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http://www.metronews.it/15/06/10/mika-spiega-i-down-di-fedez.html

Mika spiega i down di Fedez

Mer, 10/06/2015 - 20:19

 

MUSICA Fenomeno Mika.

Ci sono frotte di ragazze già nel primo pomeriggio fuori dal Fabrique di Milano, dove ieri sera l’artista inglese ha tenuto un concerto “tutto esaurito” da mesi. Pendono dalle sue labbra e si riconoscono nel suo essere libero e fuori dagli schemi.

«Mi fa piacere, ma io non sono un modello di comportamento. Scrivo canzoni per me e per gestire la mia vita» spiega.

Così anche nel nuovo cd, “No Place In Heaven”, in uscita il 15 giugno: «Un disco pop, intimo e diretto.

Dove sono uscito dal guscio e dal pudore inculcatomi dalla mia educazione».

Ecco “All She Wants”, sul rapporto conflittuale con la madre;

“Last Party”, omaggio all’idolo Freddie Mercury;

il singolo “Good Guys”, dove cita i suoi eroi gay.

Nel suo futuro un libro, un tour a tutto visual («Ma sempre artigianale») e la tv.

«I talent bisogna farli col cuore, seguendo il proprio istinto» aggiunge.

Due parole anche sui colleghi Morgan e Fedez:

«Quando è tranquillo, Morgan è un grande. Fedez fatica a gestire una vita improvvisamente complicata».

 

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Today the whole italian Press is dedicated to Mika... every magazine has a column about him and his album.

 

Here are the scans:

 

La Gazzetta dello Sport  http://t.co/cHXsKFy4dL

 

attachicon.gifGDS20150611ds (Page 35).jpg

 

Il Giornale:

 

attachicon.gifgiornale20150611ds (Page 34).jpg

 

Il Corriere della Sera

 

attachicon.gifIl_Corriere_della_Sera_11_Giugno_2015 (Page 45).jpg

 

Leggo Milano

 

attachicon.gifLeggo.MILANO.11.06.2015 (Page 8).jpg

 

Metro Milano

 

attachicon.gifMetro.MILANO.11.06.2015 (Page 12).jpg

 

La Stampa http://t.co/4p96H4DpTc

 

attachicon.gifstampa20150611ds (Page 30).jpg

 

 

 

Will all these art. also be translated ? - it might be too much to ask for, but anyway - it would be sooo great... :)

 

Love,love

me 

 

 

Wow, it really is MIKA day in Italy, isn't it? I found this article too:

 

http://www.panorama.it/musica/mika-a-nudo-no-place-in-heaven/

 

Mika: "Con il nuovo album mi metto a nudo. Per la prima volta"

("With the new album I bare myself. For the first time.")

Il cantautore anglo-libanese parla di "No Place in Heaven", un vero e proprio diario scritto a cuore aperto

(The English-Lebanese singer-songwriter talks about "No Place in Heaven", a true diary written with an open heart)

 

by Cristina Marinoni

 

Più che Mika, si potrebbe dire che a firmare No Place in Heaven (Virgin/Emi/Universal Music) sia Michael Holbrook Penniman Jr. Non l'artista che si cela dietro uno pseudonimo ma l'uomo nato a Beirut nel 1983. Perché nel suo quinto cd, il cantautore naturalizzato britannico si racconta senza filtri come non era mai successo.

Perché ha deciso di mostrare chi è Mika-Michael?

"Per liberarmi da tante paure. Ogni cd ha rappresentato un passaggio importante nel mio percorso di vita. L'ultimo, The Origin of Love, è stato un punto di rottura, ha segnato un solco che mi ha permesso di cambiare e ripartire da zero e lavorare in totale libertà. Così è stato: il nuovo disco è il più trasparente e intimo che abbia pubblicato. Attraverso queste canzoni sono andato dritto al punto, senza giri di parole o metafore. Insomma, non mi nascondo più".

Cosa rivela di sé?

"Mi sono tolto un po' di pesi. Il titolo è l'esempio perfetto: non è una frase triste, al contrario, è gioiosa. Se troverò posto in paradiso, bene, altrimenti non c'è problema, io non voglio andarci a tutti i costi. Questa affermazione è pesante, sa? Va contro la cultura orientale con cui sono cresciuto, che è legata alla vergogna, al senso di colpa. La parte libanese che c'è in me include una buona dose di paranoia nell'affrontare le faccende personali, considerate volgari. Ora che sono riuscito ad abbattere il muro, esco dal guscio, finalmente".

Ha provato vergogna per quale motivo?

"Tanti. La sessualità su tutti. Buttare fuori la paura di come gestire una parte così determinante della mia identità è stato un passo importante. Torno al discorso della cultura: anche se la mia famiglia è libabese solo per metà, è sempre stato molto complicato aprire il mio mondo. Sia quando si è trattato di questioni profonde, come l'amore, sia banali".

I testi sono tutti autobiografici, allora.

"Sì. Ad esempio In All She Wants, la madre che sogna per il figlio una moglie, un buon lavoro e una posizione sociale, come nella tradizione più classica, è proprio la mia. Invece, altro che casa e nipoti: mia mamma si ritrova a organizzarmi il guardaroba per gli show. Si è trasformata in una zingara senza accorgersene!".

Da dove ha tratto ispirazione per i suoni, invece?

"Sono tornato alle mie origini, cioè a quella che secondo me è stata l'epoca d'oro del pop: le atmosfere magiche di Elton John Billy Joel e Carole King".

Il disco include due tracce in francese (L'amour Fait Ce Qu'il Veut e Boum Boum Boum, ndr): non ha pensato di comporre un pezzo in italiano, che ormai mastica benissimo?

"Ci ho provato ma i tentativi sono stati tutti bocciati: la pronucia è troppo difficile! Con il francese sono più avanti, lo parlo da una vita: mi ha aperto le porta all'italiano. Senza il francrese non avrei potuto impare la vostra lingua così velocemente".

Un'anticipazione sul tour (le prime tappe italiane: 23 luglio a Taormina e il 25 luglio a Cattolica, ndr)?

"La copertina del cd dà un'idea del progetto: mi sono ispirato al Futurismo italiano. Sarà uno show "fatto a mano", nel senso che non ci saranno effetti speciali; nessun ledwall, per interderci. Mi piace sempre creare con la fantasia ma attraverso oggetti reali, che recupero dalla strada. Insieme al mio team sto realizzando i disegni, adoperiamo la carta: vedrete un concerto semplice, sobrio, ma spettacolare ed efficace".

 

 

Found this article/interview from la repubblica, has it been posted yet? http://m.repubblica.it/mobile/r/sezioni/spettacoli/musica/2015/06/10/news/mika-116571579/?refresh_ce

 

 

 

 

I can do it the next few days and the help of anyone who also wants to do is well accepted. However many articles are a variation, by every journalist / newspaper or magazine, of what he said at the press conference for the presentation of "No Place in Heaven". I'm sure there will be others, so I think it would be better to make a list of articles/interviews of which we have to do the translation. What do you think?

 

 

Yes, it's better. Every newspaper that I posted yesterday says at least the same thing just in a different way so maybe we can do a summary of them and translate just the things that are new.

 

 

The video of the press conference it's in our to do list! I think that it's better just translate the video of the conference, since most of the articles are based on that. And maybe some journalist also messed up what he really meant. After we can translate the part of the articles that aren't taken from that video! :)

 

Considering the lot of work for so many interviews, the translation of the video of NPIH's press conference is pending, so I'm planning to do the translation of these articles in the next few days, trying to avoid repeating what has already been said  and what "some journalist also messed up what he really meant", if that's still OK with you.

Any help will be welcome, obviously.  :)

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Considering the lot of work for so many interviews, the translation of the video of NPIH's press conference is pending, so I'm planning to do the translation of these articles in the next few days, trying to avoid repeating what has already been said  and what "some journalist also messed up what he really meant", if that's still OK with you.

Any help will be welcome, obviously.  :)

 

:thumb_yello: Charlie20 - you are golden!!  :hug:  :wub:   Thanks a million, in advance - and please, take your time, and don't stress this demanding work, during hot summer days! :)  I think  we're all truly thankful - and will wait patiently... :yes: 

 

Love,love

me 

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:thumb_yello: Charlie20 - you are golden!!  :hug:  :wub:   Thanks a million, in advance - and please, take your time, and don't stress this demanding work, during hot summer days! :)  I think  we're all truly thankful - and will wait patiently... :yes:

 

Love,love

me 

Yes we can be patient. We have something good to look forward to, thanks to you!

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I bought this magazine this week, but I can't speak Italian and I don't understand a word... :( does anyone have a translation for it?

Nothing really new, but I can post ar least a summary (if not a full translation) in the next days

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And on Corriere della Sera "La Lettura" there will be an interview with him. I share the scans as soon as I'll buy the mag

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SKY uno http://skyuno.sky.it/skyuno/news/2015/06/10/mika-nuovo-album-no-place-in-heaven-presentazione-intervista.html

Mika: nuovo album paradisiaco!
10 giugno 2015

mika-francesco-prandoni.jpg

 

Mika alla presentazione stampa del suo nuovo album "No Place in Heaven", tenutasi a Milano il 10 giugno. Foto di Francesco Prandoni
La quarta fatica della pop star più celebre delle sette note e dello schermo, No Place in Heaven, uscirà in digitale il 15 giugno e con il disco fisico il 16. Un nuovo Mika inedito che abbandona il falsetto e opta per una celestiale semplicità

 

di Camilla Sernagiotto

 

Se non un posto in Paradiso, di certo Mika si è guadagnato un posto nell’Olimpo dei mostri sacri della musica pop.

E non aveva certo bisogno di conferme ma, a riprova di quanto detto sopra, in casa Virgin/Emi/Universal Music è stato affisso un fiocco azzurro che annuncia la nascita di un nuovo grande capitolo della rosea carriera dell’artista.

Si tratta del suo nuovo disco d’inediti dal titolo No Place In Heaven, in uscita in digitale il 15 giugno e con il disco fisico il 16, quarta fatica che arriva dopo due anni intensissimi di lavoro creativo dell’artista.

Un album maturo, diverso dai precedenti come ci racconterà Mika stesso nella seguente intervista (rilasciata in occasione della presentazione del disco in anteprima alla stampa tenutasi il 10 giugno a Milano).

Prodotto in collaborazione con Gregg Wells (produttore di Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams, Adele e degli album precedenti di Mika), No Place In Heaven è una miscela esplosiva di doti vocali da urlo (e da urletto) e di rievocazioni di grandi classici del pop targato anni Settanta, da Billy Joel a Elton John fino ad arrivare a Todd Rundgren.

Ma, nonostante le quindici tracce del nuovo disco risaltino forse più di tutti gli altri pezzi di Mika le sue incredibili corde vocali, stavolta una delle sue cifre stilistiche sono state attaccate al chiodo: il falsetto.

Grande protagonista di Life in Cartoon Motion, The Boy Who Knew Too Much e The Origin of Love, qui i vocalizzi altissimi lasciano il posto a melodie meno innaturali (perché in natura solo Mika e Freddy Mercury sono riusciti ad arrivare a prendere note del genere…) e più intensamente emotive.

Ecco cosa ci ha raccontato l’artista, che noi ben conosciamo anche in veste di giudice di X Factor (pronto a tornare sugli schermi con la nuova edizione del talent show. Il tavolo della giuria di X Factor 2015 lo aspetta: domani a Bologna si terranno le prime Audizioni di questa edizione con migliaia di aspiranti popstar) durante l’intervista in occasione della presentazione stampa di No Place in Heaven:

 

Buongiorno Mika. Emozionato?

Ogni volta che devo presentare un album mi sento un po’ triste perché devo condividere con altri una cosa che prima era solo per me. Ma questo è anche il bello! Però c’è sempre molto nervosismo. L’emozione è tanta anche perché questa è la mia prima conferenza stampa che posso fare totalmente in italiano.

 

Ha ragione, ha imparato la nostra lingua benissimo.

Lo devo al francese. Sapere bene il francese mi ha aiutato a imparare in fretta anche l’italiano.

 

E come mai non ci sono canzoni italiane nel nuovo disco?

Perché cantare in italiano è troppo difficile! La pronuncia, la gola da dover aprire… Ci ho provato ma non mi viene bene. Però per il disco ho collaborato con tanti musicisti italiani, da Lucio Fabbri a Benny Benassi. E ho registrato nello studio di Eros Ramazzotti, che è forse lo studio più bello di tutta Europa. Però la fase della scrittura è avvenuta a Los Angeles, dove ho scritto tutte le mie canzoni. Prima ho provato a scrivere negli studios musicali di Hollywood ma poi ho preferito affittare una casa su internet, portarci computer, piano e musicisti e registrare nel salone. La cosa che non potevo immaginare è la frequenza con cui i turisti passavano davanti a quella casa con il TourBus. Ogni ora si sentiva l’annuncio della loro guida che diceva: “Ed ecco la casa di Orlando Bloom”. Avevo affittato la casa dell'attore senza saperlo.

 

Ci sono molte differenze tra No Place in Heaven e i suoi album precedenti. Ci vuole parlare di questo cambiamento?

Certo; la differenza è enorme, c’è stata una vera e propria rottura. Mentre prima facevo sempre album molto intensi, lavorati e complessi, stavolta ho voluto creare qualcosa di trasparente, semplice, lineare. Senza metafore, senza situazioni inventate per nascondere le mie storie personali.

 

Perché questo titolo: No Place in Heaven?

Perché non sto cercando un posto in paradiso; se c’è, bene, se non c’è, amen. Non si tratta però di un titolo triste, anzi: c’è tanta gioia dietro a questo disco. Nella cultura libanese, cui in parte appartengo, parlare di sé non sta bene, è considerato volgare. Con questo album ho oltrepassato questa vergogna, la paranoia di non dover parlare davvero di me stesso. Stavolta parlo di me, di quello che voglio diventare. Credo sia molto più interessante parlare di ciò che si è anziché di ciò che si è stati.

 

Ci sono stati aspetti negativi legati alla sua esperienza e permanenza qui in Italia?

Le spiagge. I vostri paparazzi hanno gli zoom più potenti del mondo! Anche gli aeroporti sono un disastro.

 

E aspetti positivi, invece?

Qui in Italia ho imparato a far collimare il Mika pubblico con quello privato. Il vostro calore, la vostra latinità convive bene con la mia cultura libanese. Sarà per questo che in Italia mi trovo totalmente a mio agio. E poi il vostro vino è squisito.

 

Si è parlato di una collaborazione discografica con Morgan. È ancora nell’aria?

Certo, vorrei collaborare con lui molto volentieri. Anche perché ho scoperto un nuovo Morgan in studio, totalmente diverso da quello davanti alle telecamere di X-Factor. Senza le pressioni della camera, ne è uscita un’altra persona, diversa, piena di grinta. In studio suonava tutti gli strumenti con una passione e un entusiasmo indescrivibili. Farei volentieri un bel progetto musicale con lui, però dovremmo isolarci in una bolla, lontano da tutto e tutti, per fare qualcosa di più intimo e introspettivo.

 

Il pezzo All She Wants è un dialogo con sua madre. Cosa voleva esprimere quando ha scritto quella canzone?

All She Wants è una specie di coming out. Ma non un coming out sessuale, che non è certo qualcosa d’interessante, bensì un coming out esistenziale, una metaforica uscita dal guscio in cui per anni sono stato intrappolato. Quando vieni da una famiglia al cinquanta per cento libanese è tutto più complicato. Parlare di me stesso, dei miei sentimenti, di amore (sia quando il cuore è pieno di gioia sia quando è disintegrato dal dolore) era difficile, fino a pochi anni fa non l’avrei mai fatto.

 

Da All She Wants emerge un ritratto che è forse quello che sua madre avrebbe voluto per lei. Quando ha capito di non riflettersi in quello specchio?

A quattordici anni. Mia madre devo dire che è orgogliosa di me al 90%. Quel 10% è la voglia di avere un figlio un po’ più tradizionale, un po’ più presentabile alle cene di famiglia, in vacanza dai parenti in Libano… Inoltre mia madre è dovuta diventare una nomade per seguirmi ovunque. Proprio ora è qui a sistemare i vestiti per X-Factor!

 

Che rapporto ha con il suo produttore, Gregg Wells?

Gregg è un poliziotto che odio. Ogni musicista ha bisogno di un poliziotto tanto quanto ogni scrittore ha bisogno di un editore che lo pressa e lo riporta un po’ alla realtà. Gregg Wells è bravissimo nel suo compito da poliziotto, ossia quello di controllarmi. Mi ha aiutato molto a curare l’aspetto musicale; in questo disco tutto è più pulito, lineare, essenziale. Per me è stata una progressione naturale.

 

Ci parli dei Good Guys che ha messo a titolo nell’omonimo brano.

Sono miei eroi, da Andy Warhol a David Bowie. Sono persone che hanno cambiato la direzione del vento e che sono riusciti a mantenere un alone di mistero che li rende ancora più affascinanti. E poi c’è James Dean. Perché è James Dean.

 

In Italia ha conosciuto qualche Good Guy da aggiungere alla sua lista?

Sì: Dario Fo.

 

Come saranno gli allestimenti scenici del tour?

La prima tappa, quella del 10 giugno al Fabrique di Milano, sarà diversa a livello scenico dalle restanti tappe. Sarà essenziale, volutamente semplice. Il resto del tour, invece, avrà concerti con scenografie collegate alla copertina dell’album. Io sembro un mimo nella cover e proprio come lui mi trasformo e racconto tante storie diverse. Ho preso spunto dal futurismo italiano.

Nei concerti amo molto la fattura handmade, il “fatto a mano” che rende le cose più autentiche. A un mio live non vedrete mai degli schermi al led perché non fanno parte della mia personalità. A me piace creare un ambiente di fantasia con la carta. Spero che gli show vengano bene, vorrei che risultassero più come un balletto anziché uno spettacolo pop.

 

Come mai nel nuovo album non c’è traccia di falsetto?

Oddio, mi ci avete fatto pensare solo ora! Non me ne ero accorto. Credo che il motivo stia nella volontà di fare un disco fragile, non artefatto. Ma lo so fare ancora il falsetto, giuro!

 

Oltre a scrivere musica, sta anche lavorando a un libro. Ci vuole anticipare qualcosa?

Non è un romanzo ma un diario. Scrivere romanzi è la cosa più difficile che ci sia: creare personaggi, approfondirli… troppo difficile. Il diario che sto scrivendo è intimo, divertente, sincero. Si passa da un capitolo che parla di mio nonno in Siria a uno in cui descrivo la mia frustrazione al supermercato. Attraverso ogni pagina potrete entrare in ogni aspetto della mia vita.

 

Here is the translation of the first article.The journalist has re-elaborated what Mika said at the press conference as if it were an interview and, even when the journalist doesn't use in some answer his exact words, the meaning is just that.

 

Mika: heavenly new album!

 

Mika at the press presentation of his new album "No Place in Heaven", held in Milan June 10

 

The fourth work/effort/endeavour of the most famous pop stars of the seven notes and screen, No Place in Heaven, will be released digitally on June 15 and 16 with the physical disk. A new Mika, innovative/novel, who abandons falsetto and opts for a heavenly simplicity.

 

If not a place in Heaven, certainly Mika has earned a place in the Olympus of the superstars (/giants/legends) of pop music. He certainly didn’t need any confirmation but, as proof of the above, in the Virgin / EMI / Universal Music‘s house/company has been affixed a blue ribbon announcing the birth of a new great chapter in the rosy career of the artist. This is his new album of unreleased entitled No Place In Heaven, released digitally on June 15 and with the physical disk on 16, fourth work that comes after two years of intense creative work of the artist. A mature album, different from previous ones, as Mika himself will tell us in the following interview (released on the occasion of the presentation of the CD/album in the press preview held on June 10 in Milan).

Produced in collaboration with Gregg Wells (producer of Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams, Adele and Mika previous albums), No Place In Heaven is an explosive mixture of really fantastic vocal talents and re-enactments of the great pop classics branded Seventies, from Billy Joel to Elton John until to Todd Rundgren.

But, despite his incredible vocal cords stand out in the fifteen tracks of the new album, perhaps more than all the other pieces of Mika, this time one of his stylistic figures were hanged up: the falsetto.

Great protagonist of Life in Cartoon Motion, The Boy Who Knew Too Much and The Origin of Love, here the high vocals give way to less unnatural melodies (because in nature only Mika and Freddy Mercury succeded in taking notes like that ...) and more intensely emotional.

Here's what the artist, that we know well also as a judge of X Factor (ready to return on the screens with the new edition of the talent show. The table of the jury of X Factor 2015 awaits him: tomorrow in Bologna will be held the first auditions of this year with thousands of aspiring pop star) told us during the interview at the press presentation of No Place in Heaven:

 

Hello Mika. Excited?

Every time I have to present an album I feel a little sad because I have to share with others something that before was just for me. But this is also nice! But there is always many nervousness. The emotion is too much because this is my first press conference I can do completely in Italian.

 

You're right, you have learned our language very well.

I owe it to the French. Knowing well the French helped me learn quickly also Italian.

 

How is it that there are no Italian songs on the new record?

Because sing in Italian is too difficult! The pronunciation, the throat (that you have/) having to open. I tried but it doesn't turn out well. But for the album I have collaborated with many Italian musicians, from Lucio Fabbri to Benny Benassi. And I recorded in the studio of Eros Ramazzotti, who is perhaps the most beautiful studio of all Europe. But the writing phase took place in Los Angeles, where I wrote all my songs. First I tried to write music in the musical studios of Hollywood but then I preferred to rent a house on internet, take computers, piano and musicians and record in the lounge. The thing I couldn’t imagine is the frequency with which the tourists passed in front of the house with the TourBus. Every time we could hear the announcement of their guide who said: "And here is the home of Orlando Bloom." I had rented the house of the actor unknowingly.

 

There are many differences between No Place in Heaven and your previous albums. Do you want to talk about this change?

Sure; the difference is huge, there was a real break. While previously I always made very intense, processed and complex albums, this time I wanted to create something transparent/clear, simple, linear. Without metaphors, without situations invented to hide my personal stories.

 

Why this title: No Place in Heaven?

Because I'm not looking for a place in heaven; if there is, fine, if there is not, amen. This is not a sad title, on the contrary: there is so much joy behind this album. In Lebanese culture, which in part I belong, talk about themselves is not okay, it’s considered vulgar. With this album I overcame this shame, the paranoia of not having to really talk about myself. This time I speak of myself, of what I want to become. I think it's much more interesting to talk about what you are instead of what you have been.

 

There were negative aspects related to your experience and permanence here in Italy?

The beaches. Your paparazzi have the world's most powerful zoom! Also the airports are a disaster.

 

And positive aspects instead?

Here in Italy I I learned to make coincide the public Mika with the private. Your warmth, your latinity coexists well with my Lebanese culture. Perhaps this is why in Italy I am totally comfortable. And then your wine is delicious.

 

There has been talk of a collaboration with Morgan. Is it still in the air?

Of course, I would like to work with him very gladly. Also because I discovered a new Morgan in the studio, totally different from the one in front of (television) cameras of X-Factor. Without the pressure of the camera, it came out a different person, diverse(/different), full of determination. In the studio he played all the instruments with an indescribable passion and enthusiasm. I would love to do a nice musical project with him, but we should isolate ourselves in a bubble, away from everything and everyone, to do something more intimate and introspective.

 

The song “All She Wants” is a dialogue with your mother. What do you wanted to say when you wrote that song?

"All She Wants" is a sort of coming-out. But not a sexual coming out, which certainly is not something interesting, but an existential coming-out, a metaphorical exit from the shell in which for years I have been trapped. When you come from a family to fifty percent Lebanese is all more complicated. Speaking of myself, of my feelings, of love (both when the heart is full of joy and when it is disintegrated by the pain) was difficult, until a few years ago I would never have done it.

 

From "All She Wants" emerges a portrait that is perhaps what your mother would have wanted for you. When did you to not reflect (yourself) in that mirror?

At fourteen. I have to say that my mother is proud of me at 90%. That 10% is the desire to have a son a bit more traditional, a bit more presentable to the family dinners, on vacation with relatives in Lebanon ... Also, my mother had to become a nomad to follow me everywhere. Right now it is here to set the clothes in order for X-Factor!

 

What is your relationship with your producer, Gregg Wells?

Gregg is a “cop/policeman” (* in a figurative sense) who I hate. Every musician needs a “policeman” as much as every writer needs an editor who presses him and brings him back to reality a little. Gregg Wells is very good at his job as a “policeman”, which is to control me. He helped me a lot to look after/curate the musical aspect; in this album everything is more clean, linear, essential. For me it was a natural progression.

 

Tell us about the Good Guys that you put in the homonymous song title.

They are my heroes, from Andy Warhol to David Bowie. They are people who have changed the direction of the wind and that were able to maintain an aura of mystery that makes them even more fascinating. And then there's James Dean. Because he’s James Dean.

 

In Italy have you met some Good Guy to add to your list?

Yes: Dario Fo.

 

How will be the staging (or setting/set/stage designing) of the tour?

The first date/concert, that of 10 June to the Fabrique of Milan, will be different to level scenic by the remaining dates. It will be essential, deliberately simple. The rest of the tour, however, will have concerts with stage sets related to the album cover. I look like a mime in the cover and just like him I transform myself and tell different stories. I was inspired by Italian Futurism.

In the concerts I really love the handmade quality, the "handmade" that makes things more authentic. At one of my live concert you will never see the LED screens because they aren’t part of my personality. I like to create a fantasy setting with the paper. I hope the shows turn out well, I wish they are/turns out to be more like a ballet rather than a pop show.

 

Why in the new album there is no trace of falsetto?

Oh God, you have made me think about it just now! I had not noticed. I think the reason is the desire to make a fragile, not artificial/fake album. But I can still do the falsetto, I swear!

 

In addition to writing music, you're also working on a book. Do you want to reveal something in advance?

It’s not a novel but a diary. Writing novels is the most difficult thing there is: create characters, deepen them ... too difficult. The diary I'm writing is intimate, funny, sincere. It goes from a chapter that talks about my grandfather in Syria in one where I describe my frustration at the supermarket. Through every page you can go into every aspect of my life.

 

 

A little note:

"doti vocali da urlo (e da urletto)"  is a little play on words : literally is vocal talents to scream (and urletto = little scream), but "da urlo" in Italian means really fantastic, truly incredibile.

Edited by charlie20
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Here is the translation of the first article.The journalist has re-elaborated what Mika said at the press conference as if it were an interview and, even when the journalist doesn't use in some answer his exact words, the meaning is just that.

 

Mika: heavenly new album!

 

Mika at the press presentation of his new album "No Place in Heaven", held in Milan June 10

 

The fourth work/effort/endeavour of the most famous pop stars of the seven notes and screen, No Place in Heaven, will be released digitally on June 15 and 16 with the physical disk. A new Mika, innovative/novel, who abandons falsetto and opts for a heavenly simplicity.

 

If not a place in Heaven, certainly Mika has earned a place in the Olympus of the superstars (/giants/legends) of pop music. He certainly didn’t need any confirmation but, as proof of the above, in the Virgin / EMI / Universal Music‘s house/company has been affixed a blue ribbon announcing the birth of a new great chapter in the rosy career of the artist. This is his new album of unreleased entitled No Place In Heaven, released digitally on June 15 and with the physical disk on 16, fourth work that comes after two years of intense creative work of the artist. A mature album, different from previous ones, as Mika himself will tell us in the following interview (released on the occasion of the presentation of the CD/album in the press preview held on June 10 in Milan).

Produced in collaboration with Gregg Wells (producer of Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams, Adele and Mika previous albums), No Place In Heaven is an explosive mixture of really fantastic vocal talents and re-enactments of the great pop classics branded Seventies, from Billy Joel to Elton John until to Todd Rundgren.

But, despite his incredible vocal cords stand out in the fifteen tracks of the new album, perhaps more than all the other pieces of Mika, this time one of his stylistic figures were hanged up: the falsetto.

Great protagonist of Life in Cartoon Motion, The Boy Who Knew Too Much and The Origin of Love, here the high vocals give way to less unnatural melodies (because in nature only Mika and Freddy Mercury succeded in taking notes like that ...) and more intensely emotional.

Here's what the artist, that we know well also as a judge of X Factor (ready to return on the screens with the new edition of the talent show. The table of the jury of X Factor 2015 awaits him: tomorrow in Bologna will be held the first auditions of this year with thousands of aspiring pop star) told us during the interview at the press presentation of No Place in Heaven:

 

Hello Mika. Excited?

Every time I have to present an album I feel a little sad because I have to share with others something that before was just for me. But this is also nice! But there is always many nervousness. The emotion is too much because this is my first press conference I can do completely in Italian.

 

You're right, you have learned our language very well.

I owe it to the French. Knowing well the French helped me learn quickly also Italian.

 

How is it that there are no Italian songs on the new record?

Because sing in Italian is too difficult! The pronunciation, the throat (that you have/) having to open. I tried but it doesn't turn out well. But for the album I have collaborated with many Italian musicians, from Lucio Fabbri to Benny Benassi. And I recorded in the studio of Eros Ramazzotti, who is perhaps the most beautiful studio of all Europe. But the writing phase took place in Los Angeles, where I wrote all my songs. First I tried to write music in the musical studios of Hollywood but then I preferred to rent a house on internet, take computers, piano and musicians and record in the lounge. The thing I couldn’t imagine is the frequency with which the tourists passed in front of the house with the TourBus. Every time we could hear the announcement of their guide who said: "And here is the home of Orlando Bloom." I had rented the house of the actor unknowingly.

 

There are many differences between No Place in Heaven and your previous albums. Do you want to talk about this change?

Sure; the difference is huge, there was a real break. While previously I always made very intense, processed and complex albums, this time I wanted to create something transparent/clear, simple, linear. Without metaphors, without situations invented to hide my personal stories.

 

Why this title: No Place in Heaven?

Because I'm not looking for a place in heaven; if there is, fine, if there is not, amen. This is not a sad title, on the contrary: there is so much joy behind this album. In Lebanese culture, which in part I belong, talk about themselves is not okay, it’s considered vulgar. With this album I overcame this shame, the paranoia of not having to really talk about myself. This time I speak of myself, of what I want to become. I think it's much more interesting to talk about what you are instead of what you have been.

 

There were negative aspects related to your experience and permanence here in Italy?

The beaches. Your paparazzi have the world's most powerful zoom! Also the airports are a disaster.

 

And positive aspects instead?

Here in Italy I I learned to make coincide the public Mika with the private. Your warmth, your latinity coexists well with my Lebanese culture. Perhaps this is why in Italy I am totally comfortable. And then your wine is delicious.

 

There has been talk of a collaboration with Morgan. Is it still in the air?

Of course, I would like to work with him very gladly. Also because I discovered a new Morgan in the studio, totally different from the one in front of (television) cameras of X-Factor. Without the pressure of the camera, it came out a different person, diverse(/different), full of determination. In the studio he played all the instruments with an indescribable passion and enthusiasm. I would love to do a nice musical project with him, but we should isolate ourselves in a bubble, away from everything and everyone, to do something more intimate and introspective.

 

The song “All She Wants” is a dialogue with your mother. What do you wanted to say when you wrote that song?

"All She Wants" is a sort of coming-out. But not a sexual coming out, which certainly is not something interesting, but an existential coming-out, a metaphorical exit from the shell in which for years I have been trapped. When you come from a family to fifty percent Lebanese is all more complicated. Speaking of myself, of my feelings, of love (both when the heart is full of joy and when it is disintegrated by the pain) was difficult, until a few years ago I would never have done it.

 

From "All She Wants" emerges a portrait that is perhaps what your mother would have wanted for you. When did you to not reflect (yourself) in that mirror?

At fourteen. I have to say that my mother is proud of me at 90%. That 10% is the desire to have a son a bit more traditional, a bit more presentable to the family dinners, on vacation with relatives in Lebanon ... Also, my mother had to become a nomad to follow me everywhere. Right now it is here to set the clothes in order for X-Factor!

 

What is your relationship with your producer, Gregg Wells?

Gregg is a “cop/policeman” (* in a figurative sense) who I hate. Every musician needs a “policeman” as much as every writer needs an editor who presses him and brings him back to reality a little. Gregg Wells is very good at his job as a “policeman”, which is to control me. He helped me a lot to look after/curate the musical aspect; in this album everything is more clean, linear, essential. For me it was a natural progression.

 

Tell us about the Good Guys that you put in the homonymous song title.

They are my heroes, from Andy Warhol to David Bowie. They are people who have changed the direction of the wind and that were able to maintain an aura of mystery that makes them even more fascinating. And then there's James Dean. Because he’s James Dean.

 

In Italy have you met some Good Guy to add to your list?

Yes: Dario Fo.

 

How will be the staging (or setting/set/stage designing) of the tour?

The first date/concert, that of 10 June to the Fabrique of Milan, will be different to level scenic by the remaining dates. It will be essential, deliberately simple. The rest of the tour, however, will have concerts with stage sets related to the album cover. I look like a mime in the cover and just like him I transform myself and tell different stories. I was inspired by Italian Futurism.

In the concerts I really love the handmade quality, the "handmade" that makes things more authentic. At one of my live concert you will never see the LED screens because they aren’t part of my personality. I like to create a fantasy setting with the paper. I hope the shows turn out well, I wish they are/turns out to be more like a ballet rather than a pop show.

 

Why in the new album there is no trace of falsetto?

Oh God, you have made me think about it just now! I had not noticed. I think the reason is the desire to make a fragile, not artificial/fake album. But I can still do the falsetto, I swear!

 

In addition to writing music, you're also working on a book. Do you want to reveal something in advance?

It’s not a novel but a diary. Writing novels is the most difficult thing there is: create characters, deepen them ... too difficult. The diary I'm writing is intimate, funny, sincere. It goes from a chapter that talks about my grandfather in Syria in one where I describe my frustration at the supermarket. Through every page you can go into every aspect of my life.

 

 

A little note:

"doti vocali da urlo (e da urletto)"  is a little play on words : literally is vocal talents to scream (and urletto = little scream), but "da urlo" in Italian means really fantastic, truly incredibile.

 

Thanks for the translation  :wub:

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:thumb_yello: Grazie mille Charlie20 - for this huge translation work - you're an angel - love it !! :hug:

 

Love,love

me

Thanks for the translation :wub:

You are welcome! :)

I will do also the translation of the other articles as soon as I can.

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So here is the translation, feel free to change it if there's something wrong :)

 

I barely have the time to say “Hello” to Mika, and suddenly I receive a message from my friend Silvia “Tell me truth, is he really as open as he seems to be?”. The day after the interview, in the newsroom, my colleague Laura asks me: “Is he as nice and cute as he appears in the TV Shows?” If he’s not, please don’t tell me”. Everyone asks me if, meeting him in person, the popstar is really as spontaneous, endearing and sincere as we have grown used to see him during the talent show “X Factor”. So frank and honest to look almost out of place in the showbiz. But there’s no trick: Mika is exactly as we see him, passionate and direct. I meet in him at Universal Music to talk about his new CD, No Place in Heaven. I see him again as a judge of the next X Factor season, from the 10th of September on. I dance with him at this first Italian gig, in Milan, waiting for his shows in next weeks in Taormina (July, the 23rd), Cattolica (July, the 25th), Milan (September, the 27th), Rome (September, the 29th) and Florence (September, the 30th). And after the interview, I am tempted to invite him to go out to dinner as we were old friends.

Your fourth album is out since a few days, you are in the middle of a worldwide tour and the audience of XF can’t wait to see you again on the TV screens. Is this the most important moment of your career?

Until three years ago I declined every offer: TV, interviews. Then I started to act in the opposite way. I stopped protecting myself, being afraid of showing my intimate life. I won the game: I began to talk about me, to reveal who I am. It’s like I found again kind of a candor in my way of living and in writing music. There are no barriers anymore between me and my songs. This album, No Place in Heaven, is my diary.

Do you really think, as stated by the title of your CD, that you don’t deserve a place in heaven?

I think I don’t need it. I am not really interested in knowing if Heaven is a real place or not: I am happy to be alive. As a kid I was educated in a religious school, I respect the Church, but I perceive it as a distant entity. As many other people of my age, I have a personal way of believing: I pick out of religion only the elements I want.

As a young man, were you as confident as you are now?

No, I felt shipwrecked, constantly left out of the group, at school and out of school (Mika’s family escaped form the civil war in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1984, and moved first to France and then to Great Britain). We lost everything we had twice: we know what it’s like having money and not having them at all. Nowadays I am aware that this instability was God sent. Our family can’t be described as a traditional one by any mean, but it was full of love. And love is more important than any tradition.

Have you ever felt excluded because of your homosexuality as well?

No, in the beginning: I was too young and my sexual orientation wasn’t questioned. But perhaps this helped me to become an outsider later on.

Have your mother ever wanted you to be different?

My mother works with me (she is Mika’s stylist for his TV jobs or photo shoots). We have a very tight relationship. But I still reckon that a more regular son, with a beautiful wife and loads of kids, would have been better for her. Of course I am her son and she loves me for what I am, but probably at the 90%. There’s still, and there will always be, a 10% of her wanting a normal life, something she can’t have with me. In my album there’s a song specifically describing this situation: All She Wants. Because even within an apparently positive situation, like the one between my mother and me, a songwriter can see a grey area and find an inspiration in the dark side of reality.

What’s the feeling you get from music?

Joy, but in my songs there’s always a conflict between enjoyable melodies and brutal lyrics, my lyrics stink of truth. My album No Place in Heaven hasn't an immediate impact: you need to hear it many times, to dig in the lyrics to discover it in its full. It’s about love, but also pain, bliss and brutality. A mixture of opposite feelings, which makes my music emotionally truthful. In one song, for example, I wonder if a completely joyful love story can exist. The answer is no, of course. Only in Disneyland a romantic date is totally blissful. In real life, it’s made of 10 terrific minutes, 40 unforgettable ones but also 20 terrible ones. Add, if you want, that from a scientific point of view our brain is programmed to retain only the good memories.

Have you learnt to accept your emotional conflicts?

I learnt to survive, to find the strength to understand the world around me. And writing songs is my way to deal with reality.

Your song “Porcelain” is about unbreakable and everlasting love. Do you think this is a real option?

No, it’s impossibile. But there’s the glue to put the pieces together, when something gets broken.

One of your lyrics goes like “I’ve got holes in my pockets”. What is this line about?

It’s about the risk to lose control on the simplest and most immediate things of our lives. Sometimes I lost a lot and very easily (and maybe Mika is now hinting at the accident happened to his sister Paloma a few years ago, when she fell out of a window and was in danger of staying paralysed). I often felt this way, totally out of control towards what surrounds me. The only good thing about your pocket having holes is that you are lighter when you are walking. I once thought it was a totally negative situation, but not anymore.

What can we expect from next X Factor season?

It will be absolutely cool! Now that Skin, a popstar who I love, has arrived and Elio has returned we’ll be as a bunch of friends at the pub, chatting, having fun and listening to good music.

Your Italian is flawless nowadays (I asked him if he wanted to answer in English or in French, but he is really determined and he kept speaking Italian during the whole interview). How would you describe your first time at X Factor?

I could only use the present tense, and my dictionary was limited to the words spoken in Don Camillo movie. In the meantime, Morgan was reading a book about Dante. X Factor is a challenge that has made my life different in the last years, and the Italian edition is a worldwide reference point concerning the staging, the clothing, the repertoire and the freedom. And this year I want to have fun, acting without any calculations.

As an artist, and a man, what do you consider the worse criticism?

That I am trivial. Even when I’m on TV, they can say whatever they want, that I’m terrible or incredible, but I cannot stand being considered mediocre.

Out of curiosity,  our interview started two hours later than scheduled. But I had been warned before: apparently you don’t get along with clocks…

Time is my real enemy. My beloved ones try to teach me how to improve my timeliness

You are always travelling around the world, but your home is in London. Does your partner live there with you?

Yes (Mika doesn’t like to talk about the filmmaker Andreas Dermanis, who is his partner since 8 years). But there’s also Melachi, my dog: her name means “Queen” in Arabic. But pets need to have company, so I bought another dog, Amira, whose name means “Princess” in Arabic. And it’s not over, there’s a 65 years old Indian lady with us. She thinks she’s at the same time my mother, my father, my wife and my doctor. She was supposed to stay with me one week to help me moving to the house, but she’s still there.

You are considered a style icon.  Who designed the beautiful shoes you are wearing today?

Christian Louboutin. We are friends and the first men sneakers he designed were custom made for me. The have strengthened toes to allow me dancing, and they are now a part of his collections.

 

And let me say that they work well. Mika’s wearing a glittering pair at his gig in Milan. At a certain point he climbs on the piano, he goes wild and jumps on his tiptoes. An authentic sight.

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So here is the translation, feel free to change it if there's something wrong :)

 

I barely have the time to say “Hello” to Mika, and suddenly I receive a message from my friend Silvia “Tell me truth, is he really as open as he seems to be?”. The day after the interview, in the newsroom, my colleague Laura asks me: “Is he as nice and cute as he appears in the TV Shows?” If he’s not, please don’t tell me”. Everyone asks me if, meeting him in person, the popstar is really as spontaneous, endearing and sincere as we have grown used to see him during the talent show “X Factor”. So frank and honest to look almost out of place in the showbiz. But there’s no trick: Mika is exactly as we see him, passionate and direct. I meet in him at Universal Music to talk about his new CD, No Place in Heaven. I see him again as a judge of the next X Factor season, from the 10th of September on. I dance with him at this first Italian gig, in Milan, waiting for his shows in next weeks in Taormina (July, the 23rd), Cattolica (July, the 25th), Milan (September, the 27th), Rome (September, the 29th) and Florence (September, the 30th). And after the interview, I am tempted to invite him to go out to dinner as we were old friends.

Your fourth album is out since a few days, you are in the middle of a worldwide tour and the audience of XF can’t wait to see you again on the TV screens. Is this the most important moment of your career?

Until three years ago I declined every offer: TV, interviews. Then I started to act in the opposite way. I stopped protecting myself, being afraid of showing my intimate life. I won the game: I began to talk about me, to reveal who I am. It’s like I found again kind of a candor in my way of living and in writing music. There are no barriers anymore between me and my songs. This album, No Place in Heaven, is my diary.

Do you really think, as stated by the title of your CD, that you don’t deserve a place in heaven?

I think I don’t need it. I am not really interested in knowing if Heaven is a real place or not: I am happy to be alive. As a kid I was educated in a religious school, I respect the Church, but I perceive it as a distant entity. As many other people of my age, I have a personal way of believing: I pick out of religion only the elements I want.

As a young man, were you as confident as you are now?

No, I felt shipwrecked, constantly left out of the group, at school and out of school (Mika’s family escaped form the civil war in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1984, and moved first to France and then to Great Britain). We lost everything we had twice: we know what it’s like having money and not having them at all. Nowadays I am aware that this instability was God sent. Our family can’t be described as a traditional one by any mean, but it was full of love. And love is more important than any tradition.

Have you ever felt excluded because of your homosexuality as well?

No, in the beginning: I was too young and my sexual orientation wasn’t questioned. But perhaps this helped me to become an outsider later on.

Have your mother ever wanted you to be different?

My mother works with me (she is Mika’s stylist for his TV jobs or photo shoots). We have a very tight relationship. But I still reckon that a more regular son, with a beautiful wife and loads of kids, would have been better for her. Of course I am her son and she loves me for what I am, but probably at the 90%. There’s still, and there will always be, a 10% of her wanting a normal life, something she can’t have with me. In my album there’s a song specifically describing this situation: All She Wants. Because even within an apparently positive situation, like the one between my mother and me, a songwriter can see a grey area and find an inspiration in the dark side of reality.

What’s the feeling you get from music?

Joy, but in my songs there’s always a conflict between enjoyable melodies and brutal lyrics, my lyrics stink of truth. My album No Place in Heaven hasn't an immediate impact: you need to hear it many times, to dig in the lyrics to discover it in its full. It’s about love, but also pain, bliss and brutality. A mixture of opposite feelings, which makes my music emotionally truthful. In one song, for example, I wonder if a completely joyful love story can exist. The answer is no, of course. Only in Disneyland a romantic date is totally blissful. In real life, it’s made of 10 terrific minutes, 40 unforgettable ones but also 20 terrible ones. Add, if you want, that from a scientific point of view our brain is programmed to retain only the good memories.

Have you learnt to accept your emotional conflicts?

I learnt to survive, to find the strength to understand the world around me. And writing songs is my way to deal with reality.

Your song “Porcelain” is about unbreakable and everlasting love. Do you think this is a real option?

No, it’s impossibile. But there’s the glue to put the pieces together, when something gets broken.

One of your lyrics goes like “I’ve got holes in my pockets”. What is this line about?

It’s about the risk to lose control on the simplest and most immediate things of our lives. Sometimes I lost a lot and very easily (and maybe Mika is now hinting at the accident happened to his sister Paloma a few years ago, when she fell out of a window and was in danger of staying paralysed). I often felt this way, totally out of control towards what surrounds me. The only good thing about your pocket having holes is that you are lighter when you are walking. I once thought it was a totally negative situation, but not anymore.

What can we expect from next X Factor season?

It will be absolutely cool! Now that Skin, a popstar who I love, has arrived and Elio has returned we’ll be as a bunch of friends at the pub, chatting, having fun and listening to good music.

Your Italian is flawless nowadays (I asked him if he wanted to answer in English or in French, but he is really determined and he kept speaking Italian during the whole interview). How would you describe your first time at X Factor?

I could only use the present tense, and my dictionary was limited to the words spoken in Don Camillo movie. In the meantime, Morgan was reading a book about Dante. X Factor is a challenge that has made my life different in the last years, and the Italian edition is a worldwide reference point concerning the staging, the clothing, the repertoire and the freedom. And this year I want to have fun, acting without any calculations.

As an artist, and a man, what do you consider the worse criticism?

That I am trivial. Even when I’m on TV, they can say whatever they want, that I’m terrible or incredible, but I cannot stand being considered mediocre.

Out of curiosity,  our interview started two hours later than scheduled. But I had been warned before: apparently you don’t get along with clocks…

Time is my real enemy. My beloved ones try to teach me how to improve my timeliness

You are always travelling around the world, but your home is in London. Does your partner live there with you?

Yes (Mika doesn’t like to talk about the filmmaker Andreas Dermanis, who is his partner since 8 years). But there’s also Melachi, my dog: her name means “Queen” in Arabic. But pets need to have company, so I bought another dog, Amira, whose name means “Princess” in Arabic. And it’s not over, there’s a 65 years old Indian lady with us. She thinks she’s at the same time my mother, my father, my wife and my doctor. She was supposed to stay with me one week to help me moving to the house, but she’s still there.

You are considered a style icon.  Who designed the beautiful shoes you are wearing today?

Christian Louboutin. We are friends and the first men sneakers he designed were custom made for me. The have strengthened toes to allow me dancing, and they are now a part of his collections.

 

And let me say that they work well. Mika’s wearing a glittering pair at his gig in Milan. At a certain point he climbs on the piano, he goes wild and jumps on his tiptoes. An authentic sight.

Lovely interview. Thanks for the translation.

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So here is the translation, feel free to change it if there's something wrong :)

 

I barely have the time to say “Hello” to Mika, and suddenly I receive a message from my friend Silvia “Tell me truth, is he really as open as he seems to be?”. The day after the interview, in the newsroom, my colleague Laura asks me: “Is he as nice and cute as he appears in the TV Shows?” If he’s not, please don’t tell me”. Everyone asks me if, meeting him in person, the popstar is really as spontaneous, endearing and sincere as we have grown used to see him during the talent show “X Factor”. So frank and honest to look almost out of place in the showbiz. But there’s no trick: Mika is exactly as we see him, passionate and direct. I meet in him at Universal Music to talk about his new CD, No Place in Heaven. I see him again as a judge of the next X Factor season, from the 10th of September on. I dance with him at this first Italian gig, in Milan, waiting for his shows in next weeks in Taormina (July, the 23rd), Cattolica (July, the 25th), Milan (September, the 27th), Rome (September, the 29th) and Florence (September, the 30th). And after the interview, I am tempted to invite him to go out to dinner as we were old friends.

Your fourth album is out since a few days, you are in the middle of a worldwide tour and the audience of XF can’t wait to see you again on the TV screens. Is this the most important moment of your career?

Until three years ago I declined every offer: TV, interviews. Then I started to act in the opposite way. I stopped protecting myself, being afraid of showing my intimate life. I won the game: I began to talk about me, to reveal who I am. It’s like I found again kind of a candor in my way of living and in writing music. There are no barriers anymore between me and my songs. This album, No Place in Heaven, is my diary.

Do you really think, as stated by the title of your CD, that you don’t deserve a place in heaven?

I think I don’t need it. I am not really interested in knowing if Heaven is a real place or not: I am happy to be alive. As a kid I was educated in a religious school, I respect the Church, but I perceive it as a distant entity. As many other people of my age, I have a personal way of believing: I pick out of religion only the elements I want.

As a young man, were you as confident as you are now?

No, I felt shipwrecked, constantly left out of the group, at school and out of school (Mika’s family escaped form the civil war in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1984, and moved first to France and then to Great Britain). We lost everything we had twice: we know what it’s like having money and not having them at all. Nowadays I am aware that this instability was God sent. Our family can’t be described as a traditional one by any mean, but it was full of love. And love is more important than any tradition.

Have you ever felt excluded because of your homosexuality as well?

No, in the beginning: I was too young and my sexual orientation wasn’t questioned. But perhaps this helped me to become an outsider later on.

Have your mother ever wanted you to be different?

My mother works with me (she is Mika’s stylist for his TV jobs or photo shoots). We have a very tight relationship. But I still reckon that a more regular son, with a beautiful wife and loads of kids, would have been better for her. Of course I am her son and she loves me for what I am, but probably at the 90%. There’s still, and there will always be, a 10% of her wanting a normal life, something she can’t have with me. In my album there’s a song specifically describing this situation: All She Wants. Because even within an apparently positive situation, like the one between my mother and me, a songwriter can see a grey area and find an inspiration in the dark side of reality.

What’s the feeling you get from music?

Joy, but in my songs there’s always a conflict between enjoyable melodies and brutal lyrics, my lyrics stink of truth. My album No Place in Heaven hasn't an immediate impact: you need to hear it many times, to dig in the lyrics to discover it in its full. It’s about love, but also pain, bliss and brutality. A mixture of opposite feelings, which makes my music emotionally truthful. In one song, for example, I wonder if a completely joyful love story can exist. The answer is no, of course. Only in Disneyland a romantic date is totally blissful. In real life, it’s made of 10 terrific minutes, 40 unforgettable ones but also 20 terrible ones. Add, if you want, that from a scientific point of view our brain is programmed to retain only the good memories.

Have you learnt to accept your emotional conflicts?

I learnt to survive, to find the strength to understand the world around me. And writing songs is my way to deal with reality.

Your song “Porcelain” is about unbreakable and everlasting love. Do you think this is a real option?

No, it’s impossibile. But there’s the glue to put the pieces together, when something gets broken.

One of your lyrics goes like “I’ve got holes in my pockets”. What is this line about?

It’s about the risk to lose control on the simplest and most immediate things of our lives. Sometimes I lost a lot and very easily (and maybe Mika is now hinting at the accident happened to his sister Paloma a few years ago, when she fell out of a window and was in danger of staying paralysed). I often felt this way, totally out of control towards what surrounds me. The only good thing about your pocket having holes is that you are lighter when you are walking. I once thought it was a totally negative situation, but not anymore.

What can we expect from next X Factor season?

It will be absolutely cool! Now that Skin, a popstar who I love, has arrived and Elio has returned we’ll be as a bunch of friends at the pub, chatting, having fun and listening to good music.

Your Italian is flawless nowadays (I asked him if he wanted to answer in English or in French, but he is really determined and he kept speaking Italian during the whole interview). How would you describe your first time at X Factor?

I could only use the present tense, and my dictionary was limited to the words spoken in Don Camillo movie. In the meantime, Morgan was reading a book about Dante. X Factor is a challenge that has made my life different in the last years, and the Italian edition is a worldwide reference point concerning the staging, the clothing, the repertoire and the freedom. And this year I want to have fun, acting without any calculations.

As an artist, and a man, what do you consider the worse criticism?

That I am trivial. Even when I’m on TV, they can say whatever they want, that I’m terrible or incredible, but I cannot stand being considered mediocre.

Out of curiosity, our interview started two hours later than scheduled. But I had been warned before: apparently you don’t get along with clocks…

Time is my real enemy. My beloved ones try to teach me how to improve my timeliness

You are always travelling around the world, but your home is in London. Does your partner live there with you?

Yes (Mika doesn’t like to talk about the filmmaker Andreas Dermanis, who is his partner since 8 years). But there’s also Melachi, my dog: her name means “Queen” in Arabic. But pets need to have company, so I bought another dog, Amira, whose name means “Princess” in Arabic. And it’s not over, there’s a 65 years old Indian lady with us. She thinks she’s at the same time my mother, my father, my wife and my doctor. She was supposed to stay with me one week to help me moving to the house, but she’s still there.

You are considered a style icon. Who designed the beautiful shoes you are wearing today?

Christian Louboutin. We are friends and the first men sneakers he designed were custom made for me. The have strengthened toes to allow me dancing, and they are now a part of his collections.

 

And let me say that they work well. Mika’s wearing a glittering pair at his gig in Milan. At a certain point he climbs on the piano, he goes wild and jumps on his tiptoes. An authentic sight.

Thanks a lot!!! :clap::thumb_yello::D

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