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Why is Mika Boycotted in the UK?


Marilyn Mastin

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Hi there.

Someone posted this on twitter, so I've put it on here. It says, what I've always thought myself. That Mika is blacklisted in the UK. Without the big radio station, Radio One, he can't ever have a hit in the UK.

 

Its really easy to comment on the site, so I'd encourage everyone to PLEASE do so. Even if you are not from UK, you could say how popular Mika is in your country. Here is the link.

 

http://divinevarod.com/2012/11/04/why-is-mika-boycotted-in-the-uk/

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Well, this is just someone's opinion -- just a blogger who has lifted largely from things people have been saying on MFC. It's not like it's an official publication from a major newspaper or organization. :dunno:

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Hi there.

Someone posted this on twitter, so I've put it on here. It says, what I've always thought myself.

 

The reason is because it IS what you thought! The entire post is based on an MFC thread. The "insider"'s quote are lines written by me, Gata and Kath and they are obviously referring to you when talking about a fan campaign to get Mika more airplay.

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Hi there.

Someone posted this on twitter, so I've put it on here. It says, what I've always thought myself. That Mika is blacklisted in the UK. Without the big radio station, Radio One, he can't ever have a hit in the UK.

 

Its really easy to comment on the site, so I'd encourage everyone to PLEASE do so. Even if you are not from UK, you could say how popular Mika is in your country. Here is the link.

 

http://divinevarod.com/2012/11/04/why-is-mika-boycotted-in-the-uk/

 

In all honesty Marilyn, when I first read the blog via Twitter, I thought yòu had written it!

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I do think it's taken largely from the MFC ... but unfortunately ... I also believe it to be true *sigh* I don't care any longer ... I ****ING LOVE HIM ... SOD THE REST OF THE UK ... :wub2:

 

and yes ... that deserved caps :lmfao:

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The reason is because it IS what you thought! The entire post is based on an MFC thread. The "insider"'s quote are lines written by me, Gata and Kath and they are obviously referring to you when talking about a fan campaign to get Mika more airplay.

I didn't know it was from an MFC thread. I didn't write it or have anything to do with it. It was just something I agreed with and thought ought to be put on here, so people could comment if they wished to.

I don't think anyone is refering to me as starting a campaign, as when I've tweeted to R1which I have done often, only a few people followed suit and no one RTd my tweets, so I've definately not started any campaign. If someone else is trying to get Mika some airplay in the UK, I'm all for it.

I'm really sorry if people think I shouldn't have put this in a thread, but I just thought it was a good opportunity to get our point accross. To give his fans in the MFC a chance to react to the blog in case it did some good in the long run.

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I didn't know it was from an MFC thread. I didn't write it or have anything to do with it. It was just something I agreed with and thought ought to be put on here, so people could comment if they wished to.

I don't think anyone is refering to me as starting a campaign, as when I've tweeted to R1which I have done often, only a few people followed suit and no one RTd my tweets, so I've definately not started any campaign. If someone else is trying to get Mika some airplay in the UK, I'm all for it.

I'm really sorry if people think I shouldn't have put this in a thread, but I just thought it was a good opportunity to get our point accross. To give his fans in the MFC a chance to react to the blog in case it did some good in the long run.

 

I don't think there is any harm in it Marilyn..............in my opinion the blogger is on our side. It's just a little odd in the way it has been done. In that none of us have written it but it is clearly taken from MFC.

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I don't think there is any harm in it Marilyn..............in my opinion the blogger is on our side. It's just a little odd in the way it has been done. In that none of us have written it but it is clearly taken from MFC.

Well tbh I'm glad someone has spoken out about it. Because this is what is needed. Okay, it's maybe just some fan with a blog, but it doesn't say anything we haven't all thought, especially UK fans. Its just that there has never been any cohesian, but this blog could be a way to unite us.

Its one thing talking amongst ourselves on MFC, but we need to be talking on something that isn't, something others would look at, who may remember Mika, but didn't know he was around anymore.

This is why I posted the blog here once I'd seen it on twitter. I just hope many people comment and stick up for Mika. Not just MFC. He doesn't deserve this treatment in the country he calls, his home. Besides, how dare Radio One decide to just not support someone like Mika. They're a bunch of tyrants who shouldn't be getting away with what they are doing.

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The reason is because it IS what you thought! The entire post is based on an MFC thread. The "insider"'s quote are lines written by me, Gata and Kath and they are obviously referring to you when talking about a fan campaign to get Mika more airplay.

 

yes, and I added the George Michael bit :lmfao:

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Obviously I agree with some of the content in this article since we more or less wrote it ourselves. :wink2:

 

But I don't agree with the implication that Mika is blacklisted because he is gay.

 

Everyone assumed Mika was gay when Grace Kelly was #1. I think he is just not perceived as cool or interesting in 2012.

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Obviously I agree with some of the content in this article since we more or less wrote it ourselves. :wink2:

 

But I don't agree with the implication that Mika is blacklisted because he is gay.

 

Everyone assumed Mika was gay when Grace Kelly was #1. I think he is just not perceived as cool or interesting in 2012.

 

Quite. I don't think it has anything to do with him being gay.

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Well yes. I read that part about GM and about FM. I didn't know all of that. It just goes to show that its not just about Mika. Other gay stars have also suffered prejudice.

 

I don't think it is about them being gay but more about these musicians taking their profession seriously but not taking themselves seriously. Queen / Freddie was also treated the same way in the UK until his death. By that I do not mean an intentional boycott but more a kind of snobbish frown upon them, despite their success. At the same time, I am still on the opinion that a great song (TOOL) will bring Mika a certain level of success if he gets the chance to promote it at least on tv, like he did have the chance with Celebrate when he performed it at SCD.

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Arggh! Safari just crashed as I finished a really long post and deleted it all! I'm not rewriting but the gist was as follows:

 

The article, sad though it may be, seems to speak sense. But people of my age DO mostly remember and like Mika. His unique, colourful and energetic music and personality are what makes him so likeable. And even back in 2007, how could anyone in the music industry or media think that the man behind Grace Kelly and Love Today was boring and normal?

 

It does feel quite nice to be a proper exclusive MIKA fan, without everybody else knowing about all the music I like, which would not be the case if I absolutely loved a more popular artist like Adele or One Direction (no way!). I just hope Mika will not stop performing and releasing albums here!:mikadas:

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Haven't been around to see the thread where you guys were chatting about this and therefore don't know how much of that blog post is your conversation but I have to ask - is it the bit that starts after "Insiders explain:"? Is this person calling you guys the insiders? :teehee:

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OK, quite by accident I found the convo. Yep, you guys are the insiders. I will never read a media report/blogpost/whatever in the same way again. I'm only thankful that he didn't write "industry insiders" or the miniscule amount of credibility he currently has in my eyes would have been shot completely.

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Arggh! Safari just crashed as I finished a really long post and deleted it all! I'm not rewriting but the gist was as follows:

 

The article, sad though it may be, seems to speak sense. But people of my age DO mostly remember and like Mika. His unique, colourful and energetic music and personality are what makes him so likeable. And even back in 2007, how could anyone in the music industry or media think that the man behind Grace Kelly and Love Today was boring and normal?

 

It does feel quite nice to be a proper exclusive MIKA fan, without everybody else knowing about all the music I like, which would not be the case if I absolutely loved a more popular artist like Adele or One Direction (no way!). I just hope Mika will not stop performing and releasing albums here!:mikadas:

This is my fear though. If the UK basically disown him, don't buy his albums or sell out his venues, Mika might not bother with this country. We'd have to translate every interview from French, or somother language and only hear about his performances in France, The Middle East, or somewhere else with more sense than they have in the UK.

I'm afraid I don't agree with people who prefer him to be exclusive, their own little secret popstar. I want him selling out stadiums and for his music to be known all over the world! I want to be able to say to people, "I love Mika", and for them to know who he is and what he's recorded up to now. Not to just say "Oh... You mean that guy who sang Grace Kelly, years ago".

In my mind, he deserves better than that.

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This is my fear though. If the UK basically disown him, don't buy his albums or sell out his venues, Mika might not bother with this country. We'd have to translate every interview from French, or somother language and only hear about his performances in France, The Middle East, or somewhere else with more sense than they have in the UK.

I'm afraid I don't agree with people who prefer him to be exclusive, their own little secret popstar. I want him selling out stadiums and for his music to be known all over the world! I want to be able to say to people, "I love Mika", and for them to know who he is and what he's recorded up to now. Not to just say "Oh... You mean that guy who sang Grace Kelly, years ago".

In my mind, he deserves better than that.

 

I think I could understand how you would feel.... :huglove:

but you know what... from 3rd party's eyes, Mika is more and more like French than English. Maybe because of his cultural background? I watch French movies, UK movies.. and I can see some differences between those countries from thoes media. And clearly Mika's music&artwork background smells French. More and more these days.... I thought that might be the reason he's getting close to France while shunned by English ppl...

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I think I could understand how you would feel.... :huglove:

but you know what... from 3rd party's eyes, Mika is more and more like French than English. Maybe because of his cultural background? I watch French movies, UK movies.. and I can see some differences between those countries from thoes media. And clearly Mika's music&artwork background smells French. More and more these days.... I thought that might be the reason he's getting close to France while shunned by English ppl...

 

I think there is a definite identity problem with Mika in the eyes of the British public, which affects the way he is accepted here. He is not seen as properly British, yet he's not American either, or really European. As for the Middle Eastern thing, that's doesn't seem to be relatable here either. It's hard for a lot of the public here to get a grip on him in respect of where he comes from and what cultural identity he displays. It's the old story of not quite fitting into any box. Of course that's something that should be celebrated but for some reason it isn't, not in Mika's case in the UK anyway :sneaky2:.

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but you know what... from 3rd party's eyes, Mika is more and more like French than English. Maybe because of his cultural background? I watch French movies, UK movies.. and I can see some differences between those countries from thoes media. And clearly Mika's music&artwork background smells French. More and more these days.... I thought that might be the reason he's getting close to France while shunned by English ppl...

 

That's what has put so many people off and it's frustrating because he WAS an English artist. If he had been a French artist from the beginning I never would have had any real interest in him. I love the French language and the French people and many aspects of French culture. But it's not my culture. English speakers already have a very strong shared sense of pop culture. Our music and movies and television dominate our pop culture and there is no need or desire to look far outside of that because we are such a huge group. If Americans want something "foreign" they only need to look to Britain or Australia and vice versa.

 

When I was in New York I paused every time I spoke to someone before remembering "yes, everyone speaks English." It was the weirdest thing for me to be in the US and to have this subconscious fear that I couldn't communicate properly with anyone in their own language because I was there to see Mika. I hadn't been to a Mika gig where I wasn't in the minority for years. Even at the points gig in London Silver and I were the only native English speakers. I mean this isn't a BAD thing obviously but it is just so WEIRD for us. Mika is an American who has lived almost his whole life in the UK and when LICM came out there was nothing even remotely French about him. His songs were entirely in English and he looked like an American hipster. Even his accent was very American at that time.

 

I think if the change had felt more natural I could have embraced it more but it seems like nothing but pandering to me. I just don't believe he's got this overwhelming desire to "write" songs in French. And the first clue is that he does not write them, Doriand does! :doh:. Also when he speaks about his creative drive with this album he just dismisses the French songs. He talks of writer's block and how he broke through it to make this wonderfully collaborative joy chasing album, etc. But this process did not even begin until the French songs were already in the can.

 

Obviously it makes sense to keep your core audience sweet but all of this time spent pandering to France when he should have been releasing an English album has just ensured he was forgotten by the English speaking world. Perhaps it was going to happen anyway but when he disappeared for 3 years there was virtually no other outcome to be expected.

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I think there is a definite identity problem with Mika in the eyes of the British public, which affects the way he is accepted here. He is not seen as properly British, yet he's not American either, or really European. As for the Middle Eastern thing, that's doesn't seem to be relatable here either. It's hard for a lot of the public here to get a grip on him in respect of where he comes from and what cultural identity he displays. It's the old story of not quite fitting into any box. Of course that's something that should be celebrated but for some reason it isn't, not in Mika's case in the UK anyway :sneaky2:.

 

Yup. British singers have their 'Britishness' in their cell and their music and I can easily feel that. In Mika's case, simply I can't. IMO for British ppl, Mika's music might be very alien to them... or very opposite to British music.

 

Do you mean it's a French tendancy to love multiculural artists? That would explain why Mika, Charlie Winston and alike are more successful over here than in the UK?

 

well.. I'm not good at western history but I think French ppl are more close to Middle-east ppl. They became quite a big part of French culture.

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