Mika conquers his growing pains

[Droopsy]

There's a video interview as well, taken at Bestival.

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Mika conquers his growing pains

 

Mika says the fairytales in his songs have become "a bit more gothic''

 

By Ian Youngs

Music reporter, BBC News

 

After leaping onto the world stage with a single bound almost three years ago, Mika became one of the biggest pop stars on the planet. With luminous, infectious and extravagant tunes, his debut album Life In Cartoon Motion was one of the best-sellers of 2007. The follow-up, The Boy Who Knew Too Much, is his adolescent album, Mika says.

 

Adolescent because a second album is an artist's coming of age, he believes.

What's more, while his flair for playful melodies remains, the sugar-coated sound hides a darker side that draws on his troubled teenage years.

 

Mika's debut album sold 5.5 million copies around the world

"The context of a lot of the storyline is my adolescence," the 26-year-old says. "I made movies in my head and I was a loner. I was always a watcher, and there are a lot of references in the album's lyrics about looking from the outside in. "The boy who knew too much because he always sat around looking at everybody. The stalker."

 

If his first album contained innocent fairytales, Mika pitches the new songs as gothic Tim Burton-esque fantasies. The video for his new single, We Are Golden, is an apparently gaudy celebration of youth as Mika dances around his teenage bedroom in his underpants.

 

"The video is joyful but there's this desperation in there," Mika says. "It's like a ceremony where this boy in his bedroom is begging the world to love him."

A truly international star, Mika was born in Beirut to Lebanese and American parents, but moved to Paris before landing in London at the age of nine.

He was bullied in Britain - leading him to be removed from school for several months - but was set on a musical path after being tutored by a tough Russian music teacher.

 

I saw it happen to Robbie - I saw this whole insane amount of pressure be put on to break America and I think it's unhealthy Mika on breaking America

The stories on the new album include I See You, about "sitting across the room from somebody and making movies in your head about the romance you could be having because you're totally in love but you don't have the guts to go and say".

 

He adds: "You're afraid that you're going to be punched in the face and laughed at, and so you resign yourself to just stalking that person.

"And I think that was a lot of me during my adolescence."

The apparently simple Toy Boy is the penultimate song on the album. "It's my version of punk," Mika says.

"It sounds so sweet and you think it's just a daft nursery rhyme, it sounds like Disney. But have you listened to the lyrics?"

 

Despite being pretty much the campest thing to happen in pop since Elton John complimented Freddie Mercury on his fetching catsuit, Mika has remained coy about his sexuality. When asked, he has always said he would let his lyrics do the talking. So Toy Boy might raise eyebrows. It includes the lines: "Your mama thought there was something wrong, didn't want you sleeping with a boy too long. It's a serious thing in a grown-up world, maybe you'd be better with a Barbie girl."

 

Is Toy Boy about him?

"Everything I write is about me," he replies.

"I have no problem putting things like that into songs. But when it comes to interviews, it's now a little bit more difficult because the more you put your heart on your sleeve in a song, the more the aftermath is trickier to deal with." And he stops at that.

 

Mika is known for his extravagant stage shows

When his debut came out, it was a major hit from Germany to Greece, from Norway to Australia. In the US, he became a cult star but no more. Making it big in the world's biggest music market is top priority for his record label this time around - but Mika himself is wary of putting too much pressure on succeeding in the US.

 

"There is this stigma that gets put onto an artist when they do well all over the world except the States," he says. "I saw it happen to Robbie [Williams]. I saw this whole insane amount of pressure be put on to break America and I think it's unhealthy."

 

One person watching closely when the first album came out was Lady GaGa who, inspired by his asexual hyperpop, went on to conquer the charts herself.

"She said that when I broke the first time around, she thought, 'okay, the floodgates have opened and mainstream pop music is changing'. She thought she had hope," Mika says.

 

After turning his teenage troubles into grist for his new album, would the young Mika approve of his older, famous self? "Um… the verdict's still out," he replies. "I'm still alive." What would the people who bullied him at school think of him now? "I've never really thought about that. "Maybe they'd say at least now I've become a beautiful freak. Because then they can't touch me."

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8261817.stm

Edited September 21, 2009 by Droopsy

[robertina]

very interesting interview, i can see some points i agree with.

thanks for posting!

[Fmbm]

Interesting. Thanks for posting!

[Louiza]

thanks droopsy!!

[Gracekelly85]

T4P!

[mari62]

Interesting review and vid

T4P!

[Marilyn Mastin]

The problem for Mika, and other artists, is this obsession TPTB have with America. This is why I've always wanted him to break into that market, because there is such store set on it. It's like "So-and-so did well, but never broke America so they didn't actually succeed."

[chickadee]

Thankyou! And if you go to the site, there's a video too:wub2:

[jemappelle...]

The problem for Mika, and other artists, is this obsession TPTB have with America. This is why I've always wanted him to break into that market, because there is such store set on it. It's like "So-and-so did well, but never broke America so they didn't actually succeed."

 

Very true. I just want him to break America already. Its not like he doesn't have what it takes. Tons of people love him here its just the radio stations etc...

Its just weird seeing all his friends doing so well and not him.

 

Thank you for posting

[Dark Angel]

Interesting. Thx for posting

[Kodes100]

Thanks Droopsy!

Another glowing & very interesting review.

Are the reviews getting more interesting?

There are a 'few" out there this one included where the reviewer really gets what's going on - I think anyway.

And a couple I read sounded like they had their head up their arses.

Congrats Mika for the 98% Glowing reviews!

[Dark Angel]

I love that make-up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Foxxy]

Thanks for posting

[Naectegale]

It's on the front page of the BBC website

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/

 

Under "Grown Up Mika"

 

And on the Entertainment page

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/default.stm

 

Under "I was a Stalker"

 

These links change, so they may not be linked from there for long, but it's good to see them so prominent on the site

[Iridaceae]

Thanks for posting. I can't watch the video though.

[lollipop_monkey]

The apparently simple Toy Boy is the penultimate song on the album. "It's my version of punk," Mika says.

 

...

 

Is Toy Boy about him?

 

"Everything I write is about me," he replies.

 

Iiinteresting! That's the opposite of what he was saying with LICM. In fact with the first album, he kept insisting that his songs were often not about him, just simply based on his perspective on outside people and events.

 

Hmmm.

 

And, his version of punk?

 

I hope some paper pics up on that.

 

"The Meanest Hag; Pop Prince Mika Shows His Punk Side"

 

[Droopsy]

Iiinteresting! That's the opposite of what he was saying with LICM. In fact with the first album, he kept insisting that his songs were often not about him, just simply based on his perspective on outside people and events.

 

Hmmm.

 

And, his version of punk?

 

I hope some paper pics up on that.

 

"The Meanest Hag; Pop Prince Mika Shows His Punk Side"

 

 

Ahhh well, it reminds us of the quote: "I contradict myself every day."

I guess we should keep that in mind with all the interviews we read

[SashaX]

Really interesting

Thank you for posting!

[MIKAmadRosie1996]

Mika's debut album sold 5.5 million copies around the world

"The context of a lot of the storyline is my adolescence," the 26-year-old says. "I made movies in my head and I was a loner. I was always a watcher, and there are a lot of references in the album's lyrics about looking from the outside in. "The boy who knew too much because he always sat around looking at everybody. The stalker."

 

 

dont worry mika your not alone!

[Guest]

Thanks

[laura*]

Thanks