Mika's career choices discussion

[cathouzouf]

The last few posts pretty much sums up what I think.

 

 

When Origin of love came out, I'm not sure the world was ready for the new/more serious Mika...

 

Look at what happen with Popular: it was probably my least favorite song on the album and it was the most successful, mainly in the US.

 

In my land, after the huge success of Elle me dit, radio stations were only interested in playing French songs, so Karen got some airplay.

 

But all these songs are not the heart of the album. With proper promo, Stardust or overrated could have been huge hits. And Tah dah and Un soleil mal luné are pure gems.

 

That being said, there are many artists who have interesting careers in non-traditional ways and I'm convinced we haven't seen the best of Mika yet.

 

Strangely, his participation in The Voice got him some exposure here because of Jacynthe and Caroline. His presence with the OSM is seen as a HUGE event and both shows are sold out without much promo. 4000 tickets are far too much for just MFC people to have bought them. People are interested in him. After all, when he showed up at Star Académie, he was discovered by many folks in La Belle Province...

[Teresa]

The debate is complex and very interesting especially for a beginner like me.

I try to give you another point of view, the view of who was not there... but now there is.

This is what I see, understand and think at this moment:

 

1. Mika is a true artist . And he is able to do many things well .

I can't see him compressed in the neverending mechanism album / promotion / tour / album / promotion / tour / . In this sense , I DO NOT see him suited to play the role of "international pop artist "

I don't care very much what was before, a little bit because I was not there, a little bit because I live in the present. The combination of favorable conditions that have led him to success are difficult to repeat and trying to reproduce the same scheme would be a suicide for me . The music industry has changed, Mika has changed. I don't see him jumping on stage like a madman all over the world up to 40 and 50 years old . Nor he seems willing to become a puppet, churning out albums. If he wants a long and challenging career, he must change course, look for a different audience, change his image (a difficult task for anyone who has a public image). His image is too closely tied , in my opinion , to the "commercial pop" , an idea of music that keep him in a box too small. And this condition, prevents him to comunicate to the public his wonderful world of art . A lot of people , distracted by a thousand things, do not get anything except for his festive image and catchy melodies . Too many people have never even caught a glimpse of his artistic depth . There is something that does not work. What I see now is a man who has a desire to change , to try, to do different things.

2 . In OOL there are many beautiful songs , some of theme are really wonderful . But there are too many wrong arrangements , a forced dance style , which does not fit at all in the style of Mika , I think much more elegant and refined. The first thing I thought listening to the album ( just a few months ago!) is that all those "disco sounds" had nothing to do with the Mika who I was experiencing. This guy has to make peace with himself and find the "right machine" to express what now, at 30 yers old, has to say.

3 . The promotion of OOL was a disaster , it ruined an album with a lot of potential and compromised the career of a talented artist. Whatever choice he takes away from that scheme , including making XF in Burkina Faso , it will be better than that strategy .

4 . Changing scheme often means also changing the starting point.

Much better than banging your head against the same wall.

Re-starting from a " comfort zone " , such as France or Italy , can give him a warm and thick blanket, able to help him in more hostile lands (professionally speaking ), such as England or America. Step by step you can go far...

 

For all these reasons, it seems to me that the choices of Mika, for now, are fairly consistent with a general strategy of chaniging and repositioning on the musical market. We will se.

 

Yes, this is 100% also my perspective on the subject.

[Christine]

We just need to look at the future, imo.

 

I agree with you there. I think my future is going to have little to no Mika in it however. It's not just that my preference is for music but I don't think Mika has any exceptional talent in other areas. I mean look at his self-portrait. We have had teenagers on MFC who would put his drawings to shame. His "artwork" comes largely from his sister and professional artists. Mika doesn't have those skills, although I do appreciate his ideas and his vision and the way he utilizes other people's skills. But if I was interested in illustration or clothes design or film, etc, I would not be looking to Mika. To me all these distractions are not an evolution of any kind but total self-indulgence. And Mika is perfectly entitled to indulge himself all he wants. But I don't find any joy in indulging him in things I don't believe in and don't find any value in the way I found joy in his music. He is a great curator in the other arts but his talent and skills lie solely in music.

 

His presence with the OSM is seen as a HUGE event and both shows are sold out without much promo. 4000 tickets are far too much for just MFC people to have bought them. People are interested in him. After all, when he showed up at Star Académie, he was discovered by many folks in La Belle Province...

 

In 2008 Mika sold 11,000 tickets to the Bell Centre in the same period of time. Before Elle Me Dit and before Star Academie. Mika's popularity has been waning everywhere but Italy since LICM.

[RAK1]

I have just been on the World Music Awards thread, and many people are disappointed that Mika hasn't won anything.

I find it interesting that people seem to think that he would win a WORLDWIDE music award for doing nothing musically related in a world scale for the last few years. Doing tv talent show doesn't count for these awards. Maybe for tv show awards they might, but not for these awards.

Yes, we can go round the merry go round of saying it's his choice, which it is, and he once said he wasn't doing music to get awards, but here in his fanbase, we need to face the reality that if he is going to do these tv shows, and not push his music, then he is not going to win awards for it on a worldwide scale, or even on a country to country scale, because people in these countries are not getting new music from him, or not enough to warrant pushing votes for him on a big scale.

We all want him to do well in whatever he does, but we have to face the reality that he's not going to win music awards again until he goes all out and push his own music again. No matter what help we try to give him.

[Christine]

Rose I don't even understand how one gets nominated for music awards in a year when they are not releasing or touring new music.

[krysady]

Yes, this is 100% also my perspective on the subject.

 

Sometimes I feel like Marta can read minds,I couldn't express my thoughts in a better way

[RAK1]

Rose I don't even understand how one gets nominated for music awards in a year when they are not releasing or touring new music.

 

Exactly.

Unless he gets new music out there, and that means an album, he isn't going to get recognised on a worldwide scale again.

[tiibet]

I agree with you there. I think my future is going to have little to no Mika in it however. It's not just that my preference is for music but I don't think Mika has any exceptional talent in other areas. I mean look at his self-portrait. We have had teenagers on MFC who would put his drawings to shame. His "artwork" comes largely from his sister and professional artists. Mika doesn't have those skills, although I do appreciate his ideas and his vision and the way he utilizes other people's skills. But if I was interested in illustration or clothes design or film, etc, I would not be looking to Mika. To me all these distractions are not an evolution of any kind but total self-indulgence. And Mika is perfectly entitled to indulge himself all he wants. But I don't find any joy in indulging him in things I don't believe in and don't find any value in the way I found joy in his music.

 

I totally agree with you that his greatest talent is in music, there's no doubt about it. And a lot of other things he is doing is "experimenting", trying his limits. But I also think he is extremely creative and has a lot of ideas and love seeing theatrical elements he is often bringing on stage (not talking about him acting but show elements) and he should continue doing it, imo, even I want to see acoustic shows/pure music as much as everyone here.

 

About other areas. Personally I'm interested in especially words/writing and he has a lovely way to put his words, both in text and audio, and I hope he will do it more in the future. He might not have really extraordinary skills for illustration etc but doing for example album artwork himself/with his sisters has a huge value for me because it makes it personal.

[Christine]

I totally agree with you that his greatest talent is in music, there's no doubt about it. And a lot of other things he is doing is "experimenting", trying his limits. But I also think he is extremely creative and has a lot of ideas and love seeing theatrical elements he is often bringing on stage (not talking about him acting but show elements) and he should continue doing it, imo, even I want to see acoustic shows/pure music as much as everyone here.

 

About other areas. Personally I'm interested in especially words/writing and he has a lovely way to put his words, both in text and audio, and I hope he will do it more in the future. He might not have really extraordinary skills for illustration etc but doing for example album artwork himself/with his sisters has a huge value for me because it makes it personal.

 

Yes I agree with you there and I do think he is a fairly good writer. Maybe he could be a great writer if that is what he focused on full time. I think in this world of 7 billion people if anyone wants to be exceptional in their field and produce something great it has to be their passion and their primary focus.

 

If Mika uses his artistic interests to support his music in the way you describe (making sets, videos, album artwork) this is productive. But taking on side projects that have nothing to do with his music is just self indulgent and only available to him because he has a "name" and not because he has the talent. No one is going to hire Mika to design clothes or watches or be in a movie, etc. for his skills. He has been educated and is skilled as a musician. All of this interest he has in other things doesn't mean he is exceptionally good at them.

[tiibet]

Yes I agree with you there and I do think he is a fairly good writer. Maybe he could be a great writer if that is what he focused on full time. I think in this world of 7 billion people if anyone wants to be exceptional in their field and produce something great it has to be their passion and their primary focus.

 

If Mika uses his artistic interests to support his music in the way you describe (making sets, videos, album artwork) this is productive. But taking on side projects that have nothing to do with his music is just self indulgent and only available to him because he has a "name" and not because he has the talent. No one is going to hire Mika to design clothes or watches or be in a movie, etc. for his skills. He has been educated and is skilled as a musician. All of this interest he has in other things doesn't mean he is exceptionally good at them.

 

Yes, I love his writing style, too. It's smart, funny, sometimes even witty and very structured, I really enjoy reading his texts.

 

I guess he was hired to design Swatch because of his "name" (they probably knew he likes creative projects as well) but I think he surprised everyone putting so much effort in it, it wasn't just "giving his name". But I agree with you that his creative projects have more meaning and value combined with his music, giving personal touch to shows/albums etc. However, I don't personally mind if he is doing them for other reasons, I like watching it.

[Marilyn Mastin]

I bolded some sentences of your post, totally agree with you that he is a true artist who can do many things. He is still young and has a long and interesting career ahead and I personally can't wait to see what it brings. I'm looking forward to new music (many albums!), small acoustic tours, theater shows, a huge arena show (PDP style), film soundtracks, different design/illustration projects, writing projects... I love watching what he does and I'm sure he can also show people a public image describing all this. In France and Italy he has already done collaborations and written columns and done some good-quality interviews (showing deeper his personality).

 

What I also see is that many old fans don't want to see this evolving and still see him in much more fixed role as a pop-singer and I partly understand it as his music is/will be the most important reason we are all here. I've always thought acoustic shows are the best things he has ever done but the more time goes by the more I start to miss also his theatrical shows and I want to see more of them in the future.

 

The promotion of TOOL was a disaster but I love the album because it introduced those beautiful songs to us and not talking about the exact studio versions on album but the songs (especially acoustic versions) I've heard live. It's wonderful music and deserved so much more.

 

We just need to look at the future, imo. He will do his current projects and continue making music (and probably many other things as well) and I hope he takes his time and thinks these issues through. What kind of public image he wants to have, how to make the promotion work this time etc. I believe he can make everything work, would be totally irrational (for me) to think otherwise and I'll definitely be waiting whatever happens.

Yes I see your point. I myself have often said he's not just a popstar and he's capable of great things, not only music, but that everything he does, leads people to his music.

What is frustrating for me personally, is that he seems to not be making an effort, outside Italy and France. The Italians are thrilled about the TV appearance with Dario Fo and there was, a few days ago, a concert in Milan. Of course they are happy about it.

If he wants to do X Factor Italy again, that's his choice, but he shouldn't just concentrate on those two countries. He should, at least, try to win back the UK. I don't mind how he does it. That's up to him. He should also make an effort to win the US, that would give him great influence for anything he does.

In the UK, I think one of the things that happened was that there was a long gap after TBWKTM, during which, he released EMD in France. I think a lot of the UK fans who had stuck around, were disappointed that he didn't release a single for us too. I think this was the start of the divide of Mika. I think a lot of UK fans felt like he was moving away from the UK, towards becoming a French artist. Some, like me, have stuck around, hoping for the tide to turn somehow. I haven't given up yet. I hope I won't. I'd love to think that in ten years time he'll be this great, influential person in music. Respected, revered and loved by many people in this world.

But unless he proves he still wants other countries to buy his music and follow him, I can't see things getting better for him internationally, or for his fans who aren't Italian or French.

The key is promotion. He needs to have a big campaign to let people know he's still here.

Edited May 30, 2014 by Marilyn Mastin

[dcdeb]

I can't see him compressed in the neverending mechanism album / promotion / tour / album / promotion / tour / . In this sense , I DO NOT see him suited to play the role of "international pop artist "

 

What I see now is a man who has a desire to change , to try, to do different things.

 

I totally and completely agree with you on these points. Cento per cento.

 

What I also see is that many old fans don't want to see this evolving and still see him in much more fixed role as a pop-singer and I partly understand it as his music is/will be the most important reason we are all here.

 

Speaking only for myself, Nina, I don't agree with this. I *want* to see Mika evolve. I've always said if you don't change you die. What in this world doesn't change? Rocks? No, even rocks change as they erode from the weather. Everything and everyone changes and that's a good thing. What concerns me is HOW he's changed. I don't need or want him to be a pop singer for the rest of his life, endlessly touring and churning out hits as Marta said. I never saw that in his future. And I have always said that I couldn't wait to see what he did next. But of course I was thinking in musical terms -- new albums, new shows, new genres, a Broadway musical, an opera...

 

I love that David Bowie reinvented himself with nearly every album he put out. He was always one step ahead of everyone else. Madonna has reinvented herself every few years, explored different music styles. I've been fans of both for literally decades. I expected that of Mika as well -- that the music he wrote in 2007 would be vastly different than the music he would write in 2017. Of course no one can crank out hit after hit song, of course one has to live a life, but I expected that there would be new music on a fairly consistent basis and that making music would remain the most important element of Mika's career. The evolution of Mika has not met these expectations of mine. Not that he HAS to meet my expectations, of course -- just that, simply put, this is what I expected.

 

I totally agree with you that his greatest talent is in music, there's no doubt about it. And a lot of other things he is doing is "experimenting", trying his limits. But I also think he is extremely creative and has a lot of ideas...

 

I can't argue with that. And I'm sure all this new input -- the TV shows, the side projects like Swatch and the Belgian clothing line and the Italian sunglasses, the celebrity appearances like Cannes -- is re-shaping him and affecting him in ways we can only imagine. It's like adding ingredients to a stew, right? Everything you put in affects the way the end result tastes. I get that. I realize that a person, especially a creative person, needs lots of different inputs, different ingredients, to make something new. I'm just expressing my disappointment that in the process of acquiring all of these inputs he seems to be drifting further and further away from making music. I wish that he could get the stimulation and experiences that he needs in ways that would more directly spread HIS music to a wider arena than just France and Italy. He seems to think this is the way to go. We have different opinions on this subject, and clearly his matters more to him than mine does.

 

The promotion of TOOL was a disaster but I love the album because it introduced those beautiful songs to us and not talking about the exact studio versions on album but the songs (especially acoustic versions) I've heard live. It's wonderful music and deserved so much more.

 

So true.

 

We just need to look at the future, imo. He will do his current projects and continue making music (and probably many other things as well) and I hope he takes his time and thinks these issues through. What kind of public image he wants to have, how to make the promotion work this time etc. I believe he can make everything work, would be totally irrational (for me) to think otherwise and I'll definitely be waiting whatever happens.

 

I suppose I will as well. As I said earlier, just because I'm complaining now doesn't mean I'm going to walk away as a fan. I'm not ready to do that yet. Mika hasn't disappointed me as a person, I haven't found out any deep, dark secrets about him that have disgusted me. It's just that the longer he waits to put out new music, the grayer my outlook gets... at least in that regard.

 

Once the new single is out, a new album comes out, I'm sure my bleak outlook will go away. But as I keep saying, I ain't getting any younger so I hope something new comes out sooner rather than later!

[tiibet]

I'd love to think that in ten years time he'll be this great, influential person in music. Respected, revered and loved by many people in this world.

 

I totally agree with these words, Marilyn, he deserves to be respected and loved everywhere. I believe it will happen.

 

Speaking only for myself, Nina, I don't agree with this. I *want* to see Mika evolve. I've always said if you don't change you die. What in this world doesn't change? Rocks? No, even rocks change as they erode from the weather. Everything and everyone changes and that's a good thing. What concerns me is HOW he's changed. I don't need or want him to be a pop singer for the rest of his life, endlessly touring and churning out hits as Marta said. I never saw that in his future. And I have always said that I couldn't wait to see what he did next. But of course I was thinking in musical terms -- new albums, new shows, new genres, a Broadway musical, an opera...

 

I know what you mean, Deb, I really want to see all that happening some day as well. I just don't think he wants to limit himself only music? It looks he wants to do more and try different things

 

 

I can't argue with that. And I'm sure all this new input -- the TV shows, the side projects like Swatch and the Belgian clothing line and the Italian sunglasses, the celebrity appearances like Cannes -- is re-shaping him and affecting him in ways we can only imagine. It's like adding ingredients to a stew, right? Everything you put in affects the way the end result tastes. I get that. I realize that a person, especially a creative person, needs lots of different inputs, different ingredients, to make something new. I'm just expressing my disappointment that in the process of acquiring all of these inputs he seems to be drifting further and further away from making music. I wish that he could get the stimulation and experiences that he needs in ways that would more directly spread HIS music to a wider arena than just France and Italy. He seems to think this is the way to go. We have different opinions on this subject, and clearly his matters more to him than mine does.

 

 

Some of his current projects could be seen just as a way to his real goals or as a tool? To help financing other projects, to increase publicity before releasing an album, to give security before doing other projects with bigger risks?

 

I really miss his music, too. I've been going through my notes/vids/photos from different gigs and it's so emotional, really. He has done amazing, extraordinary things during these years

Edited May 30, 2014 by tiibet

[Christine]

But of course I was thinking in musical terms -- new albums, new shows, new genres, a Broadway musical, an opera...

 

This is exactly it for me. I have been talking about Mika doing a musical literally since the day I came to MFC. It's not that I don't want Mika to do new things and progress. I have even less energy for non stop albums and tours than he does But these "new things" do not utilize the talents he has. Mika is not a clothes designer. As much as I despise those Valentino suits at least they are an attempt to do something marginally original and not just taking this year's high street fashions and sewing a Mikaish label on the back.

 

If someone was a brilliant heart surgeon who would be happy to see them "evolve" into a doctor who makes money by giving celebrities a hideous case of trout pout?

 

All change is not necessarily good and all success is not measured by how much money people are willing to give you and how many people tweet how hot you are.

[tiibet]

All change is not necessarily good and all success is not measured by how much money people are willing to give you and how many people tweet how hot you are.

 

I can't see him doing things to get success via money or to see people tweeting how hot he is. I just can't. I'm sure he wants to do meaningful things and has dreams and goals in his life. No matter how much they pay him I doubt that doing talent shows will give him enough challenge or satisfaction for the rest of his life. I'm sure there will be a lot of interesting things for us to see.

[Christine]

I'm sure he wants to do meaningful things and has dreams and goals in his life.

 

I'm sure he does too but how do we know his dreams and goals are going to manifest themselves in his career or anything to do with fans? Maybe making money is just something he has to do like most of the other people in the world since he can't make as much as he'd like from his music. I am no more interested in watching him make money by posing on a TV show than I am in watching him count beans or trade stocks.

[Marta.]

...In the UK, I think one of the things that happened was that there was a long gap after TBWKTM, during which, he released EMD in France. I think a lot of the UK fans who had stuck around, were disappointed that he didn't release a single for us too. I think this was the start of the divide of Mika. I think a lot of UK fans felt like he was moving away from the UK, towards becoming a French artist.

 

I think that this kind of feelings are really incompatible with the nature of Mika.

If what you say is true, and for UK market or for UK fans is hard to accept that Mika can do things in other countries, in other languages​​, in other styles ...well, the break with England, professionally speaking, can be incurable.

Because multiculturalism (of music, languages, people, experience, countries....) flows in his veins. That is his nature, I see.

Sometimes I imagine an album with many styles and many languages​​, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic ... a huge hot mess ...

[cathouzouf]

I think that this kind of feelings are really incompatible with the nature of Mika.

If what you say is true, and for UK market or for UK fans is hard to accept that Mika can do things in other countries, in other languages​​, in other styles ...well, the break with England, professionally speaking, can be incurable.

Because multiculturalism (of music, languages, people, experience, countries....) flows in his veins. That is his nature, I see.

Sometimes I imagine an album with many styles and many languages​​, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic ... a huge hot mess ...

 

Again, I can't agree more:thumb_yello:

[crazyaboutmika]

Again, I can't agree more:thumb_yello:

It would be such a happy mess

[Alireine]

Because multiculturalism (of music, languages, people, experience, countries....) flows in his veins. That is his nature, I see.

Sometimes I imagine an album with many styles and many languages​​, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic ... a huge hot mess ...

 

I agree 200% with you here, and I'm happy to see that you (and others) see this too: the multiculturalism is such a huge part of him, and a huge part of why I love him and his work

[tiibet]

I think that this kind of feelings are really incompatible with the nature of Mika.

If what you say is true, and for UK market or for UK fans is hard to accept that Mika can do things in other countries, in other languages​​, in other styles ...well, the break with England, professionally speaking, can be incurable.

Because multiculturalism (of music, languages, people, experience, countries....) flows in his veins. That is his nature, I see.

 

Thanks for finding the right words!

[krysady]

I think that this kind of feelings are really incompatible with the nature of Mika.

If what you say is true, and for UK market or for UK fans is hard to accept that Mika can do things in other countries, in other languages​​, in other styles ...well, the break with England, professionally speaking, can be incurable.

Because multiculturalism (of music, languages, people, experience, countries....) flows in his veins. That is his nature, I see.

Sometimes I imagine an album with many styles and many languages​​, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic ... a huge hot mess ...

 

Marry me!!

[RAK1]

I think that this kind of feelings are really incompatible with the nature of Mika.

If what you say is true, and for UK market or for UK fans is hard to accept that Mika can do things in other countries, in other languages​​, in other styles ...well, the break with England, professionally speaking, can be incurable.

Because multiculturalism (of music, languages, people, experience, countries....) flows in his veins. That is his nature, I see.

Sometimes I imagine an album with many styles and many languages​​, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic ... a huge hot mess ...

 

It is not hard for UK fans to accept him doing music in other countries.

Speaking for myself, I don't have a problem with him making music anywhere, getting different flavours keeps things fresh, and sometimes unique and quirky, which I love.

Touches You for instance, I always imagined, if he had done a video for it, as a big Bollywood type affair. I always got that vibe from it, and in my head always saw it that way. It would have been awesome if he had done that.

You seem to be under the impression that the UK fanbase is against him doing different musical styles, and that is SO far from the truth.

[dcdeb]

Sometimes I imagine an album with many styles and many languages​​, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic ... a huge hot mess ...

 

That would be FABULOUS! I hope your premonition comes to pass.

[Valmont69]

Same start, different path.

The stories about good gone old days casted a spell over me and I crave to see him performing for real like he used to do.

On saturday he said that whenever he sees pics or vids about himself performing on stage, he can't believe to have done such things.

Well, how cannot I feel a gigs longing if Mika himself admits that he's a way beyond his normal self when he performs?

So, even if I can imagine his reasons and I'm honest enough to admit that money is almost never filthy as far as I'm concerned, I still think that he's wasting his talent doing one more show. One was fine and I even agreed. Two was still quite ok. But three .... three make a whole year wasted, maybe more.

I got 100% really upset when he tweeted that ad to look for XF new contestants. It was so so so fake, so commercial style, that I felt like a border was crossed. I have no right to feel like that, I know, but I consider his twitter account as personal, meaning that Twitter was the place where he could almost be his real self with fans and not some fake celeb. OMG I felt a kind of betrayed, which is insane, I know. As I spent so much time and energies on a acquaintance in order to get closer (pls don't start the whole "he's not a friend" of yours speech cause I'm fully aware he's not, I'm just talking metaphors. I'm no fool.) just to find out that he wanted to sell a pots set to me.

 

Someone used to sing "I just don't wanna stay and wait for a wonder".

I do.

I have plenty of time and, since I'm new, plenty of energies. I want to wait and see if those good old days are gone for real. Some wait can't kill me, at least I'm practising my wait skills, I suppose I'll need plenty.

Let's see if the inconsistency between the past and the present will annoy me enough to make me give up. Sometimes I feel like to, sometimes I don't.

In the meanwhile I'll be inconsistent myself and keep trying to attend some tv shows and meet him, cause it's fun to travel and meet people and do some new experiences and blah blah blah.

I'll be positive, I'll be negative. But at least I'll call a spade a spade (and my english teacher today is ... Guylaine. Congrats).

There there, Mika.

We incosistent people have to stick together. They eventually still love us. Mostly. Just drop the damned pots set.

 

I'd very much like to subscribe to your excipit, but I'm not credible with two tribal watches on my wrist and two pairs of coloured glasses with messages inside