Mika in US & Canadian Press - 2013/2014

[Salura22]

Thank you everyone for translating these <3 love reading his interviews!

[Kumazzz]

InStyle

 

Meet the Genius Design Duo Behind Valentino: Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli

 

November 23, 2014 @ 10:01 AM

http://www.instyle.com/news/meet-genius-design-duo-behind-valentino-maria-grazia-chiuri-and-pierpaolo-piccioli

 

 

Trained under the master couturier himself, Valentino designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli have proved worthy heirs to his legacy: elegance above everything else. Since 2008, the dynamic duo has been creating a harmonious mix of delicacy and edge—an aesthetic that explains why so many celebrities, including Zoe Saldana, Cate Blanchett, and Emma Stone (above), still turn to Valentino for gowns that evoke an individual sense of beauty. We sat down with Chiuri and Piccioli who chatted with us about their design approach, lessons from Valentino, and their music preferences.

 

How do you describe your approach to Valentino?

PP: "We think our job is to give a vision of beauty for our time. Being Italian, we want beauty that is closer to grace. Something that is more demure is no less beautiful."

MGC: "It doesn't matter whether a dress has long sleeves or is more revealing. The important thing for us is that the woman who wears it embodies elegance and grace combined."

 

You once told me that beauty is how you feel in the moment, yet you also have an affinity for classics.

PP: "This idea of beauty is present in every work of art since the 16th century, but we want to go a more contemporary way. Otherwise, it's just stuff. We think it can be interesting to translate something that is very far removed in terms of time or space into our own world and with our own sensibilities."

MGC: "In any case, it is important to create something new that will improve your culture and also improve yourself."

 

Does it help that you started your careers by designing accessories?

MGC: "That happens to be a very good design school, and I am obsessed with accessories."

PP: "You have to create every single detail and tell a story in one object, so it is quite close to couture. With one item you can change an entire look and make it more individual, and that is closer to the idea of what fashion should be today."

 

What is your secret to working as a team?

MGC: "We have fun. We have collaborated for 20 years, so we are like an old couple."

 

What words would you use to best describe each other?

PP: "Maria Grazia is intuitive, passionate, and very curious."

MGC: "Pierpaolo is stimulating. If you look at things alone, you have only one vision. Another person makes you see things from a different angle."

 

What lessons did you learn from Valentino himself?

MGC: "He was very firm in what he believed. He listened to everyone's opinions, but in the end he decided alone. I also learned that elegance is an important word in fashion. He maintains great elegance in everything he does."

 

Are celebrities as important to you as they were to Valentino?

PP: "We see them now not only on the red carpet but also in their daily lives. They create dreams for people, and fashion, much like cinema, has to create dreams."

MGC: "And Valentino is very close to that kind of glamour."

 

On the subject of music, you have been inspired by rock, classical, and opera. What are you listening to now?

MGC: "I went to see Beyoncé in Paris with my daughter, who is more modern than me, so she improves my musical culture. And I also love rap music."

PP: "I'm obsessed with mixing everything. It creates this tension of genres. I love Mika, who is a friend, and also Italian music from the '90s and rock from the '70s. It's good to not just go in one direction."

 

You don't like One Direction?

PP: "Not really, but my daughter is 8, and she loves them. So I listen to them too."

 

 

 

[mari62]

Mika in US Press - 2016    

[Kumazzz]

On 3/28/2013 at 2:24 AM, PurpleCat said:

http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/Magic-Mika-Singer-talks-Twitter-bullying-and-drinks/42139.html

 

Magic Mika: Singer talks Twitter, bullying and drinks

 

British singer Mika is bringing it back stateside in a return tour that is more acoustic and intimate than past sold-out shows.

The artist who released his third album The Origin of Love last year has continually stepped up his game with his impressive vocal range while selling 8.5 million records in the process. This has developed into a large catalogue of work over the years, with songs such as "We Are Golden" and "Grace Kelly."

 

His lead-off single and collaboration with Pharrell Williams, "Celebrate," was a highlight from his latest album. He then went Broadway using music inspired by the musical Wicked for "Popular Song," featuring Nickelodeon star Ariana Grande. The composer, Stephen Schwartz, was so moved by his rendition that it's the only time he's authorized its usage.

 

Mika takes on bullying, Twitter and The Brady Bunch in this interview.

 

Windy City Times: Hey, Mika. You are coming back to Chicago again.

 

Mika: Yes, It's quite cool. I love Chicago. People dance and lose themselves there. It's fun.

 

WCT: I noticed at a past concert of yours that people dressed in bright colors and jumped around. It's a big party.

 

Mika: Yeah, which I find is funny because often the local crew at some of these places don't know who I am or don't know the live show so they are not prepared for what happens. Over the course of two hours the security staff is going, "What the heck?"

 

WCT: The inflatable balls are flying in the air!

 

Mika: Exactly. This show is different though. It is shrunk down to me and two other musicians. We are all swapping instruments so you have us all singing, there is a clarinet, trombone, sax, marimba, and tons of different sounds. But it is just three of us and I wanted something that was a lot more focused and dynamic that could go from acoustic to very big sounding. I thought that was really important.

 

For the first time really across the United States I will show people how I make my music, and by seeing it in this setting you can kind of get it. What is amazing is that I have done shows with the piano and people still kind of jump up and down, while singing as loud as they possible can. I love the energy but this is a totally different vibe than the show we just did in Chicago.

 

WCT: I knew the show would sell out, with such a small intimate space.

 

Mika: It did quite fast, actually. I know my friends in Chicago were waiting to buy them in the morning. They waited like an hour too late because they didn't wake up and buy them in time. They were pissed. I said, "You see? Who are my real friends? My fans are my real friends!" I wasn't going to give them any tickets then a half hour later I asked, "How many do you want?"

 

WCT: You have always been good to your fans. I know many people who wait until late to meet you but always come out and say hello.

 

Mika: I always go out and talk to people. I come from nowhere and I try to make my music like I come from somewhere. If someone says they like what I do or relate to it in some way then it is inevitable that I meet them and hear what they say. I want my fans to become a part of my world too. I find that it's a really nice thing to come across.

 

WCT: Your lyrics are very relatable to people. Tell me about the song "You Only Love Me When I'm Drunk."

 

Mika: No, it's "I Only Love You When I'm Drunk" that's the song. [both laugh.]

 

WCT: Oh, I got it mixed up. What was it inspired from?

 

Mika: It was written completely as a message to someone I was hanging out with at the time. I was turning into the worst good-time lover. I wanted to look at somebody and have them look at me like they are drunk without having to drink anything. That is what I want out of the person that I am looking at. Some people have to actually be drunk to feel like they are going anywhere with someone. I would never have the courage to say it in real life, but I can in a song.

 

WCT: I heard it playing at a gay bar recently.

 

Mika: Really? That's ****ing cool!

 

WCT: Do you have a favorite drink?

 

Mika: An old-fashioned. I was with a friend in Miami at a club with all of these rich people and it was ****ing horrible. They were all party people who wanted to take drugs for the weekend to forget their lives. It was so incredibly loud. I decided to have a drink and leave. This was one of those most expensive places. When I asked the waitress for an old-fashioned she said, "What the ****? Do you think this is the 1920s?" I was like, "Listen up, bitch—this is why people don't come to your **** hole!"

 

WCT: Well, we will have one after the show!

 

Mika: Definitely.

 

WCT: Is Wicked your favorite musical? Did that make you want to have your own take on "Popular?"

 

Mika: I think it's a brilliant musical mainly for the writing. It has been masterfully written. The engineering of how it is written is absolutely amazing. I love the use of the Greek chorus. They have the maddening crowds in the classical theater way. I thought it was really cleaver. I just really loved the song and there was a sweetness about that hook.

 

I always look for things that have that sweet coinable quality to them. I think you put everything in them that is bitter, dark, twisted and you put it next to a hook like that it suddenly becomes palatable. Just like "Lollipop" when you put all of that dark, strange, surreal stuff around it then it's okay because it's a lollipop. When I read that it was one of Stephen King's favorite songs I felt very validated.

 

It was the same for "Popular." I loved the song and the sweetness of that hook so I wanted to turn it around. Instead of the cool chick I wanted the loser to sing it to her own advantage. That is why I switched the roles around.

 

WCT: It works well as an anti-bullying song.

 

Mika: Definitely. That is what it's about but it is more than that. Part of it is about bullying but it also about the music industry. We strive to hard to create something but we are still that same thing that we started off as. It definitely has some of my favorite lyrics on the whole album. "Standing on the field with your pretty pom poms now you are working at the movies selling popular corn."

 

WCT: I heard you were bullied when you were younger so it must be rewarding to make a statement about it.

 

Mika: I was absolutely bullied every day, every hour on the hour. It was horrific. I hated school and most of my school life as a child. I was always being dumped on. What the **** was their problem? How stupid, ignorant and foolish do you have to be to pick on someone? Especially when it is something they haven't chosen or can't change. How much of an idiot do you have to be? Whenever teachers would try to help they would never try to alienate the bully or really them what they thought of them.

 

It is a bull**** attitude. Why didn't they stand up and say, "You are a ****ing idiot and here is why…" It always has to be so soft and the bullying is never soft. All of that **** made me want to create my own world. I wanted to transform myself into something else. I wanted to get my own vengeance. I wanted to be something else, somewhere else,and someone else so I wrote songs that felt like I could be anything.

 

WCT: So it made you into the musician that you are.

 

Mika: Definitely. On one hand I don't like that part of my life but it has made me who I am. I like who I am right now so would I be the same if I didn't have that experience? That doesn't matter because I came out of it well. I had a good family and a support mechanism. Take that support mechanism away and you are just ****ed.

 

WCT: You had a big family, didn't you?

 

Mika: Yes, I had five brothers and sisters.

 

WCT: So kind of like The Brady Bunch.

 

Mika: A little bit but as dysfunctional as you could possible get. Well, now that I think about it The Brady Bunch is pretty dysfunctional, [laughs] minus the braces. We didn't have a budget for braces!

 

WCT: How many languages do you speak?

 

Mika: I speak French, Spanish, English and I am about to learn Italian. I am trying to get fluent and conversational in the next few months.

 

WCT: That's awesome.

 

Mika: Oh, that is nothing. My sister speaks Arabic, Chinese, Italian, Spanish, French and English. The advantage we had was we actually moved around a lot. Language wasn't the kind of thing that you gleaned off textbooks. You were surrounded by it. It was so much easier.

 

WCT: What has been the reaction of your fans after coming out of the closet publicly? Do they tweet you with their stories?

 

Mika: No, I have found on Twitter that no one says anything meaningful or very rarely. Usually, it is an inconsequential sound bite on Twitter, which is one of the reasons I have a real problem with it. It just trivializes everything. We get messages on Facebook and I read those. That gets really intense sometimes. When I meet people after shows and on the street people tell me their stories and how I play into their lives.

 

Beyond on that it has been quite amazing. There has been no increase or decrease since I labeled myself. It wasn't really much of a coming out but more of an affirmation in a way. There has never been an increase to it because people have been telling their stories and relating to me with stories of their lives and stories of their sexuality from the very beginning because they saw that in my music and it was clear. It has always been a part of who I am and my music. It is not all of it but definitely a fabric of who I am as a person and a writer. It is undeniable.

 

Magic Mika will be at Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln Ave., on Wed., April 3. Visit http://www.lincolnhallchicago.com or http://www.mikasounds.com for more information on this artist and show.

 

 

You can download this issue here:

 

Windy City Times

2013-03-27

• WEB https://www.windycitytimes.com/lgbt/Magic-Mika-Singer-talks-Twitter-bullying-and-drinks/42139.html
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👉 PDF file of Pages about MIKA ( 2 pages / 396 KB ) 2013.03.27_US_Windy City Times.pdf

 

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Out international recording artist Mika is known for his playful, upbeat pop numbers like “Grace Kelly” and “Celebrate.”
On Wed., April 3, Mika will host an intimate evening at Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln Ave. It will be interesting to find out how his catalog is rearranged to suit the evening. It also will serve as a spectacular opportunity to hear Mika’s mighty vocals, which have been compared to Freddie Mercury’s.

 

 

 

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Magic Mika: Singer talks Twitter, bullying and drinks