He Could Be Brown, Blue Or The Best Brit Pop Yet

[Sity]

Mika on Columbia Daily Spectator Online Edition:

 

Mika: He Could Be Brown, Blue, Or The Best Brit-Pop Yet

By Casey Acierno Issue date: 4/9/07

 

And Europeans claim we have a monopoly on low culture. Meet Mika, Britain's latest smash sensation. Mika is a 23-year-old Lebanese Londoner who is currently riding at the top of the charts with his album Life in Cartoon Motion. He is also, possibly, the most camp musician this side of the Scissor Sisters. Look out, America: here comes inclusion, and he's got a really high-pitched falsetto.

 

I first came across Mika-where else?-by reading music blogs. He sounded like the same old overhyped British pop star, and after years of Robbie Williams (not overhyped until he became obsessed with breaking America, got whacked out on drugs, went to rehab, etc.) and various Pop Idol refugees, it was easier to tune him out and focus on, well, the same old overhyped British indie bands. The flamboyant Mika wasn't much for hiding out on Londonist, though. No, the first I heard of him as a real live performer was from American friends with a predilection for gay clubbing.

 

"It was the most random thing ever," they'd say later. At London gay clubs, as we've established, one expects house music and flashbacks of '80s divas, not the second coming of Freddie Mercury. They'd thought it was a novelty act. After all, who sings like that seriously? It took them until Spain to realize that Mika wasn't kidding around. According to them, they heard his first hit single, "Grace Kelly," in every store and bar in Madrid and Barcelona. What makes it even more impressive was that they had tired themselves out too much to go out properly to clubs where one would expect cheesy pop music. Mika had broken, and broken big.

 

My personal introduction to the wonder of Mika wasn't until the week after my friends came back from Spain. They spontaneously broke into the chorus ("I could be brown, I could be blue, I could be violet sky...") arguing over what colors came in what order. When I looked confused, they looked shocked. Betsy immediately scoffed, "And the music chick doesn't know about the number one single in Britain?" It was shameful. After all, I had been leading debates on the new Justin Timberlake video with my floormates for the past week-but, in doing so, had I abandoned my adopted culture? What kind of a study abroad student was I?

 

Thankfully, the Americans were all too eager to share their discovery with me. After YouTubing the video (which you all should do-IMMEDIATELY), I was mesmerized. He sang to some random little girl, pranced around an ornate living room, and made the funniest scrunched-up pouty face I think I've ever seen. He referenced Freddie Mercury when he was clearly ripping him off! Something was going on here, and I wasn't sure how I felt about it. Was I morally indignant about Bloc Party being robbed of their clearly more valid claim to the top of the charts? Or was I ... strangely enough ... in love?

 

The second time through, we looked up the lyrics. The third time, later that night, we all knew roughly 75 percent of the chorus. That gay club we went to the other week? Of course they played it, and we definitely weren't the only people bouncing up and down and shouting the lyrics.

 

To my great horror, though, I recently discovered that perhaps Mika isn't as universal as I dreamed. At a club in the basement of a bar in Montpellier, France, "Grace Kelly" was the closing song as they turned on the lights. I got really excited, but the Americans I was with and their French boyfriends were all stunningly indifferent. This could, however, be chalked up to the fact that most of them were busy kissing said French boyfriends and cooing romantic phrases that I couldn't even pretend to understand.

 

Montpellier has been the exception, though, rather than the rule. Mika's newest single just hit the airwaves, with a similarly cutesy video, and his album is prominently displayed in record stores from Barcelona to Paris. Even Perez Hilton is championing his cause (though that might be more of a negative than a positive.) And, as I write this, "Grace Kelly" is stuck in my head, even though I'm listening very intently to Architecture in Helsinki. It's a strange feeling, but one that makes me want to frolic down Tottenham Court Road ... right past that gigantic statue of Freddie Mercury outside of We Will Rock You.

 

Here's the original article.

[babspanky]

She needs to join MFC - fast!

[violet_sky]

Maybe she's already here... ?

Thanks for posting Satu

[FREDDIESDOUBLE]

Yeh join the fanclub top newbie

 

It's a strange feeling, but one that makes me want to frolic down Tottenham Court Road ... right past that gigantic statue of Freddie Mercury outside of We Will Rock You.

 

Love this line:thumb_yello:

[Sivan]

[esperia75]

She needs to join MFC - fast!

...I agree...wonderful review!

[EnFa]

Nice review! I love the positive ones! And it's very personally!

[mandilambi]

Yeh join the fanclub top newbie

 

It's a strange feeling, but one that makes me want to frolic down Tottenham Court Road ... right past that gigantic statue of Freddie Mercury outside of We Will Rock You.

 

Love this line:thumb_yello:

 

Me too.

[*Danique]

I love this review! Thanks for posting

[Emy]

Lovely article.

I'm so glad people are finally hearing about Mika from friends and music websites.

Mika's at the top of the wrord right now, and I hope he stays there. =D