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2012 - Interview with Mika for QX Magazine 03/10/2012


BiaIchihara

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  • 1 year later...
Just saw a tweet from the magazine (thanks to @vanessa-love-mika for RTing ^^)

 

QX Magazine ‏@QXMagazine

 

The latest QX is online now, featuring interviews with @mikasounds and @scott_mills plus lashings of gay gorgeousness. http://www.qxmagazine.com/issue/issue-917/

 

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Just the interview

 

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th_MikaQXmag031020122-page-001.jpg

 

th_MikaQXmag031020123-page-001.jpg

 

or

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?awznrrrfaq1nvzd

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?wb4upbaw9veih7s

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?xevrreggtqvilcp

 

 

More pics thanks to @PurpleCat

 

hi :)

 

I read the interview and I found it interesting and brilliant ...

 

http://www.qxmagazine.com/feature/the-origin-of-mika/

 

but these photos are beautiful :mikacool:

thank you very much:naughty:

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hi :)

 

I read the interview and I found it interesting and brilliant ...

 

http://www.qxmagazine.com/feature/the-origin-of-mika/

 

but these photos are beautiful :mikacool:

thank you very much:naughty:

It's an old interview. I had hoped it would be new, but if it's in the latest issue I'm pleased. At least it's some publicity in the UK.

It would have been nice to see something new about his success in Italy and France, but beggars can't be choosers.

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  • 6 years later...

Almost links and pics have lost... :emot-sad:

 

 

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https://www.qxmagazine.com/2012/10/the-origin-of-mika/

THE ORIGIN OF MIKA

By QX Team

October 3, 2012

 

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Mika is back, and yes, he’s a gay. Well, we kinda knew that didn’t we? But as many of us can relate, coming to terms with the fact – and the subsequent ‘coming out’ process itself – is not always an easy thing to go through at the best of times.

 

Factor in an international pop star profile, and you can begin to understand why the journey to declaring his sexuality publicly was a deeply personal one for the No.1 selling artist. Now he’s back with a new album, The Origin of Love, and he’s taking to the stage at G-A-Y to sing a few songs for you this weekend! Oh yes, Mika’s come out and now he’s coming home…

 

CLIFF: Tell us about the new album…

 

MIKA: It took me three years to come back with a new album, mainly because I just didn’t know how to start it. I made the first album, that was born out of college. I was surrounded by music-making. And the second one, I was alone, and slightly more isolated. And then on the third, I just knew I wanted to do something fresh, but I didn’t know how to start. Then, loads of things happened. I actually lived a bit of life, for the first time, not being on the road, but then I had writer’s block, and it was terrifying ‘cause for a year-and-a-half I couldn’t write a single thing. Then I had a break-up, my sister had a horrific accident, which I witnessed, and then, I fell in love again, and I ran away. As soon as I’d started to feel alive again, I ran away. I’d booked myself on a flight and the next night, I landed in Montreal, and after a year and a half of not writing anything, I write this candid insane love song called ‘The Origin of Love’, which unblocked the whole record, and from then on I just traveled around for seven months with a suitcase full of clothes, and another suitcase full of hard drives. Just making this random haphazard album that I crafted as I went.

 

A lot of your music’s very theatrical.

 

It is very theatrical and it tells a story as it goes through the song. This one song, ‘Life Dressed as a Man’, could easily find its way into a show; the story is a drag queen falls in love with this straight boy. And the straight boy finds this drag queen revolting and so for the first time in her life, she takes off all her clothes and dresses-up as a boy and becomes a friend of his, but he has no idea that it’s the same person. And the process is that she goes through with her infatuation with this boy.

It was like mirroring sexuality, in as many ways as you possibly can, in its own reflection. To the point where, sexuality becomes obsolete, to the point where it’s reduced to its most common denominator, which is just love, and whether you find someone attractive or not. It’s by pairing things down and flipping them. It goes back and forth so much that it makes gender and sexuality obsolete.

 

Seeing as how you raised ‘sexuality’, we have to discuss your ‘coming out’ as it were. How was that process for you? 

 

It was a decision I made in the writing of the song ‘The Origin of Love’. The song claims its territory so much, it’s like an affirmation. It’s like a complete freedom statement, to myself, more than anything. So, that’s when I made the decision. In making this record, I did fall in love, and I went through a thing where I lost love and found it again. So, when I decided to come out publicly, it was from a position of joy and a position of confidence, and it was also on my own terms. Because I know that I was often put under a lot of pressure over the past few years to do that. Admittedly, it’s always been in my music and it’s always been in my lyrics and everything, and I’ve never worn a beard. I’ve never pretended to be anything I’m not, but I’ve just never labeled myself. And so when I do that, I do it from a position of having bloomed first, and also just really joyful and confident. The actual action of doing it, did it make me nervous? Yes. Did it feel good? Yeah, kind of great! Did it feel important? Yes, it felt really important. Did it scare me? No. And that’s how I knew it was the right decision, because there was no fear involved in the process.

 

Was there a moment when you looked back and thought ‘What was I scared of?’ 

 

Of course.

 

And do you understand why you were? 

 

I totally understand why I was still afraid. I still remember the 14-year-old that I was. It was like this weight that I couldn’t understand how it could be lifted. But, I figured that I would invest in every other part of my life, in order to one day be free of that weight. And so music was my get out, and my friends were my get out. Surrounding myself with tolerance. There’s no-one gay in my family, there’s no-one gay in my extended family. Not a single person that is gay, or openly gay. The concept that you’re a different sexuality to your parents is one that takes a while, when you’re a child, to deal with. And then, placing yourself within the context of gay adult men – and how you fit in to all that. Now I know how I fit in to all that and I love it. And I feel very proud. And it took me a while to get there. It doesn’t weigh on me in any way, now. I’m very comfortable with my identity and my sexuality. I’m in love with a man and quite open about it.

 

So, you’re out, back in town and you’re going to perform at G-A-Y!

 

Yes, my show was inspired by the gigs that I used to go to see at G-A-Y… “gigs”, I call them gigs – in very big inverted commas! I used to go there. We have no clubs anymore that are giant theatres, so we don’t have that experience of that old glamorous volume. Feeling that volume in a club is really quite amazing. And I always remember standing on that dance floor and having podiums with drag queens, the giant balloons, all that confetti. I don’t know if you’ve seen one of my shows, but that’s all there and I was inspired by that.

 

What did you think of G-A-Y, as a customer? 

 

As a customer, it was the funnest night in London. G-A-Y was the only place we could go and you could dance on your own and feel completely normal.

 

Are you just doing a few songs or have you thought about what you’re gonna perform?

 

I’m gonna do a few songs, and a little bit of theatre. ‘Cause you can’t do G-A-Y without a little bit of theatre. If you don’t do a bit of theatre in a G-A-Y show it would be betraying what I found inspiring about it when I was a teen.

 

 

THE LUSHES’ LUNCHBOX! MIKA TUCKS IN… 

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Lunchbox Question 1: 

 

QX loves a good dress/drag-up. Do you have a drag alter ego? 

 

I don’t think I’d make a very good girl, firstly, because I know how hard it is, so when I look at my friends like Daniel Lismore and even Jodie Harsh and the amount of effort that goes into what they do or Le Gateux Chocolat, It’s their life. Don’t tread on their s**t, because those queens have nails. But, that said, you know, John Cameron Mitchell in Head Wig is actually pretty cool, and if I was to be a drag queen, I’d be happy to be head wig, in the Farah Fawcett wig [laughs]. I write songs for other people and all my alter egos names, when I write songs for other people, are women. Like one of them is Alice, and there’s three others and they’re all girl’s names that I hide behind.

 

Cliff: In terms of the credits? 

 

Yeah… It’s a way of not bringing my own s**t to the table, but being able to write a song without the track record. It’s quite liberating.

 

Cliff: It’s quite a humble thing to do actually, because most people would insist on their identity being pushed if they’re writing for another artist. 

 

Sometimes. The only times I’ve actually pushed that is when I’ve never had control over it. It’s easier to write when no one knows it’s you. ‘Cause then they don’t bring your s**t into it, and you can write whatever you want. It’s Alice! But my name was on the Madonna track [‘Gang Bang’ on MDNA].

 

Lunchbox Question 2: 

 

What are your vices?

 

French red wine. Pretty classy. What else? Erm, I dunno, I seem to spend all my money on art illustrations and paintings. When I got my first pay check as a kid, I went and I bought a Jim Woodring illustration and it all started from there.

 

Lunchbox Question 3:

 

What’s the worst date you’ve ever been on?

 

It was in Shepherds Bush. I was thrown out at four o’clock in the morning without any clothes on. And my clothes, followed half an hour later, as I was standing on the side road, banging on the door, trying to get my clothes back without any money.

 

Lee: What did you do?

 

Well, it was all pretty sudden, and it was kind of just a brutal awakening that people aren’t always very nice. Even if you think you’re getting intimate with them, it isn’t always a happy ending.

 

Lee: How old were you?

 

17. I just felt like I’d been kicked in the face. That was nasty, so yeah – that was the worst date I’ve ever been on. Which I thought at the time, it was one of the best dates I’d ever been on, that’s what made it crap!

 

 

Lunchbox Question 4: 

 

What’s your life motto? 

 

Well, it used to be ‘Never ask for permission, just beg for forgiveness’ and now it’s ‘Never ask for permission, and run away before you have to say sorry’.

 

Lee: Or before you get thrown out! 

 

Mika: [Laughs] Well, exactly.

 

When I decided to come out publicly, it was from a position of joy and confidence, and it was also on my own terms.

 

Lunchbox Question 5: 

 

Is Mika, the person, different from the Mika the fans know? 

 

Well, I think the only difference is, I’m quite similar, it’s just that in my intimate life, I’m just a bit more of a moody ****. [Laughs]. And I bitch a #### load more.

 

Lunchbox Question 6:

 

Have you ever dated a fan? 

 

Yes.

 

Lee: How did that go? 

 

It lasted five years.

 

Lee and Cliff: Oh wow! Five years!

 

Lunchbox Question 7: 

 

What one song of yours is most personal to you and why?

 

I like ‘The Origin of Love’, just because you know, I had a crush, I bottled it like a perfume, and put a cap on it. It’s a crazy piece of music that represents a moment in someone’s life. I like that about it.

 

Lee: Is that your personal favourite of all the ones you’ve done? 

 

I would say so. Either that, or ‘Happy Ending’.

 

• Mika is at G-A-Y (Heaven, Villiers Street, WC2N 6NG) on Saturday 6th October. £5 entry wristbands from G-A-Y BarThe Origin of Love is out Monday 8th October.

 

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Another interview on QX Magazine

 

https://www.qxmagazine.com/2012/05/it-is-fun-its-####ing-fun/

 

QX_8971.thumb.jpg.018bef86bc728012869406cc1d90d2b2.jpg

 

“IT IS FUN. IT'S ####ING FUN!”

  • by QX Team
  • May 16, 2012
 

Mika on making music, meeting the Queen and performing at Lovebox…


Where have you been?


I’ve been hiding, re-cooking something. I was on tour for almost 3 years and it made me approach my third album, which is what I’m finishing now, in a very different way.


Who have you been working with on it?


A lot with Empire Of The Sun, Pharrell Williams and 21 year-olds I found on the internet – a real mixture. I think this record has only been possible because of Skype and DropBox. It’s clear that I haven’t been isolated in this writing process.


Didn’t you work with Benni Benassi? He’s a favourite of mine.


We wrote a piece then I got it replayed by the London Symphony Orchestra. We took a dance approach to writing a song, and then re-humanised it in the production.


So is there going to be much of a club sound within the album?


I’ve taken electronic music and given it as much heart as I could so that it doesn’t just feel like it’s coming out of a box. I really wanted to use a lot of live instruments and work with programmers who make their own sounds. Far too often people are like, ‘Oh I want to make a record that has more of an electronic sound’ so they go shopping for a load of tracks, write some very linear top-lines and call it ‘progressive’. I wanted to make something that had an organic quality to it mixed with a very electronic side as well. I think my music has always been vaguely danceable. It’s also weird enough to be danced to by freaks and three year olds.


And we love a freak. So you wrote a track for Madonna’s album! Erm, amazing!


Well, yeah I did! I wrote something called ‘Bang Bang’ with William Orbit, who took it to Madonna and she loved it. She recorded it, adapting it to suit her album, and renamed it ‘Gang Bang’. Her version sounds quite different, but an artist who writes themselves is always going to interpret.


Would you like to work with her more directly?


I’m happy with the way this turned out. I’ve got Madonna singing one of my songs – that is good enough.


Do you read your own criticism?


Sometimes I read criticism if it’s intelligent, well structured and somebody’s actually spent a lot of time doing it. If I’m doing a tour I’ll definitely read the critics’ reviews for the first few months and then stop. It’s a funny balance – the good stuff can be equally destructive as the negative stuff because too much good feedback can just warp you. I go through periods of feeling like I’ve got elephant-like skin and periods where I just completely hide away in a bubble.


Are you comfortable with the term ‘pop star’?


Yeah, absolutely. It means something different to each person and it means something different in each country.


With the Jubilee coming up, what are your thoughts on the Royal Family?


They are absolutely fascinating, We’re really lucky to have them. They are held together by the monster of matriarch that is the queen, who is so incredibly impressive.


Have you met her?


I have. She said ‘I praise your energy and your sense of life’ which was really nice. But then the Duke of Edinburgh walked over to Michael Buble and said ‘It’s so good to meet the face behind the voice’ because apparently the Queen listens to Michael a lot, and I was like, “s**t! I just got ‘You jump around a lot, boy’.”


You’re a snappy dresser. How do you choose your clothes?


I have a weakness to choose things that I think are beautiful even if I know I’ll never wear them just because they’re nice pieces of art. The problem with that is nothing ever fits together, so now my approach is to stick within a brief. The devil’s in the detail. Technical stuff like structure is important. If your arse looks amazing and your legs look great and you feel good in them, then the trousers are working.

Lovebox, June 17th. Your first show in the UK in ages, and it’s on my stage! What have you got in store?

It’s either gonna be really up or completely, like, just stopping in it’s tracks for two minutes and then back in again. Full of contrast. I’m actually really looking forward to it.


Is it hard being Mika?


No, it’s not. It’s amazing. I have never been pushed into anything that I don’t want to do. I sell records and manage to fill at least a theatre or whatever around the world doing what I love.


Is it fun being Mika?


It’s full of extremes. You always want to create something better or new or contrasting. It is fun. It’s ####ing fun. I can’t complain. There’s just nothing to complain about.


• Mika performs on the ‘This is… Circus stage’ in association with QX magazine at Lovebox on Sunday 17th June.

 

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8 hours ago, Kumazzz said:

Almost links and pics have lost... :emot-sad:

 


600.thumb.jpg.7426cf738c0389ec802c808222059ab1.jpg

 

Lunchbox Question 3:

 

What’s the worst date you’ve ever been on?

 

It was in Shepherds Bush. I was thrown out at four o’clock in the morning without any clothes on. And my clothes, followed half an hour later, as I was standing on the side road, banging on the door, trying to get my clothes back without any money.

 

Lee: What did you do?

 

Well, it was all pretty sudden, and it was kind of just a brutal awakening that people aren’t always very nice. Even if you think you’re getting intimate with them, it isn’t always a happy ending.

 

Lee: How old were you?

 

17. I just felt like I’d been kicked in the face. That was nasty, so yeah – that was the worst date I’ve ever been on. Which I thought at the time, it was one of the best dates I’d ever been on, that’s what made it crap!

 

 

Does this poor boy like ALWAYS get thrown out at Shepherd’s Bush? 🤣🤣

on 2019 TETU he said that he got thrown out In Shepherds Bush the day before meeting his current partner, so when he was 23 💁🏻‍♀️ 
oh well, that’s just him being him 🤣🤣🤣

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14 minutes ago, maggie112 said:

Does this poor boy like ALWAYS get thrown out at Shepherd’s Bush? 🤣🤣

on 2019 TETU he said that he got thrown out In Shepherds Bush the day before meeting his current partner, so when he was 23 💁🏻‍♀️ 
oh well, that’s just him being him 🤣🤣🤣

 

I suppose it's the same story, just one of his infos about his age at the time is wrong. I noticed recently when reading old interviews that he used to say he dropped out of school and got singing lessons at the age of 11, when now he says he was 8, so he seems to be flexible about the truth re. his age :teehee: - or just doesn't/didn't remember it well, who knows... Anyway , it doesn't matter really, a few years more or less. :bleh:

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9 hours ago, Kumazzz said:

It is very theatrical and it tells a story as it goes through the song. This one song, ‘Life Dressed as a Man’, could easily find its way into a show; the story is a drag queen falls in love with this straight boy. And the straight boy finds this drag queen revolting and so for the first time in her life, she takes off all her clothes and dresses-up as a boy and becomes a friend of his, but he has no idea that it’s the same person. And the process is that she goes through with her infatuation with this boy.

It was like mirroring sexuality, in as many ways as you possibly can, in its own reflection. To the point where, sexuality becomes obsolete, to the point where it’s reduced to its most common denominator, which is just love, and whether you find someone attractive or not. It’s by pairing things down and flipping them. It goes back and forth so much that it makes gender and sexuality obsolete.

 

I'd still love to hear that song. :fisch: Maybe it's one of those he has written under a pseudonym? :dunno:

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