Gaylingual & Tuned Out & Uncivil Unions & Video-Philes

[greta]

http://www.thoughttheater.com/2008/06/mika_lollipop.php

 

Mika - Lollipop & Billy Brown

 

Mika, born in Lebanon and currently living in London, doesn't get a lot of mainstream attention in the States. I've included two of his videos below. The first is for the song, Lollipop, an infectious upbeat tune with a fun animated video that just seems appropriate for the start of summer. I'll come back to the meaning of the song in a moment. The second video isn't actually the music video for the song, Billy Brown...but it does a good job in telling the song's story. In fact, there isn't an official video for the song since one was never released. The song, in my opinion, tells the story of a man who struggles to accept his homosexuality.

That brings me back to Lollipop. There has been a fair share of buzz about Mika's sexuality, a subject he has not chosen to address. Some have speculated that he's gay but doesn't disclose that fact as it could hinder his popular appeal in the United States. He points to Billy Brown as evidence that he isn't shying away from sexual orientation.

Let me be clear. Mika's sexual orientation is irrelevant to me but to the extent that issues of orientation may influence the songs he performs makes my psychology wheels spin. In this particular instance, call it instinct, intuition, or gaydar...but whatever it is, I find the content of his songs fascinating. Both of these songs talk about love and relationships...with a focus on a lack of fulfillment as well as a measure of preoccupation with norms and conventionality.

Granted, Lollipop is far more gender and orientation neutral than Billy Brown, but what I hear in both songs is the undertones of a personal struggle...one that leaves the protagonist is a state of limbo. If he follows his heart, he'll have to endure the whispers and judgments of others...if he conforms, he can fit in but he'll be denied the happiness he seeks.

Hence, he vacillates between the two, which I view as akin to the back and forth of a pendulum...always struggling to find the center...but always overshooting the mark in an endless battle for a measure of constance and comfort. In other words, the center is safe but often wholly meaningless. Mika's song,

, reveals more of this concept. The lyrics can be found here.

One line captures the essence of what I'm talking about. When Mika sings, "Oh Billy Brown you are a victim of the times", I hear the angst I've described above. Whether that angst is Mika's or simply the words expressed in a song he sings, I don't know. Regardless, the song succeeds in capturing real feelings that I suspect resonate for many in the gay community.

You can find the video for Happy Endings here and the video for Grace Kelly can be found here.

Mika - Lollipop

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BRxnsUOc1YA

Mika - Billy Brown

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fZZ-GtrrnjY

 

 

 

Did you catch a similar meaning?

If not, why? Give your opinion about at least one song..

 

{show you do care about Mika's music}...,pwetty PLEASE!

[jemmalee]

Very interesting mmmmm

[sariflor]

Interesting analysis!

[xlindee]

Same as above:naughty:

[babspanky]

Little clues?

 

But nothing about bolt down music? Or Good Will Kelly?

[babspanky]

a lesson on British culture is required, thanks

 

Not British culture, just the most insightful review ever....

 

Pop magpie Mika's bright, kaleidoscopical music has drawn comparisons to everyone from Queen and Elton John to the Scissor Sisters and Rufus Wainwright. Born Michael Holbrook Penniman in Beirut to a Lebanese mother and American church Father, Mika and his parents stirred to Paris spell he was still a identical whitney Young child, and finally London by the time he was 9 days old. The frequent moves, incidents like his church Father beingness taken hostage at Kuwait's American Embassy, and bullying at schooling stirred whitney Young Mika to the point where he stopped-up talk and was taken out of school for captain Hicks months. At this point, music became Mika's lifeline, and he before long began courtly musical breeding, which included part lessons. Along with studies at the Royal College of Music, in his teens and early twenties Mika besides recorded with the Royal Opera House and created a doggerel for Orbit mastication gum. He dropped out of schooling to digest on his take on bolt down music, divine by freewheeling songwriters like Prince and Harry Nilsson. His debut single, Relax, Take It Easy, appeared in fall 2006, only it was its reexamination, Good will Kelly, that broke Mika in the U.K. Released in January 2007, the song hit act one on the singles graph thanks to heavy downloading, undermentioned in the footsteps of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy." Mika's full-length debut, Life story in Cartoon Motion, did precisely as considerably when it was released that February, and was topping the U.K. charts about the time it was released in the U.S. that March.

[avoca]

Mika's song, Stuck in the Middle, reveals more of this concept.

 

 

[vixenbbw]

As some one who has absolutely no idea about Mika's sexuality but finds his view of the adult world fascinating I have always thought that Love Today speaks volumes about his view of women.

 

Firstly though, I don't think Big Girl means he has any interest in big girls nor do I think that Billy Brown is in anyway autobiographical.

 

As for Lollipop, all the references to behaving himself and living his life until love comes along rather than sleeping around are about steering clear of bad girls.....and making sure they love you before you "do" anything with them.

 

Personally, I think the line "never stood on my own two feet" is a reference to not being sexually experienced but it never gets picked up on.

 

However, Love Today which is supposedly about "love" or "getting laid" as Mika puts it.........introduces us to four female characters...two of which he talks about being sexually involved with in the first person.

 

There's the uptight virgin tease - he's going to make her a lover

There's the lusty busty experienced girl in blue - who he asks to wait until they're alone before shocking him

There's the prostitute - who will sell you her "love"

Then there's the girl who's pretending to be innocent - but he(we) all know that she's been upto alsorts

 

Not a very good view of women eh? It seems that they should be avoided at all costs!

 

If it were a song about how people "loved" then there would be some male characters too....or even all male characters if that were where he was coming from!

 

I think his lyrics show someone who avoids situations rather than someone who has chosen one side of the fence or the other.

 

In summary...I think the media jump on the wrong songs if they're looking for answers.....but that's just my opinion, of course!

[sienna]

Thanks for posting, Greta!

[Hi Mika]

Mika is easily analyzed for the reason that he's so intense about what he's singing even thou he aplogizes before hand for what he's made up.

 

He's probably very much more of a bastard than he even admits to.

 

he he

 

Yeah, he's a flamboyant bastard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[katydid1994]

I just looked up the lollipop lyrics the other day because I saw an article about a children's choir picking it for their song to perform. I was shocked and I thought the teachers must not listen to the lyrics, especially this part

 

Take a look at the girl next door,

She's a player and a down right whore,

 

I think this part below refers to never standing on your own, apart from momma and having the "love" that she tells you not to.

 

Take a look at a boy like me,

Never stood on my own two feet,

Now I'm blue, as I can be,

Oh love couldn't get me down.

 

And I best not say what I specifically think "blue" refers to.

 

I know Mika has been quoted to say that the album is full of clues on this subject, but I have come to the realization that maybe he said that to try and throw people off, because I can't see where it's clear. Unless, the answer is stuck in the middle.

 

And I think stuck in the middle is a clever way to discuss "the subject" by disgusing it as something tame, like lollipop.

 

He's actually quite clever, that one.

[Blue Sky]

Take a look at the girl next door,

She's a player and a down right whore,

 

On the album it says bore, when he sings live it is whore.

 

Lollipop sounds really fun for a kids choir to sing, but as you said the teacher must not be paying attention. It is not too hard to get the innuendo in it.

[katydid1994]

hahahah, you know I knew it was bore and I must of listened to it live so much, that I forgot that the original was bore.

 

Still, you'd think they'd pick up on the innuendo. LOL

[Hi Mika]

He's very very good at jingles and putting words together, that with his singing voice and He's got a Hit, and good for him. He's fun, he's having fun, he's actually helping people at the same time.

 

 

 

[mikaboy13]

Heyy all!

 

LOL first of all can I just say how annoying I feel, for reading this stuff about something that Mika doesn't want to talk about. I think he isn't just doing it for his own sake - he is trying to show that that shouldn't matter, and it doesn't define who he is or what he does.

 

Also, I would like to mention that he says he wrote Lollipop for his younger sister, telling her not to have sex. LOL I love him...

 

Stuck in the Middle apparently talks about his mother and grandmother (he said on MTV... If i remember correctly).

 

And we all know that Big Girl was meant as a theme song for the Butterfly Lounge.

 

Love Today, however, has a murky background. Mika said on one occasion that it was him trying to capture how happy he was at the time. On another (the french interview where he sings opera) the interviewer says he was living a love story.

 

I am unsure if these are all true, but I just thought I'd mention that perhaps you're reading to far into the songs.

 

Or, I could be completely wrong, and he just made up a little story for each.

[vixenbbw]

Heyy all!

 

LOL first of all can I just say how annoying I feel, for reading this stuff about something that Mika doesn't want to talk about. I think he isn't just doing it for his own sake - he is trying to show that that shouldn't matter, and it doesn't define who he is or what he does.

 

Also, I would like to mention that he says he wrote Lollipop for his younger sister, telling her not to have sex. LOL I love him...

 

Stuck in the Middle apparently talks about his mother and grandmother (he said on MTV... If i remember correctly).

 

And we all know that Big Girl was meant as a theme song for the Butterfly Lounge.

 

Love Today, however, has a murky background. Mika said on one occasion that it was him trying to capture how happy he was at the time. On another (the french interview where he sings opera) the interviewer says he was living a love story.

 

I am unsure if these are all true, but I just thought I'd mention that perhaps you're reading to far into the songs.

 

Or, I could be completely wrong, and he just made up a little story for each.

 

Things are never as simple as they seem and are very simple at the same time.

 

The choices made and the turn of phrase comes from who you are as a person............it's rarely contrived. How he expresses himself in a song will be based on his experiences and own feelings on a subject.

 

So, reading between the lines may not be worth doing but analysing the lines themselves may tell you lots.

 

I think everyone's sexuality is personal and unique and I don't personally believe in the black and white of gay or straight..........but it's not his sexuality in that sense that fascinates me but, as I stated above, his view of the adult world.

[babspanky]

Mika is easily analyzed for the reason that he's so intense about what he's singing even thou he aplogizes before hand for what he's made up.

 

He's probably very much more of a bastard than he even admits to.

 

he he

 

Yeah, he's a flamboyant bastard

 

 

 

 

 

Hmm, I like your style!