. I considered myself somebody that was made to watch because I couldn't join in. What I write about lyrically is about normality. It is funny to me that the mundane or the everyday in a pop song suddenly seems very strange to people. So many things that are successful nowadays, especially in hip hop music, have so much to do with abnormal excess, materialism and superficialities that really you don't come across apart from in Hollywood. As soon as you start talking about the everyday or a character that you come across while going to the supermarket then that suddenly seems strange. So yeah, I suppose I take the normal -- I take the mundane; I take a character who is often overlooked. Like the girls in "Big Girl." I put them on a fantastical pillar and paint a multi-colored background and I stick a crown on their head, even when it is for three and a half minutes. Why did you feel like an outsider? As a child and teenager, I was completely rejected at school up until the age of 18. For every reason, first I was too short and fat, then I was too tall and skinny, my voice was too high, I liked music, I collect toys, I have a mother who is overweight, I supposedly had big hips. Everything. Some kids have trouble and some kids don't. I ended being the kid having trouble. So I had to deal with a lot of bullying and that obviously made me an outcast. Did it make you stronger? It gave me perspective. If it did empower me in any way that is certainly not to the credit of the bullies. That would only be to the credit of the family that I come from. We're quite a tough Lebanese matriarchal family. Bullies don't make you strong, they just destroy you. You just have to resist it. What is people's fascination with your sexuality? There's many reasons. In order to talk about something like that you have to deconstruct it. There's the celebrity aspect and in the world of reality television we have this notion that if you are someone who is put in the spotlight irrelevant of what you do for a living you're immediately deemed a public property. And because of that you're supposed to offer up your entire life on the plate and let people devour you like some cheap all-you-can-eat buffet. I'm not a salad bar! I choose to keep many things, not just my private life or personal life, to myself. I think you have to set up how you want to position yourself as a public figure. I'm a writer first. I'm a performer second. However, now that I've been performing more and I'm getting more well known, the celebrity aspect that comes with performing seems to take over everything. Do you think you're teasing your gay fans by going on the cover of OUT while not willing to be specific about your own sexuality? No. Not in the slightest. I have a very strong gay following. Very strong and I have been fostered by gay media and promoted by gay media in the U.K. and the U.S. almost before anybody else was promoting me. I think it would be dishonest and it would be wrong, and it would be really stupid not to do a cover like that. Attitude was the first cover in the U.K., OUT was the first cover in the United States. And I'm very proud of that. Is it true you received death threats because you don't want to discuss your personal life? Oh you know what, people rant a lot on blogs. It is not true? People just rant a lot. People that probably don't even listen to my music who only care about me as some sort of tabloid celebrity (. . .) They're not interested in my music. They're not interested in my career and they most certainly will never go to any of my shows. But it seems they have a lot to say about what comes out of my mouth or what doesn't come out of my mouth. I'm not interested in what they have to say. I'm only interested in people that are interested in me for the right reasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lollipopgirl92 Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 It looks familiar....I've read it before...But thanks anyway! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CazGirl Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 i recognise this interview...i think ive read before, most very likely on this forum, but thanks for posting anyway, im sure others havent seen it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babspanky Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Aaaah, I love Mika. How did that slip out. I must have been drunk or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IngievV Posted July 4, 2007 Author Share Posted July 4, 2007 i recognise this interview...i think ive read before, most very likely on this forum, but thanks for posting anyway, im sure others havent seen it! I looked for it, but couldn't find it. Anyways, it's here now again:roftl: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sara Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Well, i hadn't seen that one before so thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
my_rainbow_radio Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 "I'm not interested in what they have to say. I'm only interested in people that are interested in me for the right reasons." Best quote ever. I love him! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
violet_sky Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 I'm only interested in people that are interested in me for the right reasons. He's interested in us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplegrape Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 i havnt seen that one b4, its really good! thanks for posting! "No, because I'm not. I'm excited about getting a brand-new brand of toothpaste in a little goody bag when I fly. I love it. I collect them now." love that part!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IngievV Posted July 4, 2007 Author Share Posted July 4, 2007 He's such a sweetheart:biggrin2: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annabelle Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 I don't remember reading it before so thanks for posting it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kriszti Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 sweet interview thanks 4 postin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shezzy12 Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Oooh I havent read this before! Brillaint interview i loved how he replied to all of the questions Thanksyou xxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mika_forever Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Huge thanks for posting this interview:thumb_yello: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertina Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 He's interested in us definitely! love you mika! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatagordinha Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 I don't remember it either, thanks for posting. Full of good quotes - I like the reference to 40-year-old musos:naughty: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirtilla Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 This is a very nice interview, loved it! thanx for posting, i never saw it before! He's interested in us Violet sky that's exactly what i thought when i read that sentence!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherry_baby Posted July 5, 2007 Share Posted July 5, 2007 Thanks for posting x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esperia75 Posted July 5, 2007 Share Posted July 5, 2007 I've already read it...anyway, thank you for posting it!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strawberry Posted July 6, 2007 Share Posted July 6, 2007 Thank you. I have never seen this before Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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