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Interview on focus.de, Germany, oct09

mellody

By mellody
in Mika News and Press

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mellody

mellody

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posted by lilli on the german forum: http://www.focus.de/kultur/musik/pop-phaenomen-mika-ich-bin-kein-bluff_aid_446323.html

 

i'll just translate the interview, the beginning is just a little introduction, nothing new. :wink2: sorry for any strange english, feel free to correct me if anything sounds totally stupid. :bleh:

 

 

FOCUS Online: Mika, your new album is called “The Boy Who Knew Too Much“. What exactly did you know too much?

Mika: I was a boy who dealt with grown-up-problems very early. I've been working as a musician since I was 12 and that had a lot of influence on the way I see and value things in life.

 

FOCUS Online: Would you say that you feel older compared to other 26-year-olds?

Mika: Yes. Sometimes I feel really old compared to others of the same age, who see a lot of things more naively because they don't have this pressure. Because no-one expects anything special from them. But I also have the advantage of seeing life totally differently because of my creative job. As an artist you live out fantasies that are similar to those of a child. You do what you enjoy and are very happy if you're successful with it. So from that point of view I feel younger than many of my friends of the same age. Somehow the saying is true: You're always as young or old as you feel.

 

FOCUS Online: Were you scared of the second album? Especially since you suddenly got famous over night and had to jump in at the deep end?

Mika: I was. There is this known curse of the second album, and every artist is scared of it. If the first album was especially successful, there is an immense pressure from all sides. The record company of course wants to repeat this success and you don't want to deliver a worse job either than on your last album. This puts many musicians into a crisis, which can only result in a bad album because you make too many compromises. So I thought about what would really help me on and drew the following conclusion: It doesn't make sense to write songs that make my fans, my critics or my label happy. I have to write songs that first of all make me happy. Because only if i stand behind my work 100 percent, fans and critics can take me seriously.

 

FOCUS Online: If you were aware of that, did you keep this danger in mind all the time? Did you think about what you could do to not fall into this trap?

Mika: First of all, I listened to all the second albums of all kinds of artists and realized that the most important thing for me is to not think too much. For example, from the point of view of a grown-up there are a thousand reasons not to make a video like "We Are Golden". Many people see this as embarrassing, childish or just daft. But it's huge fun for me. If every time I would think for ages about which reasons speak against my work, I wouldn't be the person I am and I want to be. And especially I'd never get any results.

 

FOCUS Online: So you're saying that many artists pretend to be someone they're not, to have success?

Mika: Yes, because one doesn't let them be like they really are. Believe me, it's not always easy to be Mika, but I always told myself: Stay who you are, even if the critics slag off your work. I know that I polarize, because i bring up things that other people would never speak about. Behind this, there are often quite dark thoughts that you don't see on the first look, because I hide them behind this colourful clownish image. But it's this image that guarantees me the attention of my audience, who realizes on the second look: The guy actually has something to say. He doesn't just fool around because he couldn't find a proper job.

 

FOCUS Online: Do your critics realize that as well?

Mika: The criticism in my case isn't as bad as you could think. I've often been accused of being a bluff, someone who plays the clown because this niche isn't occupied by anyone else at the moment. but i'm not a bluff. but if you look at my critics - and i'm reading lots of them (interesting... :blink: didn't he say in another interview that he doesn't read much of what is written about him?) - you'll see that of 5 reviews I'm currently getting 4 positives and 1 negative. If they'd really see me as a polarizing, questionable piece of art, then the media feedback would surely be at least two and a half bad critics. So I'm not doing that badly.

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Buzzbuzz

Buzzbuzz

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What a very interesting inteveiw. I love reading interviews where he says more about himself or what he's thinking, he's such an interesting man. I wish that an interview TV show will interview him, a decent lengh one and a good one, if you know what I mean.

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robertina

robertina

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interviews like this really help me.

you know i haven't liked WAG when it first was launched, and i still don't think it's the best song of the album to be released as first single.

but what i think or feel or wish is not relevant...what mika wants is.

if he feels fine in doing what he does, in choosing what he chooses, i must be too.

i feel a lot of respect for this man who bets on himself every morning he wakes up in the music business circus.

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mellody

mellody

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...realized that the most important thing for me is to not think too much. For example, from the point of view of a grown-up there are a thousand reasons not to make a video like "We Are Golden". Many people see this as embarrassing, childish or just daft. But it's huge fun for me. If every time I would think for ages about which reasons speak against my work, I wouldn't be the person I am and I want to be. And especially I'd never get any results.

 

i love this part most of the interview, cause it so reminds me of myself: i always think too much about what others could think or what might go wrong, and therefor don't act and then of course hardly ever get any results. i should follow mika's example and start thinking that i don't give a f* and just do it!

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Cibele

Cibele

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Thank you! :thumb_yello:

 

I like this interview. :wub2:

 

But hey! They didn't ask him Dah Question! :shocked::shocked:

Perhaps the fire alarm went off and they didn't have time. :mf_rosetinted:

 

:roftl: :roftl:

Probably :naughty:

 

Thanks for posting! =)

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Louiza

Louiza

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FOCUS Online: If you were aware of that, did you keep this danger in mind all the time? Did you think about what you could do to not fall into this trap?

Mika: First of all, I listened to all the second albums of all kinds of artists and realized that the most important thing for me is to not think too much. For example, from the point of view of a grown-up there are a thousand reasons not to make a video like "We Are Golden". Many people see this as embarrassing, childish or just daft. But it's huge fun for me. If every time I would think for ages about which reasons speak against my work, I wouldn't be the person I am and I want to be. And especially I'd never get any results.

 

I think this answer and especially the highlighted quote is so incerdibly inspiring. I really admire Mika for being brave enough to belive and do that.

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Vedrana

Vedrana

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FOCUS Online: So you're saying that many artists pretend to be someone they're not, to have success?

Mika: Yes, because one doesn't let them be like they really are. Believe me, it's not always easy to be Mika, but I always told myself: Stay who you are, even if the critics slag off your work. I know that I polarize, because i bring up things that other people would never speak about. Behind this, there are often quite dark thoughts that you don't see on the first look, because I hide them behind this colourful clownish image. But it's this image that guarantees me the attention of my audience, who realizes on the second look: The guy actually has something to say. He doesn't just fool around because he couldn't find a proper job.

I was trying, unsuccessfully, to explain that to my brother on several occasions, but he still thinks that something seriously went down hill with my mental health when I started to love Mika's music.:aah::boxed:

But hey! They didn't ask him Dah Question! :shocked::shocked:

Perhaps the fire alarm went off and they didn't have time. :mf_rosetinted:

I'm in shock too! :shocked::naughty:

I have expected they left it for the end and than to have a goosebumps once again to his "never limited myself" answer :boxed: I know he means that in terms of gender, but when he puts it that way it kinda creeps me out :boxed: it just sounds... I don't know...sinister and wrong :bleh:

 

Thank you mellody very much for your effort! :flowers2:

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