Andy's close-ups in recent videos

[sienna]

Yep, i think you are right here, To me it seems that all those tour vblogs were filmed by Andy, and the rest more private ones are filmed by Mika or maybe one of his sisters or mum.

 

The little that we know!

[sariflor]

i hope he's not doing that, i like him in designer clothes on stage.

i'm just busy with my design for mika , i don't want all my work to be for nothing:roftl:.

 

when mika is on stage he's different than the mika off stage and i like that.

and i believe he likes his designer clothes if he didn't he wouldn't wear it because he's not the person who would do what another person wants

 

I also like him in designer gear, it just depends on who de designer is (see sig).

 

Yes, I see the point about the different stage-normal persona, and I understand that this is why he does it, and I wouldn't have an issue with it if he for example didn't go to great lenghts to do his hair in such a manicured and unnatural way for example, or if he would relax the "done up" style a bit more.

It's hard to express it ,but it's not that I have an issue with him wearing different things perse, but maybe it's the end result being so "stiff" (IMO!) that I object to.

I find that his style sometimes turns out too classical, even if the aim of it is to be a bit wacky. IT's not "modern wacky" if you catch my drift?? A bit like all the flowers on stage, etc....

Like he's not using a very contemporary and streamlined look in general. Oh gish I hope that I am making some sense.

 

Anyway, what are you making for him, are we allowed to know? . It must have been so amazing when he said that in Amsterdam, I'm really happy for you. Your dress was incredible so it's well deserved!!

 

Lastly, as for Mika wearing what he wants, of course I know that, but my post was about what I want him to wear, LOL! My opinion.

 

 

5. He's seen how just about anything and everything he does will be considered "OMG sexy amazing!" by the MFC. He may just be pretty confident by this point that he could grow out braids from his nose hair and we'd think it was an innovating and daring style choice. And he's right, isn't he? When he's dressed up we go "woah, I love his outfit!" When he's unshaven, hairy and sloppily-dressed, we go "OMG, that's the real Mika, I love that! He's so sexy unshaven!" Given that kind of feedback, why would he be self-conscious?

 

I can promise you though, if you actually started a thread saying how you really didn't like the up-the-nose shots and wished he represented himself in a more flattering manner, and lots of people agreed with you, you'd see the up-nose-shots stop right away. I'd bet on it.

 

--Jack

 

That bolded line cracked me up . I must say though, I have never been one of the ones to go "oooh" when he gets all glammed up, as I generally don't like it when he does, and much prefer it when he's natural looking.

 

I don't even mean in the groomed sense, ie shaved or unshaven, but more in the clothing style and hair sense. If his clothes look too "busy" or like he's put too much effort in them, it puts me off.

I like him when he looks like he just picked whatever (from the clean clothes pile prefereably!!) and put it on ....

[Mynth]

I really agree with this!

And while we’re at it….play us some acoustic gigs too, please…..!

 

After the gigs in France I was spying on Mikafrance and Mika had said to a fan that he was thinking about an acoustic gig tour. Unfortunately, I can't find the quote in french right now.

[violet_sky]

After the gigs in France I was spying on Mikafrance and Mika had said to a fan that he was thinking about an acoustic gig tour. Unfortunately, I can't find the quote in french right now.

 

In France only?

[Mynth]

In France only?

 

 

I think that he wasn't more specific about that. Well, we'll see that one day...

[sariflor]

After the gigs in France I was spying on Mikafrance and Mika had said to a fan that he was thinking about an acoustic gig tour. Unfortunately, I can't find the quote in french right now.

 

Please do share! What else can you remember?

[sienna]

After the gigs in France I was spying on Mikafrance and Mika had said to a fan that he was thinking about an acoustic gig tour. Unfortunately, I can't find the quote in french right now.

 

Thanks for telling us!

 

I really hope he will do that one day and that I will have the opportunity to be there!

[JackViolet]

That bolded line cracked me up . I must say though, I have never been one of the ones to go "oooh" when he gets all glammed up, as I generally don't like it when he does, and much prefer it when he's natural looking.

 

I don't even mean in the groomed sense, ie shaved or unshaven, but more in the clothing style and hair sense. If his clothes look too "busy" or like he's put too much effort in them, it puts me off.

I like him when he looks like he just picked whatever (from the clean clothes pile prefereably!!) and put it on ....

 

I know what you mean. I was using "we" for shorthand and for argument's sake... since as you know I rarely go "oooh" at him either.

 

--Jack

[IngievV]

I think, even though we get to see all these videos of him in 'normal' situations, we feel like we get to know him better with all the whining and stuff, but we still don't know him at all. There's much more to him than we know and most likely we will never know the real Mika.

[sariflor]

I know what you mean. I was using "we" for shorthand and for argument's sake... since as you know I rarely go "oooh" at him either.

 

--Jack

 

I know, I know...

 

I think, even though we get to see all these videos of him in 'normal' situations, we feel like we get to know him better with all the whining and stuff, but we still don't know him at all. There's much more to him than we know and most likely we will never know the real Mika.

 

Yes, that is true, very true. But I find it nicer to see "snippets" of the real Mika, as in seeing his personality shine through, which we are seeing quite a bit, rather than 100% of marketed PR Mika, where we see nothing of the real Mika.

[IngievV]

 

Yes, that is true, very true. But I find it nicer to see "snippets" of the real Mika, as in seeing his personality shine through, which we are seeing quite a bit, rather than 100% of marketed PR Mika, where we see nothing of the real Mika.

 

 

I totally agree, I really do enjoy these blogs. Although I do think that many have got the feeling they really 'know' him which is not the case... But yeah he should go on with these blogs. I can't get enough of the whining:naughty:

[sariflor]

I totally agree, I really do enjoy these blogs. Although I do think that many have got the feeling they really 'know' him which is not the case... But yeah he should go on with these blogs. I can't get enough of the whining:naughty:

 

 

You should make him a new award, to the Master Whiner :roftl:

[IngievV]

You should make him a new award, to the Master Whiner :roftl:

 

Whahahahhaaha good idea:roftl: Not so sure if he'll like it that much, I think he's still in his denial phase:naughty:

[kaatje066]

After the gigs in France I was spying on Mikafrance and Mika had said to a fan that he was thinking about an acoustic gig tour. Unfortunately, I can't find the quote in french right now.

 

In France only?

 

 

I still prefer the RAH, but hey, France is a nice country

 

 

I know, I know...

 

 

 

Yes, that is true, very true. But I find it nicer to see "snippets" of the real Mika, as in seeing his personality shine through, which we are seeing quite a bit, rather than 100% of marketed PR Mika, where we see nothing of the real Mika.

 

I agree with you on that. I prefer seeing both parts of Mika, not just the somewhat theatrical performer, but also the more natural one. It gives him more depth. (I hope you get what I mean to say, I'm lacking the proper words)

[sariflor]

Not so sure if he'll like it that much, I think he's still in his denial phase:naughty:

 

By the time the next round of gigs come up, he will be in full acceptance phase and he'll love it!

 

I still prefer the RAH, but hey, France is a nice country

 

 

I agree with you on that. I prefer seeing both parts of Mika, not just the somewhat theatrical performer, but also the more natural one. It gives him more depth. (I hope you get what I mean to say, I'm lacking the proper words)

 

I totally get what you mean, and I agree.

[patricia4u]

I also like him in designer gear, it just depends on who de designer is (see sig).

 

Yes, I see the point about the different stage-normal persona, and I understand that this is why he does it, and I wouldn't have an issue with it if he for example didn't go to great lenghts to do his hair in such a manicured and unnatural way for example, or if he would relax the "done up" style a bit more.

It's hard to express it ,but it's not that I have an issue with him wearing different things perse, but maybe it's the end result being so "stiff" (IMO!) that I object to.

I find that his style sometimes turns out too classical, even if the aim of it is to be a bit wacky. IT's not "modern wacky" if you catch my drift?? A bit like all the flowers on stage, etc....

Like he's not using a very contemporary and streamlined look in general. Oh gish I hope that I am making some sense.

 

Anyway, what are you making for him, are we allowed to know? . It must have been so amazing when he said that in Amsterdam, I'm really happy for you. Your dress was incredible so it's well deserved!!

 

Lastly, as for Mika wearing what he wants, of course I know that, but my post was about what I want him to wear, LOL! My opinion.

 

yes i think i understand you .i don't like everything he wears but i like the fact he wears everything he likes and you have to be brave for that .

 

i like your t shirt

 

no i can't say what i'm making yet , mika doesn't even know and i want to keep that a secret until he gets it.

 

yes it really was amazing in amsterdam i'll never forget that he made my dream come true.thanks for your compliment.

 

but i can tell the color , it's violet , i hope i didn't make a bad choise with that color , my husband said its so gay.but he wore it for me and did some mika moves it it and i could see mika in it so maybe i worry to much .

[Soaring Simpson]

I think he does carefully consider it. We already got a good dose of whiney Mika in the DVD...

 

I really totally missed that- could you give examples?

 

Normality, grubiness, grumpiness, whining.......bring it on! I prefer not to see an image that one has to idolise , but to know why he's not perfect, to see that he is a child, and a spoilt one for that, and that we love him despite all these things.

 

Again, I'm not seeing it- maybe there's something wrong with me. But I like to think of MIka being spoilt rotten- it suits him.

 

I'm thinking that he possibly just really doesn't give a hoot what people think of him...

 

I mean, it would be silly to think that Mr. Control Freak has had no thoughgs whatsoever in how he comes across in these videos, especially after how carefully he crafts his public image (interviews, etc).

 

I agree with both of these- I do think he crafts his image, especially in these spontaneous vids, but one of the things that gets me posting on here is that I do think that ultimately he's remarkably independent of public opinion.

 

As for the more important hair issue- I like the hair in the dvd, and in life in 2 mins- but haven't styled my own hair in over 30 years so can't tell if that's his "natural" or his "styled" mode. And I don't care what he wears, so long as it's not the Cliff Richard style shiny jackets.

[marie-andrée de rougemont]

I think it's several things.

 

1. Once you take the plunge into online sharing, you lose your initial inhibitions and the relative anonymity of your audience begins to feel almost falsely "safe."

 

By "anonymity" I don't mean that we don't know who he is--of course we do. And sure, he gets our feedback. But he doesn't really have to deal with us in everyday life or up close, so he's kind of tossing these videos into the void. This is the same reason why people put up all sorts of compromising pictures on myspace and facebook--somewhere in the back of their minds, they "know" they might end up being seen by someone they don't want to see them, but after they've put up a few "proper" pictures and nothing happened... you begin to relax, to think "no big deal."

 

2. He may not consider it "showing himself at a disadvantage" as you do. He has his vanities, but he's not some super self-conscious girl freaking out about every pimple or unwaxed eyebrows or leg stubble. (Or nose hair.) He's a self-confident young man with a stable enough self-image. He may have his hang ups about some parts of his body, but they're not what we may think, and anyway, he's not the type to deal with that by hiding. He really doesn't think it's a big deal if we see his nosehair or ratty t-shirt or whatever. He wouldn't care about anyone seeing that.

 

For instance, I have lots of hang-ups about my own body/looks. Really, tons and tons of various insecurities. I won't leave the house without make-up either. However, even though I'm very critical of it, I'm pretty casual about people seeing my body. I don't care who sees me in my underwear, for instance. Even if it's an entire store of people. (As Suzy and Christine can attest. )

 

3. Anyway, Mika's so glammed up at his shows not because he doesn't feel comfortable in anything less, but because he feels it's part of the "performance" he wants to put on.

 

4. In fact, because of how he dresses at his shows, maybe he expressly wants to reduce our expectations, and make sure we don't think he's always like that. Again, not because he feels particularly close to us, but because the show is just a show. And he's fine with being himself for 80% of his life (after all, he does go out in public in just a t-shirt on all his non-MIKA days, it's not like he won't leave the house without shiny pants and a suit jacket), so why pretend he's always as glammed up as he is for the other 20% of it?

 

5. He's seen how just about anything and everything he does will be considered "OMG sexy amazing!" by the MFC. He may just be pretty confident by this point that he could grow out braids from his nose hair and we'd think it was an innovating and daring style choice. And he's right, isn't he? When he's dressed up we go "woah, I love his outfit!" When he's unshaven, hairy and sloppily-dressed, we go "OMG, that's the real Mika, I love that! He's so sexy unshaven!" Given that kind of feedback, why would he be self-conscious?

 

I can promise you though, if you actually started a thread saying how you really didn't like the up-the-nose shots and wished he represented himself in a more flattering manner, and lots of people agreed with you, you'd see the up-nose-shots stop right away. I'd bet on it.

 

 

 

--Jack

Marie-Thérèse

 

JackViolet,

 

Always a pleasure to read you, whether we agree with you or not.

 

You’re right : whatever Mika does, at least 90 % of his fans find it adorable.

For instance I scanned responses to the Welcome to Syria blog and nobody told him there that asking his big sister –who incidentally was trying to have a peaceful telephone conversation- to get the f… out of the front seat (he was much more polite but that was the gist of it) didn't befit a 25-year-old man.

Still his teenage fans were obviously delighted to witness something that happens all the time in their parents’ car. If they are the audience (in the largest sense of the word) he was targeting, brilliant move. But if he was showing and maybe directing a scene that takes place repeatedly in his everyday life, then seeing that people eight or ten years younger than he is identify with him might be a tiny little bit worrying.

 

Although going to Beirut -and, more important still, back from there- has given me an insight into the way Mika and his ‘mafia’ inter react and into the man himself, because the circumstances were very special.

As I have already said, he looked painfully tired and tense, and his family was extremely protective. After the Press conference I saw his eldest sister adamantly refusing access to a small room where Mika was having a drink to a lady and her teenage daughters, very courteously because that’s the way they were taught and shown to act but I swear I could see her fangs asking to be let out…

Somebody who enjoys a certain amount of fame and success is always shielded by a whole entourage ; in Mika’s case there is much more than that. Having seen your preteen son and kid brother break down in the most frightening way and close himself up to the outside world is very likely one of the most excruciating experiences a parent and a sibling can go through. When fortunately he has recovered you must spend the rest of your life is a state of constant alert, feel murderous whenever you feel that somebody is threatening his balance in any way and be only too happy to do little -and big- things to make it easier for him.

Going to Beirut and performing in Martyr’s Square was very risky and you needed big, fat, juicy guts to take that decision. True, the city felt rather peaceful but two months earlier there had been shooting in the streets and the man I bought flowers from told me that all the shops were closed then and that he was redecorating his, so that when things went back to normal he could work in a clean and welcoming place. He got a dozen bullet impacts on his car in the process…

The frisking at the venue entrance was very perfunctory ; I realized that I could have introduced a smallish camera… even more easily a small gun and the guys on stage were a beautiful target. Am I being a drama queen ? I don’t think so : the concert was symbolic of a united Lebanon, all communities enjoying the moment together and there are people who have every reason to want the country divided and fighting each other. And the most potent part of the symbol was on stage, all 190 cm of him…

So I believe that more than his incredible talent, more than his blatant goods looks, more than his middle class ease and the obvious pleasure he gets from his performances and the love he receives from his fans, idiosyncrasies that make him stand out in the show business world, what we find fascinating in Mika is that behind every mothers’ dream son-in-law (whether they have a daughter or a son to marry…) there is a very ambivalent individual, part vulnerable child, part inflexible adult, part prize show off, part shy and private man.

Of course nobody can be as simple and aseptic as his persona but he seems far more complex than many people. And if we want to decipher his personality (which, dear FC members, we seem to enjoy doing…) I think that one of the keys we should never forget is the fact that he was once done unspeakable things to and that no matter what he achieves personally and professionally he will always be a survivor. If you were lucky enough to watch and download the 7 à 8 interview in Paris, you heard and saw him give away that key and be as sincere as he is ever likely to be.

 

Back to the original issue (JackViolet I blame you, you seem to invite deeper thinking with your threads !) : agreed, he is probably manipulating blog viewers but manipulation is part of human relationships and he might have chosen to show us a casual but more glamorous image of himself, which he didn’t. He went for the Tex Avery cartoon looks and we rather liked it.

 

So long,

 

M.-Th.

[JackViolet]

M (JackViolet I blame you, you seem to invite deeper thinking with your threads !) : agreed, he is probably manipulating blog viewers but manipulation is part of human relationships and he might have chosen to show us a casual but more glamorous image of himself, which he didn’t. He went for the Tex Avery cartoon looks and we rather liked it.

 

I will reply in full later, but I just wanted to say it's funny you should write that, considering I was just thinking of how nice it was to have someone start threads about Mika that provoke more serious discussion. So I'd say you're the one inviting deeper thinking here!

 

--Jack

[Christine]

I can promise you though, if you actually started a thread saying how you really didn't like the up-the-nose shots and wished he represented himself in a more flattering manner, and lots of people agreed with you, you'd see the up-nose-shots stop right away. I'd bet on it.

 

I would bet on it too. I bristle when the positivists come into a thread moaning "what would Mika think?" if it smacks of anything remotely blasphemous against his lordship. But I really hope people don't bitch too loudly about Mika being whiney or sticking a camera up his nose or that the content of some of these videos is rather aimless. Because I prefer this to the alternative.

 

Although I do think that many have got the feeling they really 'know' him which is not the case...

 

No, it is only one more small facet of who he is. But it is something different than we see in a typical media interview so it's a nice change.

 

I really totally missed that- could you give examples?

 

I haven't watched it in ages, but just off the top of my head - he mentioned that he was getting "bitchy" during one of the talking head shots before a gig (maybe Italy?). When he was wandering through the streets of Berlin he sounded like a child asking why he didn't get a poster when the Fratellis had one.

 

There was also a lot of talk of him feeling sick, which didn't necessarily seem like whining in the context of the DVD, but since we've heard him mention it publicly many times since, it does come across as whining in retrospect.

 

I agree with both of these- I do think he crafts his image, especially in these spontaneous vids, but one of the things that gets me posting on here is that I do think that ultimately he's remarkably independent of public opinion.

 

You may be able to make a case for him being fairly independent of the greater public opinion, but Jack is right that if fans make a fuss over something he is more than likely to respond.

 

I don't know what drives that - whether he wants to protect his image, whether he wants to please fans for professional reasons, whether he wants to please them because he is a pleaser and it makes him anxious when people think badly of him. I don't know. But he does react to negative feedback from fans. Often it's the first thing that comes out of his mouth the next time we hear from him.

 

Mika is that behind every mothers’ dream son-in-law (whether they have a daughter or a son to marry…) there is a very ambivalent individual, part vulnerable child, part inflexible adult, part prize show off, part shy and private man.

Of course nobody can be as simple and aseptic as his persona but he seems far more complex than many people.

 

I think my views on this have changed over time, but I definitely agree that these are the traits that initially draw fans towards Mika in many cases.

[CazGirl]

 

 

I haven't watched it in ages, but just off the top of my head - he mentioned that he was getting "bitchy" during one of the talking head shots before a gig (maybe Italy?). When he was wandering through the streets of Berlin he sounded like a child asking why he didn't get a poster when the Fratellis had one.

 

There was also a lot of talk of him feeling sick, which didn't necessarily seem like whining in the context of the DVD, but since we've heard him mention it publicly many times since, it does come across as whining in retrospect.

 

***OFF TOPIC***

 

I also remember Mika saying he goes to the toilet so much before going on stage because he drinks lots of water. It really made me laugh; I was like, congratulations on stating the obvious Mr.P lmao

 

***ON TOPIC***

 

I also noticed how whiney he was, but he wasn't so much as being a "Diva", it was more "childlike".

 

Diva: Oh my God. The Fratellis have a poster up and I don't. Why is that? I want one! I demand one now!

Childlike: *smiles and points* Hey the Fratellis have a poster! *laughs at himself for sounding whiney* Iiiii want a poster!!! *giggles some more*

 

I like the childlike quality in him. I encourage it, personally lol

[Soaring Simpson]

I haven't watched it in ages, but just off the top of my head - he mentioned that he was getting "bitchy" during one of the talking head shots before a gig (maybe Italy?). When he was wandering through the streets of Berlin he sounded like a child asking why he didn't get a poster when the Fratellis had one.

 

Not sure I agree... I tend to assume that people who say they're getting all bitchy, actually aren't, and took the poster thing as a joke. I remembered that there was a whiny "can we go now" after I posted though.

 

 

You may be able to make a case for him being fairly independent of the greater public opinion, but Jack is right that if fans make a fuss over something he is more than likely to respond.

 

Except when we demanded he tell us why he let Luke Juby go? Otherwise I'd have to make the case mostly from his style of music. I'd expect someone who cared a lot for public opinion to make more of an effort to flag his music as non-cheesy. Although I wouldn't be surprised if he was enjoying the fact that the British music press misunderstand him.

 

I don't see responding to criticism as necessarily compromising an independent attitude. As you say, there are many reasons for doing so.

[Pam Travers]

look the fratellis get a poster and not you!!!?? glad he complained about it,lol

 

 

i really dont want to go into over analyses because honestly what i read here

SCARED me but just my two cents

 

if you want to analyse why mika or any other stadium pop

star/rockstar attracts people so much just go back to antiquity and to roman gladiators, if you take the economic interests away, thats all the same.

 

mika is the ultimate male, he takes risks, he is the one going into the arena, he could metaphorically fall at every single minutes, and thast what

attract people/fans

 

"man offer them their soul, women their bodies" "people would bottle his sweat and use it as a perfume"

 

etc.etc. i dont want to get boring, but sociologists have studied that ages ago and i read it all (lol, no, not all, come on)

 

 

i personally see the blogs in a ver naive and simple way...

 

and i think mika is a genius,lol

 

thats funny how many people see him as a "funny" singer when his music and his writing are just pure genius but that happened before in the music history and sometimes in very ironical ways

[Marilyn Mastin]

I thionk it's good, getting to see the real Mika. It also shows he's not so far up his own backside, that he doesn't want us to see him, not looking his best.

In the last vlog though, I thought he looked exhausted! I hope he's getting siome rest.

[JackViolet]

Ok, full reply now. :-)

 

But if he was showing and maybe directing a scene that takes place repeatedly in his everyday life, then seeing that people eight or ten years younger than he is identify with him might be a tiny little bit worrying.

 

To be honest I'm partially inclined to think here that he was being cheeky in that segment: he knew how childish and petty that looked, and he was doing it on purpose, kind of jokingly. Then again, I do think he is kind of a spoilt favorite among his family. So I guess I'm not sure.

 

Having seen your preteen son and kid brother break down in the most frightening way and close himself up to the outside world is very likely one of the most excruciating experiences a parent and a sibling can go through. When fortunately he has recovered you must spend the rest of your life is a state of constant alert, feel murderous whenever you feel that somebody is threatening his balance in any way and be only too happy to do little -and big- things to make it easier for him.

 

I have to say, having followed Mika for a while, I give a lot less weight to this story than new fans do. I don't think Mika lied about it exactly, but I really think it wasn't such a huge deal as fans make it out to be.

 

It was a great publicity angle, and Mika worked it for all it was worth, but I really don't think his family was all that traumatized by it.

 

Christine once pointed out that while Mika talks an awful lot about how his family "kept moving around" and he was like a "gypsy without roots" and how at one point they were "so poor," and he had such a hard time making friends, really... that's not how his life was.

 

He only made a major move ONCE: from Paris to London. (He was too young to be aware of the move from Beirut to Paris.)

 

There may have been a year when finances were tough, but in London he was immediately enrolled in an extremely prestigious private school and we all know he lives in a very, very well-off neighborhood--and has lived there for quite a while.

 

He says that no one accepted him at that first private school (and he had that breakdown) and I'm not doubting the breakdown--but I also know for a fact that he had at least one very good friend from that school, and he's still friends with this person now. He quickly got very popular and very well accepted at his next school, so really the breakdown was a blip on the radar.

 

Moreover, I have my own similar story! I moved to the US from another country too, and I had a Teacher From Hell--I was just about the same age as Mika was. Thanks to her I had stress-related stomachaches so bad that I would have to be taken out of school. By the next semester, my anxiety had increased to the point that, after a period where I stayed home for a week due to illness, I was so terrified of returning to school that I went into hysterics before walking into the gate on the day I was supposed to go back, and my mom ended up taking me home. After that, I couldn't bear to go back and so I faked an illness for 3 months to stay out of school. Whenever my parents thought I was getting better and suggested I should maybe return to school, I'd start getting so nervous that I would start blacking out, and then I'd be allowed to stay home again.

 

Anyway, was it a worrying time for my family? Sure, since I never told them what was wrong with me, and they thought I had a Mystery Illness and spent lots of money on taking me to doctors to figure out what was going on.

 

But are my parents still concerned about it now? Nope, they've mostly forgotten it, and don't really think about it much. It was a transitional period in general for us (I bet I can outdo Mika on poverty there--we lived on welfare, a 4-person family in a rat-infested 1-bedroom apartment, depending entirely on hand-me-downs), but overall, it was brief. A year later we were renting a house in the suburbs, and two years later we had moved into a nice place in a fairly upscale neighborhood. The one year tends to not matter much, life goes on.

 

So honestly I think that's rather how it was/is for Mika.

 

the concert was symbolic of a united Lebanon, all communities enjoying the moment together and there are people who have every reason to want the country divided and fighting each other. And the most potent part of the symbol was on stage, all 190 cm of him…

 

I also don't really think this meant as much to outsiders as it did to Mika fans. I'm not sure people who weren't fas of Mika thought of it as very symbolic...

 

what we find fascinating in Mika is that behind every mothers’ dream son-in-law (whether they have a daughter or a son to marry…) there is a very ambivalent individual, part vulnerable child, part inflexible adult, part prize show off, part shy and private man.

 

I agree with this though.

 

And... I kind of lost the point here. What was this all about again?

 

 

Not sure I agree... I tend to assume that people who say they're getting all bitchy, actually aren't, and took the poster thing as a joke.

 

Aha, but you underestimate people. Sometimes people say things like that as a joke but they may still be true for all that! I've known plenty of people who say, "jokingly," "oh, I'm such a bitch! I'm such a drama queen!" You know what? They very often are. Joking in this case is a way of diffusing responsibility.

 

Not that I think that Mika's particularly bitchy. But I believe (and he has shown) that he is certainly capable of moments of bitchyness.

 

Except when we demanded he tell us why he let Luke Juby go?

 

Well there are always limits. That was really absolutely none of our business. I never for a moment expected him to tell us. The only way he could deal with that was sweep it under the table. He's never going to tell us his favorite sexual technique either, for instance, no matter how much we may ask. (Actually I think he'd be more likely to talk to us about his sexual preferences--possibly, eventually--than his private business decisions.)

 

I don't know what drives that - whether he wants to protect his image, whether he wants to please fans for professional reasons, whether he wants to please them because he is a pleaser and it makes him anxious when people think badly of him. I don't know. But he does react to negative feedback from fans. Often it's the first thing that comes out of his mouth the next time we hear from him.

 

I really believe that it's the second. The boy can't stand the idea of people being upset at him, or disliking him. When it's the "general public" he doesn't care, but when it gets more personal--and in this case, the MFC is personal enough--then it bothers him. It's hard to explain the breakdown--I'm sure he handles executives or the press or individual bloggers "not liking him" pretty well, for instance--but it's different with people from whom he actively wants approval but can't be entirely guaranteed it. As long as he has his fans, he doesn't care what NME says, for instance. But he certainly cares what we say.

 

--Jack