Mika: ''Music is my medicine... it’s better than seeing a shrink''

[BiaIchihara]

Singer nearly lost his sister in tragic accident

 

INSPIRED by “the worst moment of his life”, third album The Origin Of Love sees a grown-up Mika Penniman return with simpler songs backed by stylish electronics.

 

Mika says: “There’s a lot of darkness in this record.

 

“But it’s bearable because it sounds joyous and makes you feel better.”

 

When the singer’s sister, Paloma, fell 50ft from a window of her fourth-floor London flat in late 2010 she was impaled on railings through her legs and abdomen and close to death.

 

It was only the actions of her neighbour — who heard the crash and held her for an hour, slapping her face to keep her conscious — that kept her alive.

 

After being airlifted to hospital then undergoing a 17-hour operation Paloma — who worked for Mika as his stylist — was saved.

 

It changed Mika’s outlook on life for ever. He explains: “When someone you love has an accident like that you go through all these different emotions. ‘Will she make it?’

 

“For months afterwards I was on the lookout for something to happen because Paloma was so unstable and liable to infections.

 

“She had to spend a year in a hospital bed. That’s when all the demons start to appear and where this latest album of mine started.”

 

Mika, 29, describes The Origin Of Love as a more fearless record than its predecessors — six million-selling debut Life In Cartoon Motion and follow-up The Boy Who Knew Too Much, which sold two million.

 

He says: “I feel I am writing for the very first time and I knew I didn’t want to write if it was going to be mediocre.

 

“It’s an original record which doesn’t rest on any formulas. The result is a kaleidoscopic collection of songs which sounds like it was borne out of another era. It sounds like me, my lyrics and melody, but the process of making it was fun — and you can hear that on it.”

 

Make You Happy, Celebrate and Love You When I’m Drunk are the standout tracks.

 

The robotic vocals on Make You Happy reveal a more confident Mika.

 

He says: “There are two versions of that song on the album — one is symphonic, with strings on it, and one is more electronic.

 

“The song is basically a very modern take on a very old concept. It takes the idea of a really old love song and turns it futuristic. It’s almost like a conversation between a robot and me. And also the chorus has the lyrics, ‘All I want to do is make you happy’ — they are very tender, like a mantra, and go round and round but are said by this vocoder voice, like a robot’s voice.

 

“I just love Love You When I’m Drunk. It was written for real. I wrote it to someone as a direct message. It was written almost as a break-up letter.

 

“It’s something that so many feel. So many people have that moment. We’ve all been there.”

 

Mika worked on The Origin Of Love with songwriters and producers including Pnau’s Nick Littlemore, Greg Wells (Katy Perry, Pink) DJ Benny Benassi (Madonna) and Pharrell Williams — and the result is a wider soundscape for Mika.

 

He says: “I realised it was OK to change and develop on this record. I gave myself more time and ran away to write it.

 

“A mutual friend had introduced me to Nick Littlemore, who was working on the Elton John vs Pnau album Good Morning To The Night. I like that he makes electronic music which is soft and gentle, not sledgehammer Europop.

 

“Within seven hours of us deciding to work together, I took a plane to Montreal, where he was working, and I didn’t return for six or seven months. I went from the airport to the studio and, within the hour, we’d written the album’s title track Origin Of Love.”

 

Mika is not workshy when it comes to travelling to promote the album, which he is so proud of.

 

He says: “I’ve been moving around a lot. I’ve been trying to get home as much as I can but, in the past three months, I think I’ve slept only three nights in my own house.

 

“That’s the price that goes with making the kind of records I make. I sell records in little bubbles all over the place so have to jump around like a ping-pong ball promoting them.

 

“We were in Spain last week and the album went from No98 to No5 in the space of an hour and a half. And it’s been No1 in France.

 

“We’ve been jumping around doing these jaunts to push the record and it works when I’m there. But when I’m not there I can’t rely on the big machine to promote my record, it doesn’t work like that with me.

 

“I’ve evolved into something else. These quirky pop records I make sit on a fine line between really commercial and really not commercial.”

 

He describes the album as “more simplistic pop, less layered than the last one” and it’s certainly a more mature dance record than his previous theatrical-pop releases.

 

Penning the album followed a period of writer’s block for Beirut-born, London-raised Mika.

 

He says: “I felt I didn’t have anything to say at first. I was scared of becoming stale. I had a formula for writing but I had to change or not write again.

 

“If you carry on with the same sound you become a caricature of yourself and I was scared of that. I wanted to push myself as I’m not the sort of artist who can walk into a studio and ask a producer to write me a song, give me a sound and produce it for me.

 

“So after my sister had her terrible accident, it made me value life and love and, for the first time, I wrote about the now and not the past and put myself into songs for the very first time.

 

“Thankfully, Paloma’s on the mend now. She’s doing great. She walks with a little crutch and people who used to know her can’t believe she’s bumbling around ten times happier than she was before. Nearly losing someone you love makes you re-evaluate your life too.

 

“I live my life through my records. I deal with things in my music that I might not be brave enough to deal with in real life.

 

“Music is my medicine and it’s more fun than a shrink.”

 

Source: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/sftw/4585274/Mika-says-The-Origin-Of-Love-was-inspired-by-his-sister-Palomas-near-fatal-accident.html#ixzz29Pj6kEQz

[Marilyn Mastin]

That is a wonderful article! Mika is so wonderful, and it shows him in the best light. I'm so glad Paloma is doing so well too T4P

[Dreamy_Queen]

Thank you for posting!

[robertina]

“We were in Spain last week and the album went from No98 to No5 in the space of an hour and a half. And it’s been No1 in France.

 

“We’ve been jumping around doing these jaunts to push the record and it works when I’m there. But when I’m not there I can’t rely on the big machine to promote my record, it doesn’t work like that with me."

 

this is SO SO true! I feel no one can promote Mika as Mika himself.

 

Thanks for posting, it was very interesting!

[robertina]

“I just love Love You When I’m Drunk. It was written for real. I wrote it to someone as a direct message. It was written almost as a break-up letter.

 

“It’s something that so many feel. So many people have that moment. We’ve all been there.”

 

so rude. it's like breaking up by mobile, via a short message

[smokesignal]

“I just love Love You When I’m Drunk. It was written for real. I wrote it to someone as a direct message. It was written almost as a break-up letter.

 

“It’s something that so many feel. So many people have that moment. We’ve all been there.”

 

so rude. it's like breaking up by mobile, via a short message

 

You don't know if and how he sent it...

 

I keep wondering what this album is like for his partner though, and how Mika presented some of these songs to him. That must have been... interesting...

[Marilyn Mastin]

“We were in Spain last week and the album went from No98 to No5 in the space of an hour and a half. And it’s been No1 in France.

 

“We’ve been jumping around doing these jaunts to push the record and it works when I’m there. But when I’m not there I can’t rely on the big machine to promote my record, it doesn’t work like that with me."

 

this is SO SO true! I feel no one can promote Mika as Mika himself.

 

Thanks for posting, it was very interesting!

But why can't he rely on them? He deffinately SHOULD be able to rely on his record company to help him! He might as well start his OWN company and promote HIMSELF. That's basically what he IS doing while his record company sit on their fat rear-ends and wait for the money to come rolling in!

Mika deserves better!