Story of songs

[Ysara 22]

Hello everyone

I think it would be interesting to create a new topic on the story of each song that Mika created
For my part, I searched for information on the history of some songs but it was complicated...

 

It would be interesting to discuss the different stories that could be for the songs

 

[Dominika]

I think that already might be somewhere such thread

[Ysara 22]

Here is an aticle about the story of "Elle Me Dit"

https://www.cheriefm.fr/artistes/mika/actualites/mika-l-histoire-du-celebre-clip-d-elle-me-dit-71408589

 

Traduction with Google:

 

Not content to be one of the most successful in the bins of the singer, the title has also left behind one of his most famous clips.

 

"Elle Me Dit", a very personal title

Composed by Mika, "Elle Me Dit" is a kind of remote dialogue between a son and his mother who wants to put it out. First single and emblematic title of "The Origin of Love", the third album of the singer, this piece remained as famous for his catchy chorus as for his fanciful and colorful clip.

 

A shoe size behind the camera

To achieve it, Mika uses a size in the person of the clipper Kinga Burza. The Australian-Polish director has worked for some of pop's biggest names such as Lana del Rey, Calvin Harris, and Ellie Goulding, and has made a name for herself by signing Katy Perry's cult hit "I Kissed a Girl". Here, she dresses the song of a clip inspired by family sitcoms, which turns to the settlement of good-natured account.

 

Known faces

Mika never appears in the clip of his song, which does not prevent the viewer from falling on some recognizable faces. The star of the video is obviously Fanny Ardant, who plays the role of the singer's mother and double mother. But it is not the only one because the observers will recognize in the role of the son of the family the young Axel Huet, one of the heroes of the series of M6 "En famille". The youngest daughter is played by Daisy Broom, an actress seen at the cinema in "Bang Gang" and "Band of Girls". The matriarch of the family takes on the features of ex-model Tanya Drouginska, Dior's former muse and former Secret Story candidate in 2017. As for the incendiary redhead of the clip, it is Marie-Clotilde Ramos-Ibanez that can be found in the daily soap opera of France 2 "Un si grand soleil".

[Mikasister]

1 hour ago, Dominika said:

I think that already might be somewhere such thread

 

Yes, there're threads "Lyrics & Discussion " of almost all his songs. 

[Ysara 22]

2 minutes ago, Mikasister said:

 

Yes, there're threads "Lyrics & Discussion " of almost all his songs. 

@Mikasister Ok thanks

I thought to do some kind of synthesis

[Mikasister]

This is the thread for "Elle Me Dit" Maybe you can post the article you found in this thread. 

 

 

Edited January 26, 2019 by Mikasister

[Dominika]

Ok so here I put some stories/informations about some Mika's songs which I publicated on my fb fanpage. Sorry for any mistakes I just put the text into translator, don't want to do the whole translation again this time from polish to english

 

Grace Kelly - the single was released in 2007 and comes from Mika's debut album "Life In Cartoon Motion". This is the second single in general that reached the top of the UK charts without selling it in physical copy. Grace Kelly ranked first in the UK, Czech Republic, Ireland, Italy, Norway and Turkey. The melody of the song is based on the aria "Largo al Factotum" in the opera "The Barber of Seville" by Gioachino Rossini.

 

The clip was directed by Sophie Muller, who also collaborated with such celebrities as Gwen Stefani and Beyonce. The video shows Mika singing to the little girl played by the daughter of the director - Holly Muller. The clip was shot at Mika's house along with his band, family and friends.
Mika wrote the song after he felt frustrated by record label directors who wanted him to change his appearance and music to resemble Craig David, the then popular performer in the UK. Mika rejected the idea and wrote Grace Kelly as a way to express his individuality.

The monthly "Observer Music Monthly" in December 2007 asked Mike how he felt that his song was ranked first in the UK. Mika said: "It's very unreal, it still seems unreal." It's just a song I wrote in my room. Before I wrote Grace Kelly, everything in my life was questioned. I tried to find out what I would do in my life, I tried to be musician, be independent, give yourself a chance for any relationship, I just tried to put it all in my head. This song sums it all up."

In an interview with BBC 1 Radio 1 with Reggie Yates in May 2012, Mika explained why he ended the song with the word "kerching!": "I was so desperate to sign a contract, but not because I wanted to have a great record, but because I wanted to be able to make it for a living, so I took my music and went to one record company, and I heard from a man. "Listen, you will never sell, you're not strange enough, you're not indie enough, you're not pop enough, What are you? You are like a strange thing. "I came back home and I was very angry, I thought I would get this contract. It was absurd, so I wrote a song saying:" I can be whatever color you want, what the hell do you want me to be , I have to look older, I have to lean down to get on the shelf What do you want? You do not know what you want so I can be everybody With the rainbow color, everything you think is money, so kerching! Take it! "And that's how the song came out.

Edited January 26, 2019 by Dominika

[Dominika]

Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) - the single was released in July 2007 and comes from the album "Life In Cartoon Motion". The story of this song is as follows:

"I was flying to Los Angeles the next day and I could not sleep because I do not like flying so much. So I watched the junk television, it was two in the morning and flew the documentary program of Victoria Wood on the fourth channel. The program was about fat people from the United States and Victoria was visiting a club called The Butterfly Lounge, which was the first club where fluffy women could meet. Skinny women were not allowed in there. These women were great and I felt that I must write about them. I silenced the TV and wrote it right away. I never expected that this song will appear on the album, but a few weeks later we recorded it and here it is. It's one of my favorite songs and it's great to play live."

Mika recorded a special version of this song for one of the episodes of Ugly Betty, changing the chorus to "Hey Betty, you are beautiful." Mika explained in the Sun newspaper: Betty is a real fashion icon and we should celebrate everyone like her - real people who remain true to their identity. That's what the Big Girl song is all about, so it was a perfect match to change the song for her. It was a great honor to be asked to do it. I love this program!

Edited January 26, 2019 by Dominika

[Dominika]

Happy Ending - the single was released in October 2007 and comes from the first album of Mika.

During the symphonic concert at the Teatro Sociale in Como in October 2015, Mika said that the song was written by him and his friend Ida in a garage in which there used to be a volkswagen golf car.

Mika described the story of this song also in an interview with The Sun in February 2007: "This song is about a few things, in a sense it's a kind of sad break song like My Interpretation, but at the same time it's about many other things. I will never forget when I recorded this song in Los Angeles, I always took a ride from the place where I lived to a studio that was not in the city and the number of homeless people on the way was absolutely shocking.The horrible images of homelessness that I saw every morning, they really connected with this song, it just shows that a simple song in a certain way of thinking has a meaning that evolves and changes over time, I think it's very important that listeners find their own meaning for songs."

[Dominika]

Lollipop - an animated music video for this song was released in November 2007. The music video was directed by Mika's sister and is a parody of a fairy tale about Red Riding Hood. The music video also refers to the entire album Life In Cartoon Motion, if only because of the appearance of the Big Girl. Originally, the video was available on the Internet under the name "Lollipop 16: 9 Bunny Action".

Mika wrote this song while traveling with his younger siblings from Shanghai to Beijing. When Zuleika and Fortune sang this song to my mother, this one did not spare the unpleasant words to Mika. Nothing strange either, because the song says about being careful with whom you sleep, because it brings with it various consequences that you have to deal with later. In the Middle East, this music video was banned because of the pair of rabbits that reproduce in it. The scene was cut and alternative paintings were put in its place. Mika also had the idea to sing a choir of children in the song. When the choir appeared in the Los Angeles studio with their guardians and read the lyrics, they refused to perform the children in the song. That is why Mika engaged his cousins for this.

Mika told the story of this song during the Giffoni Film Festival in Milan. 

 

 

[Dominika]

Love Today - the single was released in 2007 and comes from Mika's debut album "Life In Cartoon Motion".

The story of this song Mika told in the Stasera Casa Mika (so1eo2). The main character of this story is Carolina. Carolina was the woman Mika met on the outskirts of Miami when he worked there, trying to become a musician. Carolina worked as a prostitute. Every night, after the rehearsals in the studio, around 2 or 3 in the morning, Mika used to wait for a taxi at the gas station. She was there waiting for her clients. As time passed, Mika began to get to know her. Sometimes Carolina was happy because the world gave her a few sweeter hours more than usual. However, one day Carolina did not show up at the gas station. Mika has not seen her ever since. Mika does not know what happened to her, but they never finished their relationship. Part of Carolina's story, her struggles with life's challenges, part of her soul has been deep inside him. Mika does not know how her story ended, probably not the best, but he wrote the song for her.

In addition to Carolina's story to write Love Today, Mike inspired that he fell in love. In one of the interviews, he mentioned that this feeling drives him to create.

[Dominika]

Relax (Take It Easy) - a song released in 2006 as a limited single in the UK, and re-released in December 2007 as a song promoting the album "Life In Cartoon Motion". Two music videos have been created for this song - one largely animated and the other one consisting of video and photo materials made by fans during various concerts of Mika.

The story of this song was told by Mika during a concert at the London Palladium in June 2016:
"I wrote this song when I came back from the metro station. It was a very bad day for many people. I was at the subway station on my way to the studio to write something. However, I did not write anything at the time. It was the same day the attacks in London took place. When I left the subway I thought: What should I do now? What is the meaning of a situation like this? It makes no sense, because it is terrible for everyone, and even worse for many other people. So I sat down and thought that I could only do one thing - write a song, and so I did. I never really say why I actually wrote this song because people usually identify it with fun, getting drunk during holidays and having sex with people they do not know. But I know what I wrote about this song and when I sing it, I know what I'm singing about. "

[Dominika]

We Are Golden - the first single from Mika's second album "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" released in September 2009.

In June 2009, Mika pre-premiere talked about the song in Q magazine: "It's a very loud and aggressive sound, but in the good sense of the word. There is a gospel choir and a children's choir, but unlike the first album, children do not sing sweetly, but they shout with all their strength.

 

"In The Observer Music Monthly, Mika confessed that the gospel choir Andrae Crouch (who also sang for Madonna" Like a Pryer " ) refused to sing the verse of the song 'do not give it up when you're young and you want some'. One of the choristers asked Mika what it is something he wants, is it a cheesburger? Of course, it was not on Mika's mind so he explained to him that the theme of the song was inspired by the novel by Angela Carter from 1967 The Magic Toyshop. The novel is about the growing sexuality of the heroine, who lives with a tyranny uncle, the creator of toys. Mika confessed that he was fascinated by the period of puberty in one's life.

The album was originally intended to be the title of the song, but Mika confessed in the BBC Radio 1 program that he is considering changing it because he wanted something more absurd. In August 2009, it was confirmed that the title of the album will change to "The Boy Who Knew Too Much".

The music video for the song premiered in August 2009. It is a kitschy celebration of youth, during which Mika dances in her teenage bedroom in his underwear. At BBC News, Mika confessed: "The movie is joyful, but there is also desperation. It's like a ceremony where there's a boy in his bedroom who begs the world to love him. "
 

Two versions of the music video were created, which you can compare here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110420308764104744183/albums/5894573698242611457/5894573702859924658?cfem=1&pid=5894573702859924658&oid=110420308764104744183

[Dominika]

Blame It On The Girls - single released in February 2010. The song uses a musical technique called 'musique concrète', in which music is created using everyday objects to create sound. In Blame It On The Girls, the rhythm is created by Mika hitting the desk, clapping her hands and stamping her feet.

The song came about as a result of this situation: when Mika walked with his younger sister down the street of London, he saw a young, wealthy, handsome man who was shouting at someone on the phone. Passing by him, the man nudged Zuleika without apologizing. Mika was furious with him and wanted to hit him. In turn, his sister looked at the departing man and said: What a poor beautiful boy. And then Mika suffered a revolt and came up with the idea of writing this song.

 

Mika in this song says that when you're a teenager, you're going through a phase of blaming everyone around you for what's happening in your life. But really the only person you should blame is yourself.

[Dominika]

Rain - the song premiered in November 2009, while the music video appeared online a month earlier. The song comes from Mika's second album, The Boy Who Knew Too Much.

The text of the song is a letter that Mika wrote to his former partner. He talked about it in The Sun: "It's the ripping letter I wrote. So I thought it would be fun to add the bright melody to it and get everyone to dance."

Mika talked about this song in The London Times: "How did I feel on the day I wrote it? I was furious at the person I was meeting with. "The interviewer asked what the person was doing? Mika replied: "Nothing, it was a problem." Then Mika was asked, what was the person with whom he broke up to do? "Embarrass me. Making me happy by risking making me completely unhappy. So I wrote this nasty child rhyme, and then I thought it would not be fun to put it in dance music, which would make it sound too much."

The video was directed by Nez Khammal and filmed at Epping Forest in Essex. The video was recorded in a dark enchanted forest with Mika waking up in a colorful tent. Soon he will be joined by various oddly dressed imps and creatures who dance around him first, but then drive him out of the forest among exploding fireworks.

[Dominika]

Origin Of Love - the single that opens the third album of Mika and at the same time constituting its title "The Origin Of Love" released in 2012.

The music video, in which Mika does not appear, was directed by the Chilean director Cristian Jimenez. He was recorded on the streets of Santiago in Chile and with stars such as Jorge Arecheta and Daniel Ramirez. The film with the original version of the song had its premiere online in September 2012. It included scenes of a man and women having sex. The film was shown in British music channels, but the scenes were changed, replacing the original version of the song with a radio version. The film received very positive reviews from Sam Lansky from Idolator and Perez Hilton.

 

The story of writing this song Mika explained in the following interview.

 

 

[Dominika]

Popular Song - the song comes from the album "The Origin Of Love", the original was written and sung by Mika and Priscilla Rene. The song contains elements of the song "Popular" from the musical Wicked, whose author - Stepehn Schwartz - allowed Mika to use it.

The music label offered Mika cooperation with Ariana Grande. At that time Mika associated her only as a television character, but he did not realize that she could sing. Mika and Ariana have made a music video for this song, which was released in April 2013. The film includes product placement from Sony (phone), Swatch (watch) and MINI (car). Scenes from behind the scenes of recording a music video can be viewed on YouTube.

The version of the song with Ariana Grande has been heavily modified to be released as a single. Instruments and tempo were completely changed and curses removed from it. Popular Song was released as the second single of "The Origin Of Love" in December 2012. The song also appears on Ariana's first studio album "Yours Truly" released in 2013.
The Mika and Ariana Grande duo have over 100 million views on YouTube and Vevo. It also has a gold certificate for its sale in the number of over 500,000 copies.

[Dominika]

Last Party - the song was made as a tribute to Freddie Mercury, it is part of the album "No Place In Heaven".

Mika explained the meaning of the song in Billboard magazine: "He refers to Freddie Mercury when he found out that he was HIV positive. Then he suffered a strong shock, which manifested itself in the fact that he locked himself in a nightclub for a few days and arranged a crazy party for himself. It's probably a myth, I do not know how it really was, but it's certainly a well-known story. It made me think about how to deal with when you find out about various terrible things. I wanted to put it in the song as best as I could and tried to make it as intimate as possible. What I created and how I did it was meant to be a way out of the context of modern pop. It is strange that thanks to pop music you have a special opportunity to describe things that are really difficult to describe with normal everyday life or normal words. "Mika personally knows fellow Freddie Mercury of Queen, Brian May and Roger Taylor. He was afraid that they might feel that the song was breaking into the sacred territory and that he would endanger his relationship with them. Mika sent them a song in advance, the song appealed to them and the gentlemen expressed their approval.

 

 

 

The music video was released in April 2015. This is a simple assembly created by Mika's friend, Peter Lindbergh. It was the first time that a famous fashion photographer ever collaborated with a music artist. "This cooperation was born naturally and from friendship," said Mika. "Peter wanted to capture me in a completely honest and as natural a way as possible, and simplicity and emotions are one of the most difficult things to achieve. Only with a man like Peter I could afford total honesty." First, Peter Lindbergh made a photo session for Mika, only later came the idea to revive them. So the same studio was rented and the Last Party video was shot with the same crew.

Edited January 26, 2019 by Dominika

[Dominika]

Hurts - the song comes from Mika's last album "No Place In Heaven". The song remix was made by The Nexus and for the first time appeared in January 2016 on the Italian radio. In addition, the song was used for the soundtrack of the movie "Un Bacio" directed by Italian director Ivan Cotroneo, who also directed the video for this song. The music video was released in February of the same year.

Why Mika wrote this song told in his Stasera Casa Mika program (s01e01):
"I used to fight words. I was at war with them. Especially as a child, because I was dyslexic. Letters ran everywhere, and I could not connect them. That's why I know why words are so important. Words are our way to learn and to get to know each other. They gave rise to dialogue. They create stories. They make people meet. They make people fall in love. They make people hate each other. Words cause war, but they can also restore peace. Sometimes words carry us like the wind. Sometimes they can hurt us. Words as nice as a flower, or as heavy as a punch in the face. We must be very attentive with words. They are very powerful. Really powerful. We must use them very carefully. Choose them one by one. And when we do not have words because we speak different languages or can not speak at all, there are gestures. Smiles. Hands. Words are a bridge. An old, crumbling bridge in the middle of the forest. The bridge was very long there. I am here. You are on his other side. And we are walking slowly, approaching each other with words. They are both armed and a little defenseless. And we meet. We always meet. "

[Dominika]

Staring At The Sun - the music video for this song was shot in 2015 and was co-directed by Mika and his partner - Andreas Dermanis. This song also appears in the French version entitled Tant que j'ai le soleil.

Staring At The Sun refers to the history of Mika's great grandmother and grandfather. When his grandfather was young, he left Damascus to take part in the war. His mother was very desperate because she did not want to lose her son. So she went to the roof and waited for her child to return home. She decided she would not leave the roof until her son came back. A few months later, Mika's grandfather returned home and learned that his mother had died from sunburn while waiting for him on the roof of the house. "This song tells the story of the sun, but above all it speaks of people who are not afraid. Who are not afraid to wait, start all over again, and are not even afraid to die, because in life you can protect, wear a mask, defend yourself, but you can also have courage, you can look at the sun with your eyes and even if it hurts ... well it means that you are alive! "
The story of this song was told by Mika in Stasera Casa Mika (so2eo3).

[Dominika]

Boum Boum Boum - a French song that appears on the album "No Place In Heaven", and more precisely on the French deluxe versions. A piece written by Mike and Doriand. The single was released together with a clip directed by Jonathan Lia in June 2014. The song appears as the second on the soundtrack to the film "Spy" from 2015.

Mika told about this song and the video, in an interview for French radio RFM in June 2014:
Sophie Coste: So your new single is now available and is called "Boum Boum Boum". It is well-written that boum boum boum means to make love.
Mika: Making boum boum refers to the heart, it happens when your heart beats.
Sophie Coste: No, it really means to make love!
Mika: I did not know, it's more like my way of speaking French. Yes, the song is about love and love, and explains that being too nice can be dangerous. Of course, you have to respect others, but you should not be nice to be nice. Together with Doriand we ate dinner at Le Stella in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.
Sophie Coste: Yes, I know that place. It probably was a good advertisement for them.
Mika: It's fine, it's part of the story. It is a very formal and elegant restaurant, and I ate a green bean salad and drank wine. The restaurant was all these people (I looked at my right side, as we sat by the window) and suddenly I saw this man in his apartment in the window, who went into his bedroom and began to undress. I said to Doriand, look, what do you think will happen? The guy was almost naked and looked at himself in the mirror, and began to take off his boxers.
Sophie Coste: I think I will go to Stella more often. (laughs) It looks very interesting.
Mika: Yes, it was dinner and a show (laughs). It was crazy considering the context of this meal. The place was full of very serious people talking about very serious things, I ate my green beans and suddenly this guy ...
Sophie Coste: This guy took out his green bean!
Mika: (laughs) and his girlfriend came into the room and it was obvious that they were going to do it.
Sophie Coste: Boum boum.
Mika: They had to do boum boum (laughs). But his girlfriend was more clever or more shy.
Sophie Coste: Bashful?
Mika: So embarrassing, a bit more like me, for example, and she slid shutters at once.
Sophie Coste: Too bad, it would be a good dessert! It would be perfect!
Mika: And I was thinking about boum boum on the bridge in the 16th arrondissement of Paris! Doriand and I started to look for rhymes because it was fun. "Regardless of the place, regardless of the context," and Doriand came up with "to remove our fruit of the loom" that rhymes with boum boum boum.
Sophie Coste: The song was not just over?
Mika: That was the beginning of this song! Even then it did not exist!
Sophie Coste: That was her genesis!
Mika: So we ordered another bottle of wine and at that moment we wrote the text on the tablecloth.

On the theme of the music video:
Mika: I will tell you a story: I am a soldier of Napoleon's army and I am very much in love with my wife, whom I love, a pernicious woman. And I'm dying a little bit of it (it's not very obvious), but I'm resurrected as a prince of Arabia, and for dessert I fall in love with a belly dancer and she's obviously killing me too!

In addition to Napoleon's soldier and the prince of Arabia, Mika also played the cowboy and James Bond. The video director described Mika's acting as follows: "It worked very well with Mika. He is a great actor who could truly empathize with every role, adding to it his talent to capture details and subtle expression. "The video was recorded in Spain.

 

[Dominika]

Live Your Life - the song was released in May 2013 through Universal Music Spain.

Mika wrote this song for the need to advertise the Spanish San Miguel beer. The song is a converted version of the hit song from 2011 "Ciudadanos de un lugar llamado mundo" performed by the Spanish alternative pop group Delafé y las Flores Azules.

 

 

 

[Dominika]

Gave It All Away is a song that was written by Mika and appears on the album Boyzone band entitled "Brother" released in 2010, after the death of one of the members - Stephen Gately.

After the funeral of Stephen Gately in 2009, the other members of the band went to Los Angeles to finish work on the album "Brother". Two years earlier, Boyzone was allowed to record the song Gave It All Away, but at the last moment Mika withdrew it. The song really enjoyed the band and wondered if it would be possible to regain it. There was an unprecedented thing during Boyzone's stay in LA. The band met Mike at the hotel, who said when he saw them: I know what you are going to say - the song is yours. In addition to this song, two more songs from this album, contain the voice of the deceased friend. The song appears as the first single promoting the album "Brother".

 

Mika's version

 

Mika singing with the band

 

 

[Dominika]

Gang Bang is a song written by Mika and Priscilla Renae (originally titled Bang Bang) and found in Madonna's repertoire on her twelfth studio album "MDNA" released in 2012.

 

Here's the story of the song and a bit of a story of Popular Song

 

 

Edited January 26, 2019 by Dominika

[Dominika]

This is all I've got. I hope you enjoy it