Marilyn Mastin Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Okay, so I've been thinking so much about this that my brain hurts! I've been thinking: What was it about Grace Kelly that made it the massive hit it was, and why is it that Rain can not get into the top 40? There is no easy answer, but what I what did was think a lot about was Grace Kelly, and I asked myself WHY did it become such a massive hit? Well there are two things I came up with. (1) An addictive tune (but Mika always writes addictive tunes) (2) Unusual lyrics: I can be brown, I can be blue, I can be violet sky, etc. Lyrics that not only made people wonder what they meant, but also, grabbed peoples' attention in the first place! Like I said, there are no hard and fast answers to the problem, but we have to ask ourselves, what song from TBWKTM has the best chance to make it BIG as a single? As I have often said, I love Good Gone Girl, but what the faliure of Rain has proved is that a good tune and a great story, may not be enough! Touches You is brilliant, but there is the similarity to the George Michael song, that might put people off. Once again, I go back to Grace Kelly, it's great tune and unusual lyrics. The most unusual song on TBWKTM is One Foot Boy. Even the title is unusual. It grabs attention. Then the words "There's a One Foot Boy Eleven Stone, sitting on my shoulder. etc" Grace Kelly was different, so is One Foot Boy. It has a great tune which everyone would love, but also unusual lyrics which make people wonder what the song is all about? So what do people think? Should we tweet, or suggest, that Mika release the most unusual song on his album, in the hopes that it will be a great hit? Just as the most unusual song on LICM was also, it's biggest hit! This is open for discussion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willywonka Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 I agree with everything you say until the tweeting him part... If there'd be a way of making a non public suggestion maybe it would work... Asking him publicly would maybe force him to recognise it failed... And wouldn't it be rushing things a bit? It was just released this Monday... And even if he took our advice, doesn't the record company have the last word? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naectegale Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 I disagree Im afraid Grace Kelly was unusual in the way you describe but the emotion behind it is something everyone has felt at some time or other, either auditions or job interviews, or relationships. The central "Why don't you like me" "I can be what you want" is universal In that fan interview in Australia Mika talked about One Foot Boy as being about an imaginary presence he had when younger - to most people that's just plan odd - they won't understand and it won't relate to their lives. I like Touches You - the world is missing George Michael and Mika does enough to makethe song his own I think. I also like "By the Time" Ithas a totally different mood which may grab attention Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Can we hold off on declaring Rain a failure? It's only been a few days. I think what grabbed people about Grace Kelly was its sheer novelty. That is, unfortunately, why Mika was tagged as a likely one-hit wonder. I don't think it will ever be repeated in markets where he is already well known because Mika is no longer a novelty. Barenaked Ladies was a successful Canadian band in the early '90s who had become popular with an unusual novelty-type song. They broke in the States (and even charted in the UK) in the late 90s with another unusual song but it was not the same craze in Canada because Canadians had already gone through it years earlier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sienna Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 I disagree Im afraid Grace Kelly was unusual in the way you describe but the emotion behind it is something everyone has felt at some time or other, either auditions or job interviews, or relationships. The central "Why don't you like me" "I can be what you want" is universal In that fan interview in Australia Mika talked about One Foot Boy as being about an imaginary presence he had when younger - to most people that's just plan odd - they won't understand and it won't relate to their lives. I like Touches You - the world is missing George Michael and Mika does enough to makethe song his own I think. I also like "By the Time" Ithas a totally different mood which may grab attention I’ve read somewhere that Mika draw the parallel with the rabbit in Donnie Darko, and that movie was a big success; a whole cult was growing around it. About the rest I have no idea; I really don’t have a clue on what makes a song popular! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camille* Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Your post is very interesting. I'm going to think about it more in depth, but I have some first impressions. I'm feeling a bit down about TBWKTM not selling so good, so I'm not extremely optimistic sorry! Ok, so first of all Grace Kelly was his first hit, at least here in France. Novelty always attracts people, especially when it's very different. Mika's style and high pitched voice was something we were discovering. The tune is indeed very addictive, and I think it's less pop than most of other songs. It was maybe played on more varied radio stations, which I doubt would be the case with One Foot Boy. It doesn't sound pop rock to me. I don't know if GK lyrics grabbed people's attention over here at that time. If I remember well at the start I used to sing along having no idea what I was saying. I mean, I knew the melody by heart but not the lyrics at all, I didn't know they were unusual. I have no idea what the secret remedy would be. I love One Foot Boy as all other songs on the album. But we probably can't "reenact"(?) the success of GK. However, Relax, Big girl etc were hits as well. In my opinion Rain is still the song that sounds much more like a single and a hit for me. I think we just need to let it more time to settle. It's being played more and more on French radios and I have hope it will increase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Droopsy Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 Can we hold off on declaring Rain a failure? It's only been a few days. I think what grabbed people about Grace Kelly was its sheer novelty. That is, unfortunately, why Mika was tagged as a likely one-hit wonder. I don't think it will ever be repeated in markets where he is already well known because Mika is no longer a novelty. I agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie13 Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 I disagree Im afraid Grace Kelly was unusual in the way you describe but the emotion behind it is something everyone has felt at some time or other, either auditions or job interviews, or relationships. The central "Why don't you like me" "I can be what you want" is universal In that fan interview in Australia Mika talked about One Foot Boy as being about an imaginary presence he had when younger - to most people that's just plan odd - they won't understand and it won't relate to their lives. I like Touches You - the world is missing George Michael and Mika does enough to makethe song his own I think. I also like "By the Time" Ithas a totally different mood which may grab attention Think you're absolutely right. Grace Kelly was easy to identify with and very witty - one foot boy isn't - someone, not a Mika fan, hearing it would think what on earth is that about, and why is he trying to be Justin Timberlake now... Grace Kelly also had a really good, accessible, easy to identify with, video - which could appeal to all ages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mai.mika luv 96 Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 i agree with every thing you said but i think that mika is a good friend with katy perry ,amy winehouse ,and lady gaga and all of them are amazing:wub2: so mika should be smart and do a new album with them and this new album wellkick butts !so mika have fun with your friends and be more famous at the same time:wink2: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lollipop_monkey Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 Rain is Mika's best chance at a big upbeat single with this album. IMHO, of course. If Rain doesn't work, he should release one of the ballads. My live recording of I See You is blowing all my other Mika vids out of the water in terms of views on YouTube. Either one or two people are obsessed with that song and keep replaying it () or else people are drawn to it. I don't think One Foot Boy would be a great single. It's in my top three faves on the album for sure, but it's a bit "weird" - I'm not sure it's what the commercial masses would gravitate to. Then again, I was also surprised when he released Happy Ending, so I don't claim to be an expert. I would love to be a fly on the wall at meetings where Mika's people are discussing this, though. Would love to know their thought process and the various metrics they look at to make the decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalicoSkies Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 Rain is Mika's best chance at a big upbeat single with this album. IMHO, of course. If Rain doesn't work, he should release one of the ballads. My live recording of I See You is blowing all my other Mika vids out of the water in terms of views on YouTube. Either one or two people are obsessed with that song and keep replaying it () or else people are drawn to it. I don't think One Foot Boy would be a great single. It's in my top three faves on the album for sure, but it's a bit "weird" - I'm not sure it's what the commercial masses would gravitate to. Then again, I was also surprised when he released Happy Ending, so I don't claim to be an expert. I would love to be a fly on the wall at meetings where Mika's people are discussing this, though. Would love to know their thought process and the various metrics they look at to make the decision. I concur. I love One Foot Boy but it's about as quirky as my love for the word awesomesauce. I would chose Pick up off the Floor or Rain really as singles. My tastes are not what is considered popular however so I do not consider myself to be a expert on the matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lollipop_monkey Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 ...it's about as quirky as my love for the word awesomesauce. "Awesomesauce"...? Loves it. Stolen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fmbm Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 I think "Touches You" would be the best single. It's got the "sexiness" of today's songs and it's also catchy. Win-win. "One Foot Boy" is one of my favourites, but I don't think it's right for a single. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalicoSkies Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 "Awesomesauce"...? Loves it. Stolen! ha! I am shocked Madam. I thought you've seen me say that before. I blame it fully on Neopets. That's where I stole it from. It's a lovely word. It's better than applesauce at best. Almost as amusing as accusing someone of being a smarmy marmot. *cough* To pretend I'm on topic. Radio Popularity still baffles me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAK1 Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 i agree with every thing you said but i think that mika is a good friend with katy perry ,amy winehouse ,and lady gaga and all of them are amazing:wub2: so mika should be smart and do a new album with them and this new album wellkick butts !so mika have fun with your friends and be more famous at the same time:wink2: I'm pretty sure he's not good friends with Amy Winehouse! And I don't think he needs to do an album with other artists, he's talented enough on his own. Is there some indication in the midweek charts Marilyn, that says Rain isn't doing well, because the chart doesn't come out til tomorrow, so we won't know til then, what's happening. One Foot Boy is a great song, not sure if people who don't particularly like him would get it though, they might use it to really lay into him, which would be bad at this time, with the album not doing great in the UK charts, hopefully the run up to Christmas might boost it though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louiza Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 I agree with everything you say until the tweeting him part... If there'd be a way of making a non public suggestion maybe it would work... Asking him publicly would maybe force him to recognise it failed... And wouldn't it be rushing things a bit? It was just released this Monday... And even if he took our advice, doesn't the record company have the last word? You've got some very good points here. Can we hold off on declaring Rain a failure? It's only been a few days. You're right! It's too soon to call Rain a failure even if it hasnt yet sold as much as Mika's other singles in the UK. Here in Greece it's proven to be Mika's most succesful song so far. It's getting played quite a lot on radio and tv music channels while WAG/Happy Ending etc. were hardly ever played and in a tv show about the top5 songs that people vote for it's already gone to #1. So definitely NOT a failure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiibet Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 I think Rain is the best choice as a single from this album, and I really hope it will do better, and this is just a beginning. Next I would love to see I See You, it would be a brilliant movie soundtrack too, especially part 2:58-3:15 Touches You would be good one too, it could have a large audience (but just my opinion). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marilyn Mastin Posted November 28, 2009 Author Share Posted November 28, 2009 Rain is Mika's best chance at a big upbeat single with this album. IMHO, of course. If Rain doesn't work, he should release one of the ballads. My live recording of I See You is blowing all my other Mika vids out of the water in terms of views on YouTube. Either one or two people are obsessed with that song and keep replaying it () or else people are drawn to it. I don't think One Foot Boy would be a great single. It's in my top three faves on the album for sure, but it's a bit "weird" - I'm not sure it's what the commercial masses would gravitate to. Then again, I was also surprised when he released Happy Ending, so I don't claim to be an expert. I would love to be a fly on the wall at meetings where Mika's people are discussing this, though. Would love to know their thought process and the various metrics they look at to make the decision. Well I do love 'I See You'. I'm happy to learn it's getting attention on Youtube. My idea with starting the thread was to kick around some ideas. I really really hope that Rain does climb the charts, but usually once a song starts low, it doesn't climb up the charts enough to be a hit. Maybe Rain will be the exception, but I'm talking from the UK perspective, I'm thrilled that it's doing well abroad, that certainly makes me feel a lot better. The concensus seems to be that the public wouldn't get One Foot Boy enough. But that's why I though about discussing it, to get fans opinions. Lots of people seem to love Touches You, and tbh I'm sick of critics comparing Mika to other people, even someone like George Michael, but the sad fact is, they seem to go out of their way to find something to criticize. Many songs written by other people sound similar to other songs, but only We Are Golden, got compared to Heaven Is A Place On Earth, even though it's only the chorus that sounds a little bit like it. In many ways. I fear that the same thing would happen with Touches You. But We Are Golden became a hit despite the HIAPOE comparison, so maybe Touches You could be a hit too. Mika really is unique and has tons of talent, unlike many who are in the charts today. I hope his album sells more in the UK as christmas approaches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sariflor Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 Rain is Mika's best chance at a big upbeat single with this album. IMHO, of course. If Rain doesn't work, he should release one of the ballads. My live recording of I See You is blowing all my other Mika vids out of the water in terms of views on YouTube. Either one or two people are obsessed with that song and keep replaying it () or else people are drawn to it. I don't think One Foot Boy would be a great single. It's in my top three faves on the album for sure, but it's a bit "weird" - I'm not sure it's what the commercial masses would gravitate to. Then again, I was also surprised when he released Happy Ending, so I don't claim to be an expert. I would love to be a fly on the wall at meetings where Mika's people are discussing this, though. Would love to know their thought process and the various metrics they look at to make the decision. I'm with you, Mana. I think that Rain is the most 'single friendly' song of the album, and that next he should go for one of the slow ones. I still agree with Christine though, in saying that Rain just only came out and it's very premature (and potentially quite incorrect) to say that it's failed. Let's give it some time, aye . I'm sure that Rain will do better than WAG in any case, and that's not only because WAG is my least fav song in the album and Rain one of my favs; It's because most people that I have spoken to think the same. I don't think that WAG ever had enough mass appeal, but I can see Rain having it big time . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micafan Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 I was thinking about this and im so surprised , has not done as well as we thought it would (still hoping though) I personally think mika should release a sex related song:teehee: i write songs on youtube and it seems that when i advertise, and ask people to listen, they seem to pay more attention to a song title like "Sex God (No Your Not)" rather than a song like "My Life" i think everybody likes a good sex song:roftl: but thats just my opinion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatagordinha Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 I think "Touches You" would be the best single. It's got the "sexiness" of today's songs and it's also catchy. Win-win. "One Foot Boy" is one of my favourites, but I don't think it's right for a single. Agree totally with this . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAK1 Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 I was thinking about this and im so surprised , has not done as well as we thought it would (still hoping though) I personally think mika should release a sex related song:teehee: i write songs on youtube and it seems that when i advertise, and ask people to listen, they seem to pay more attention to a song title like "Sex God (No Your Not)" rather than a song like "My Life" i think everybody likes a good sex song:roftl: but thats just my opinion? The thing is, we don't know that it hasn't done well until tomorrow. The UK chart isn't released until tomorrow afternoon, and the midweeks aren't available to anyone outside the music industry, according to the people who compile the charts. Unless an artist says something themselves, which has happened if they are happy with where they are, or a dj may let it slip if there is some competition between artists (like Calvin Harris and Tinchy Stryder recently), but otherwise we would have no idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marilyn Mastin Posted November 28, 2009 Author Share Posted November 28, 2009 I'm pretty sure he's not good friends with Amy Winehouse! And I don't think he needs to do an album with other artists, he's talented enough on his own. Is there some indication in the midweek charts Marilyn, that says Rain isn't doing well, because the chart doesn't come out til tomorrow, so we won't know til then, what's happening. One Foot Boy is a great song, not sure if people who don't particularly like him would get it though, they might use it to really lay into him, which would be bad at this time, with the album not doing great in the UK charts, hopefully the run up to Christmas might boost it though. Well one thing is that Radio One have completely taken Rain off their playlist. It should be on the A-list, but it's nowhere. I have complained, and there is a link in my siggy for others to complain about it. I bought Heat Magazine this week, hoping for a review of Rain. They listed their top ten downloadable tracks that they recomend, but Rain was not on it at all! Someone (can't remember who) said Rain is very low on iTunes. About a hundred and something. It does seem that the media in the UK have already given up on the song and it's only been out a few days. I admit that I can't understand it and I would love to see it in the charts tomorrow, but I'm not sure that it will be and I'm so upset for Mika. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAK1 Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 Well one thing is that Radio One have completely taken Rain off their playlist. It should be on the A-list, but it's nowhere. I have complained, and there is a link in my siggy for others to complain about it. I bought Heat Magazine this week, hoping for a review of Rain. They listed their top ten downloadable tracks that they recomend, but Rain was not on it at all! Someone (can't remember who) said Rain is very low on iTunes. About a hundred and something. It does seem that the media in the UK have already given up on the song and it's only been out a few days. I admit that I can't understand it and I would love to see it in the charts tomorrow, but I'm not sure that it will be and I'm so upset for Mika. I sent a message of complaint too, no reason for them to take it off the playlist already. I didn't realise it wasn't doing so well in the iTunes chart, not good it's down THAT low:shocked: I thought it would be battling for a top 5 place, due to the charity songs, but not struggling completely. Fingers crossed for a rally during the latter part of the week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marilyn Mastin Posted November 28, 2009 Author Share Posted November 28, 2009 I sent a message of complaint too, no reason for them to take it off the playlist already.I didn't realise it wasn't doing so well in the iTunes chart, not good it's down THAT low:shocked: I thought it would be battling for a top 5 place, due to the charity songs, but not struggling completely. Fingers crossed for a rally during the latter part of the week. I hope so too. I've been so upset this week what with Heat Magazine not mentioning it in their top ten, and Radio One not having it on their playlist, and hearing about it being low on iTunes. I do so hope it can rally for Mika's sake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.