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Bohemian Rhapsody


Cautionary Wife

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I am not sure what to say about this article, but "Wow, thanks CW!!" will do for starters.

 

I can't think exactly what I want to say about it (well, altho I've been up since 7 am, I'm still not very articulate yet :wink2: - it's still a bit too early!!) but to call it "interesting" doesn't do it justice - no offence intended to anyone else who has called it that, because I can't think of anything to improve on "interesting" just now, either. It was so good to read a more in-depth interview which fleshed-out his background and family life. It really painted a picture of what has shaped Mika's life and what drives him. I identified with the part that said:

 

I get a strong sense that not being in control is the worst feeling in the world for Mika, a reminder perhaps of the bullying and the forced absence of his father.

 

My copy of "Life in Cartoon Motion" arrived this morning and I look forward to hearing it over and over. I love Mika's sound and wish him all the very best. Hope that doesn't sound too cheesy, not meant to. I just always enjoy it, when people have battled through all sorts, and get there in the end.

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I agree with everyone else that this is the best interview with Mika that I've seen yet. But one quibble -- Jodi (as if she will read this), Mandarin is a dialect of Chinese, so it doesn't make sense to say "Chinese and Mandarin."

 

I love how he says he is secretive about his life because it's not necessary to tell all like Jade Goody, lol. I have been reading a lot about Big Brother lately because of the international racism controversy surrounding it, so it was funny to see that.

 

But, I also see the point of people who think that Mika should share more about his background because he is a role model whether he likes it or not, and that's terribly important right now when Middle Easterners are being "profiled".

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  • 1 month later...

I know this is an old thread, but this is the best artciel I have read about Mika! It's so wellwritten! It's not as shallow as most others, and It has different facts also!

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  • 4 months later...
SUNDAY HERALD

by Peter Ross

04 February 2007

 

Continued....

 

It would be seven months before he enrolled at Westminster School. However, he was not idle. He had already started working in music, for instance writing a jingle for a chewing gum advert. Grafting in the commercial music sector had been a refuge from the bullying; he was sick of being a child and enjoyed this professional adult world. He also took comfort in singing lessons with a Russian voice coach, Alla Ardakov.

 

"She was coming to teach me to play piano," says Mika, "but quickly realised that I was a useless piano player; because of my dyslexia I couldn't sight read. So she started teaching me singing instead. She realised I could take it in and get good, so things became serious right away. I had four hours of lessons a week, and trained every single day. I fast-tracked the training process."

 

Ardakov remembers him well. "Obviously a very talented little boy. His voice was angelic and he was a beautiful child. He was good natured, playful all the time. But I worked with him very seriously. I tried to teach him everything I knew. He was obedient and loved learning. His parents knew that the boy was exceptional and had a big future waiting for him."

 

Mika recalls getting told off in Russian when he got things wrong. "I cried and it was amazing, like one of those cheesy films where people get good really quickly. It also gave me a sense of what really working on your craft actually is. Even now I'm not working as hard as I did when I was a kid."

 

Under Ardakov's tutelage he progressed to singing Mozart arias, and at 12 joined the chorus of the Royal Opera production of Richard Strauss's Die Frau Ohne Schatten. He remains addicted to the stage. "Cocteau called it red and gold syndrome, and I am very much a sufferer. I started collecting toy theatres when I was a child, and maybe when I get older I can actually get a real one. I want to own some theatres and restore them."

 

There is something very theatrical now about his music. He considers his songs to be performed storytelling. That's why it suited him playing the Emcee in a Westminster School production of Cabaret - he was the narrator, which meant he was in control. I get a strong sense that not being in control is the worst feeling in the world for Mika, a reminder perhaps of the bullying and the forced absence of his father.

 

"God, I shocked them when I did that," he says of Cabaret. "I went all-out. Even people who absolutely hated me just couldn't help themselves and had to come and congratulate me. It made me realise the power of being good at something. It makes you untouchable."

 

On leaving school, Mika attempted to launch his pop career. Although he attracted record company interest, he hated the idea that to become successful he had to lose everything interesting about his identity.

 

"I wrote Grace Kelly out of my frustration with the music industry. At that time I was having to find my feet in so many ways. I was trying to figure out who I was as a person in every sense of the word, from my personal life, to me as a musician, to dealing with money for the first time. I was really questioning myself and went through a bit of a personal crisis. That first line, Do I attract you, do I repulse you with my queasy smile?' sums up exactly how I was feeling. I started with that lyric and by the time I had finished the song I had come to the decision that I was going to take a risk and completely be myself."

 

Through a mutual friend he met Jodi Marr. "He played me some songs," she recalls, "and on the fourth song I said, Oh my God, you're Freddie Mercury!' And he said No one's ever said that before! I love Freddie Mercury!' It sounds ridiculous now, but I said to him, If you can get yourself to Miami, I will sell my house to make you a rock star.'"

 

They spent two years in Miami and New York, working on around 50 songs, trying to find his true voice. Marr introduced him to a lot of music. "I would say Take home this Harry Nilsson CD, and take my Cheap Trick box set, and listen to Elvis Costello,' and he would come back the next day, having listened all night long, with a new song idea. He'd absorb the whole thing and come out with something that was purely Mika. He's just one of these people who is special, like from another level of musical talent. Touched by God is how I describe it."

 

Mika's debut album Life In Cartoon Motion is a pop masterclass, built solidly from potential hit singles, "like a really amazing piece of Lego construction". The music evokes Queen, Scissor Sisters, T-Rex, even some of the best songs by boy bands. There's a hysterical quality to some of the performances which Mika says reflects his personality. "Not all the time though. I can be completely normal for a whole day and then when I sit down at a piano I regress to what I was like when I was four years old and hyperactive. I describe my music as hyper-pop."

 

The music sounds joyous and escapist, but Mika aims for depth in the lyrics. Relax (Take It Easy) is a love story set in the aftermath of the July 7 terror attacks; Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) is an attack on the size zero culture which fosters eating disorders; Billy Brown is about a family man with a gay lover; Any Other World has a spoken word introduction in which a family friend tells the story of losing an eye during the Lebanese civil war. "You can take a serious idea and paint it in primary colours and make it really approachable," says Mika. "That gives what you want to say so much power."

 

He takes inspiration for this approach from cartoons and comic books. "If you look at the work of someone like Robert Crumb it is absolutely immediate, however he implies so many other things. He is a genius at that. It's populist art that doesn't compromise on credibility. Very much like a good pop song. There's a lot of soulless art and a lot of soulless pop music out there, but it can be done well. I am constantly referring in my head to people like Crumb."

 

The album artwork, which Mika worked on with his eldest sister, Yasmine, is very cartoonish, and the characters from his songs are not only represented in the CD booklet but also have their personalities fleshed out on his MySpace site. "Some people call that marketing. I call it creating fantasy."

 

Cartoons tie in with the overall theme of the album - the transition to adulthood. In Mika's head, coming of age has meant a conscious reconnection with his early childhood. He wants to be as happy an adult as he was a boy. "I am trying to recapture myself as a child. I had a charmed existence in France, then in London things went bad. Music was one of the things I took refuge in. So it's interesting now that music is my full-time job that I find myself going back to what I was like as a kid. There's an innocence that is great to preserve."

 

Ironically, given Mika's strong visual sense, he is himself something of a blank canvas. With his culturally diverse background, genderless name and songs which celebrate male and female sexuality, he is a rather indeterminate figure. "As a storyteller, it's always good to be kind of unclassifiable," he says. "The tabloidy fame thing does kind of worry me. I never wanted to be a pop star. I just wanted to be able to write songs and record and perform them.

 

"If you are a novelist then people stay out of your life and there is this whole mystery shrouded around the writer. But as a songwriter you are expected to lay everything about yourself out on the table, and at the same time create little imaginary worlds. I find it very difficult to do both. So people ask me, Don't you want to talk about certain parts of your life? Don't you think you are cheating your public? And don't you think you could be a role model for so many people?' But I am protecting and respecting myself enough not to lay myself out as fodder for any magazine or newspaper."

 

"Is this to do with your sexuality?" I ask.

 

"Oh everything. Sexuality. Even certain parts of my background. I don't want to talk about my surname all the time, not because I have anything to hide, but because I don't find it necessary. I think it's better to keep some of yourself to yourself. Why does anyone want to be like Jade Goody?"

 

"So you're not interested in fame at all?" I ask.

 

"It's weird because in my real life I'm not. However when it comes to performing I am completely obsessed with getting people to take notice, and being the centre of attention. I'm living a bit of a double life. When I go down the coffee shop and hang out with my friends I'm not interested in fame, but on the other hand I crave it."

 

It will be fascinating to see what the future holds for Mika. He says he wants to take the public to "weird Alice in Wonderland places" and that sentiment alone indicates that he is a more interesting pop artist than Britain has had for some time. He will certainly have further hit singles and a successful album, but can he sustain it? He believes so, and for such a idealistic man is surprisingly hard-headed about the realities of the music business. "I had a lot of fun making this album, and the record company gave me the white card to do what the hell I wanted. In order to get that freedom again, I have to deliver on certain commercial quotas."

 

He smiles and licks cake off his fingers. "I'll get there, and then I'll tell them to piss off, and I'll do whatever I want."

 

Life In Cartoon Motion is released tomorrow. Mika plays the ABC1, Glasgow, on February 26

 

ENDS.

 

Best article EVER!!

 

This is sooo great! I lover all the stuff about his family and how he made the record.

This article is FANTASTIC!:biggrin2:

 

Thanks for bumping this.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 6 months later...

I know this article is over a year old now, but I'm reading it for the first time and it's so amazing! All the things I never knew...

 

Occasionally he dips the index finger of his right hand into the top of a fairy cake then licks off the cream and sprinkles.

 

What's a fairy cake? *thinks of a cake shaped like a fairy* But no, that's too easy.

 

He suffered homophobic name-calling. He remembers it as being like Lord of The Flies, and recalls the fear of walking between classes; he fantasised about having a remote control which would allow him to fast-forward past the bullying. The psychological pressure exacerbated his dyslexia, and at the age of 11 found himself suddenly unable to read or write and barely able to speak. "So I left school in order to change to the English system, and that took a while because I was a bit of a mess."

 

Ugh, it always disturbs me to hear stories about his childhood in London. I wonder where those bullies are now? :sneaky2:

 

Ardakov remembers him well. "Obviously a very talented little boy. His voice was angelic and he was a beautiful child. He was good natured, playful all the time. But I worked with him very seriously. I tried to teach him everything I knew. He was obedient and loved learning. His parents knew that the boy was exceptional and had a big future waiting for him."

 

So nice to read a quote from her!

 

They spent two years in Miami and New York, working on around 50 songs, trying to find his true voice.

 

He spent two years working with Jodi??? Wow, if it took years to make LICM, I'm worried about this second one. Granted, he knows more about who he is, and his "voice" but still...

 

The music sounds joyous and escapist, but Mika aims for depth in the lyrics. Relax (Take It Easy) is a love story set in the aftermath of the July 7 terror attacks

 

I had no idea "Relax" was written about that. Wow. :blink:

 

It will be fascinating to see what the future holds for Mika. He says he wants to take the public to "weird Alice in Wonderland places"

 

Alice in Wonderland rocks. :punk:

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What's a fairy cake? *thinks of a cake shaped like a fairy* But no, that's too easy.

 

 

 

It's a cup cake basically. You know those little ones you get at childrens parties with the brightly coloured icing and sprinkles etc on top.

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It's a cup cake basically. You know those little ones you get at childrens parties with the brightly coloured icing and sprinkles etc on top.

 

OOOH! So it's a cupcake. Thanks! :thumb_yello: Weird that it's called a fairy cake. :blink:

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just read a book by the author mentioned in the article. Gabriel whatever...

called "One Hundred Years Solitude." Very complex, book, and the story mixes folk tale fantasy with reality. So MIKA.

 

Thanks for the article. :)

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I just read a book by the author mentioned in the article. Gabriel whatever...

called "One Hundred Years Solitude." Very complex, book, and the story mixes folk tale fantasy with reality. So MIKA.

 

Thanks for the article. :)

 

I work in a bookstore, and SOOO many people I work with (mostly the guys) LOVE that book and say it's the best book ever written. I read it, and it was really good, but not the best book ever. :blink:

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Life In Cartoon Motion is released tomorrow. Mika plays the ABC1, Glasgow, on February 26

 

ENDS.

 

I like to think of that one last sentence from the perspective of Brixton gig. It's interesting to compare the Glasgow gig and the one that happened a year and two days later. Seems like he'd gone a long way. I wonder what February 2009 will be like.

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