Too fey for the U.S.A.?

[greta]

{I know it's old but I don't remember if twas posted yet..if yes sorry. delete it I'll search another pastime}

 

 

 

February 3, 2008

Mika -- he of the voluminously curly hair, brightly colored clothes and ridiculously contagious melodies -- was the biggest new pop star to emerge in 2007. Everywhere, that is, except the United States.

With his debut disc "Life in Cartoon Motion" selling more than 4 million copies worldwide, Mika (pronounced ME-ka), 24, won three World Music Awards, including best new artist, and scored four huge singles in England. He is nominated for four Brit Awards (the U.K.'s Grammys), including best British album. As for the Grammys, Mika's "Love Today" is vying for top dance recording on Feb. 10. In conjunction with that show, he's on a short North American tour that brings him Wednesday to First Avenue in Minneapolis.

Mika's music is retro but fresh, with echoes of Elton John, Freddie Mercury, Prince, the Bee Gees, David Bowie, Robbie Williams and Leo Sayer. If those references are too old-school for you, think of him as a one-man Scissors Sisters, (the campy disco band that's also huge in England).

His songs seem obsessed with identity: his smash debut "Grace Kelly" is about fashioning an image to please someone else; "Billy Brown" is about a married man who falls in love with a man, and "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)" is a self-evident salute, in the spirit of Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls."

Mika's back story is as colorful as his Crayola-esque music. Michael Penniman was born in Beirut; his mother was a Lebanese clothes designer and his father an American banker. He was moved to Paris as a newborn to escape Lebanon's civil war, then to London at age 9 after his father was trapped in Kuwait in the first Gulf War.

A classically trained pianist and singer, he was performing in operas at age 11. Dyslexic and with a yen even then for bold outfits, he was mercilessly teased at school. After studying at the Royal College of Music and recording advertising jingles, he turned to pop music.

As he prepared for his second North American tour, Mika called from London's Heathrow Airport while "eating a burrito, waiting for my delayed flight to Nice [France]."

Q How will this second tour of the States be different from your first?

A Different show, different vibe, bigger venues. We're doing everything from 10,000 capacity to, I think, the smallest is 1,500 in Salt Lake City and Minneapolis. When I did my first U.S. tour, it was like "Let's go check out this interesting thing we discovered on the Internet." And now tickets have sold even faster. I think most of them are sold out, apart from Minneapolis.

Q You performed in Minneapolis last January and you're returning in winter. Do you love the cold weather that much?

A I love it. Heh, heh, heh. It intensifies every creative process.

Q You'll be playing First Avenue, where Prince filmed "Purple Rain." As a Prince fan, how do you feel about that?

A I came across "Purple Rain" quite late on, but it kind of shaped the way I was doing things for a while. [Playing First Ave] is obviously novel to me, as well. As a fan, it's visiting Mecca.

Q You are huge everywhere but the United States. How do you feel about that?

A It's fine. It's part of the process. What I'm concerned with is my live show. When I played my first show a year ago in New York, I played to 100 people, my second show four months after that, about 1,000 people. Then I played to 2,000 people, and now I'm going back and playing to over 5,000. That's growth.

Remember, the U.S. is geographically massive and very diverse. Secondly, there is a different attitude on radio in the United States. ...

Q How do you feel when people say your music is too dance-y, too campy, too gay for the U.S.A.?

A Um, I think there may be a little of that. And I know when I was trying to get "Grace Kelly" on the radio in the U.S., we had one station come back and say "We can't play a song that has a man saying he wants to be like a woman." Of course, that infuriates me. But I'm certainly not going to let that stop me. ...

 

I think there is no such thing as "too much anything" when it comes to music. That goes against the whole premise of music. But when it comes to commerce and they have to sell toothpaste next to your song, then it becomes too something else.

Q You've done many interviews in the past year or so. In what percentage of them have you not been asked about your sexuality?

A About 40 percent. It started off hardly anyone, then it went almost everyone, then it's gone down to almost half and half.

Q With your stage show, your album cover, your website, you seem a very visual artist.

A When I write, I always draw things. It's part of my process. Maybe it's because I don't rely on words too much. I never write down lyrics; I just do little doodles next to the things that I'm working. It's a way of me harnessing my ideas. You can attribute that to a creative background or you can attribute that to dyslexia. It's just the way I work.

Q What impact did your dad being held hostage in Kuwait have on you?

A A lot of things that happened in my childhood that were destabilizing showed me that things weren't always there. They took away an inborn sense of complacency, which I never really had, which I do think a lot of people have. It was a little hard to deal with at times, but it also gave me a sense of freedom. Not everything's going to be there tomorrow, so you might as well make the most of everything, and you have the freedom to achieve whatever you want.

Q What country or countries are you a citizen of?

A U.S. and U.K.

Q So you're able to come here more often than other British and foreign artists?

A Yes. And it also means I pay a lot of my income to the U.S. government.

 

 

 

Jon Bream • 612-673-1719

 

 

© 2008 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

[xlindee]

I do have the feeling I've read this before...not sure if it was posted though:blink:

Anyways, T4P:thumb_yello:

[Soaring Simpson]

It's new to me- and as a new fan Feb08 was when I was avidly soaking up everything i could read about Mika.

 

Interesting too.

[Fmbm]

Thanks for posting. I don't think I've ever read it

[chickadee]

Now, how did I miss this one?

 

Although it covered old ground there were still things in there that it was good to catch up with.

[FOUCHONNERET]

thanks for post it here greta!

[Louiza]

i think i've read this interview before, it's really interesting.

[DANI56]

grazie, Greta! thank you, dear ....I never read it

[mari62]

{I know it's old but I don't remember if twas posted yet..if yes sorry. delete it I'll search another pastime}

Thanks for posting Greta! Interesting interview! Don't remember reading it before.

(Its never too late to say thank you )

 

BTW just did a little piece of research and found it was already posted actually:D

http://www.mikafanclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12675&highlight=voluminously

Edited January 11, 2009 by mari62

[RAK1]

Thanks Greta, can't say I'd seen that one before, very interesting read.

[Foxxy]

Haven't read this one before. Thanks for posting

[Niki27]

I do have the feeling I've read this before...not sure if it was posted though:blink:

Anyways, T4P:thumb_yello:

 

Maybe because he keeps repeating himself?

No offense but seriously this bit cracked me up 'cause I automatically read Birmingham instead of NY

 

"When I played my first show a year ago in New York, I played to 100 people, my second show four months after that, about 1,000 people. Then I played to 2,000 people, and now I'm going back and playing to over 5,000. That's growth."

[sienna]

Now, how did I miss this one?

 

Although it covered old ground there were still things in there that it was good to catch up with.

 

Did you know Greta is a member ( I am too) of one of the social groups here on MFC which is called: The only lonely ones, for us mfcers with threads that never have any posts!

 

 

Maybe there’s your answer!

[marlau_20zr]

i`ve never read this one

thanks for posting!

really interesting

[xlindee]

Maybe because he keeps repeating himself?

No offense but seriously this bit cracked me up 'cause I automatically read Birmingham instead of NY

 

"When I played my first show a year ago in New York, I played to 100 people, my second show four months after that, about 1,000 people. Then I played to 2,000 people, and now I'm going back and playing to over 5,000. That's growth."

 

You're right! He does.

With the next album we will hear it all over again.

[chickadee]

Did you know Greta is a member ( I am too) of one of the social groups here on MFC which is called: The only lonely ones, for us mfcers with threads that never have any posts!

 

 

Maybe there’s your answer!

 

Awwww.... Now you make me feel bad, cos i did go and check out your thread, but I don't really like Perez, so I didn't have anything to say...

[sienna]

Awwww.... Now you make me feel bad, cos i did go and check out your thread, but I don't really like Perez, so I didn't have anything to say...

 

No please don't feel bad!

 

One day I'll come up with a really interesting thread that will live forever!

[Ruth]

 

 

 

February 3, 2008

 

Remember, the U.S. is geographically massive and very diverse. Secondly, there is a different attitude on radio in the United States. ...

Q How do you feel when people say your music is too dance-y, too campy, too gay for the U.S.A.?

A Um, I think there may be a little of that. And I know when I was trying to get "Grace Kelly" on the radio in the U.S., we had one station come back and say "We can't play a song that has a man saying he wants to be like a woman." Of course, that infuriates me. But I'm certainly not going to let that stop me. ...

 

 

Q What country or countries are you a citizen of?

A U.S. and U.K.

Q So you're able to come here more often than other British and foreign artists?

A Yes. And it also means I pay a lot of my income to the U.S. government.

 

 

 

Jon Bream • 612-673-1719

 

 

© 2008 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

 

 

I hadn't read it before. I know most of the articles thrash over the same old, same old. But I thought the radio conversation was interesting - it had never crossed my mind that anyone might think I want to be like Grace Kelly meant that he wanted to be a woman. Never thought it.

 

And I wasn't absolutely sure about his official nationality; it does explain the jet setting.

Edited January 11, 2009 by Ruth

[Marilyn Mastin]

I hadn't read it before. I know most of the articles thrash over the same old, same old. But I thought the radio conversation was interesting - it had never crossed my mind that anyone might think I want to be like Grace Kelly meant that he wanted to be a woman. Never thought it.

 

And I wasn't absolutely sure about his official nationality; it does explain the jet setting.

I quite agree with the grace Kelly thing. The first time I heard the song I certainly didn't think Mika wanted to be a woman. I always thought of "Grace Kelly" as a metaphoric reference, and I still think it is.

Grace Kelly always appeared, in her films, to be quite perfect and almost artificial in her appearance, more like a marble statue than a real person. So I (personally) took from Mika's reference to her, that people wanted him to be, too perfect, to artificial.

Other people might get some other thoughts from the reference, but that's the thing! it can mean different things to different people, but NEVER, that he wants to be a woman!

[chickadee]

I quite agree with the grace Kelly thing. The first time I heard the song I certainly didn't think Mika wanted to be a woman. I always thought of "Grace Kelly" as a metaphoric reference, and I still think it is.

Grace Kelly always appeared, in her films, to be quite perfect and almost artificial in her appearance, more like a marble statue than a real person. So I (personally) took from Mika's reference to her, that people wanted him to be, too perfect, to artificial.

Other people might get some other thoughts from the reference, but that's the thing! it can mean different things to different people, but NEVER, that he wants to be a woman!

 

Nicely put Marilyn.

[Moonlightchild]

Did you know Greta is a member ( I am too) of one of the social groups here on MFC which is called: The only lonely ones, for us mfcers with threads that never have any posts!

 

 

Maybe there’s your answer!

Oh that's what that thread is al about

I never read (post in)it:naughty:

[Ruth]

I quite agree with the grace Kelly thing. The first time I heard the song I certainly didn't think Mika wanted to be a woman. I always thought of "Grace Kelly" as a metaphoric reference, and I still think it is.

Grace Kelly always appeared, in her films, to be quite perfect and almost artificial in her appearance, more like a marble statue than a real person. So I (personally) took from Mika's reference to her, that people wanted him to be, too perfect, to artificial.

Other people might get some other thoughts from the reference, but that's the thing! it can mean different things to different people, but NEVER, that he wants to be a woman!

 

Hi Marilyn - I think the same. Sometimes people can be very literal!