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MIKA STRUTS LICM review


so_rococo

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Life in Cartoon Motion

 

Artist: MIKA

 

(Casablanca Records/Universal Music)

Reviewer: DAPHNE LEE

 

 

DISCO! No, Mika isn’t entirely about mirror balls, but the bits of Life in Cartoon Motion that do conjure up visions of platform heels and a tight butt encased in hot pink vinyl are, in my opinion, the best. Turn up the volume and just try to resist the urge to form a conga line and stab the air with your index finger.

 

Disco is one of my favourite antidotes to misery. It doesn’t solve my problems but it helps me forget and if it’s just for the duration of a cheesy three-minute song, well ... I’ll take what I can get.

 

 

Remember Cutting Crew’s (I Just Died) In Your Arms Tonight? That song caused some of us to swoon in the 1980s and it’s back to haunt us on Relax (Take It Easy) – no, no, not stolen – and Mika politely credits songwriter and Cutting Crew member Nicholas Eede. This is Mika at his most disco and started out as my favourite track, but ... curses ... I paid attention to the lyrics and, for the first time, disco made me cry. So much for helping me forget!

 

 

Never mind, skipping back one track took me to the lusciously stupid Love Today, which is a helluva trashy song, lyrics and all. I don’t think I’ve heard anything campier or saucier since Sexx Laws from Beck’s Midnite Vultures. Mika alternates between a histrionic falsetto and an angry, rather insane shout. The former brings to mind the Sugababes and, come to think of it, this song reminds me of Overload, but I also have visions of Mika dressed like Eliza Doolittle at the races. Who knows why? Who am I to argue with the power of music to cause hallucinations?

 

 

I could do without Mika going all low-key as he does on tracks like Any Other World and My Interpretation. He’s more entertaining and convincing when he’s throwing the musical equivalent of a hissy fit. The chart-busting Grace Kelly, for example, has him doing a mean impression of the king, erm, I guess I mean queen of camp, Freddie Mercury. This is a rousing number that has Mika singing nonsensically poetical lyrics at a galloping pace. I can picture him mincing and spitting a whole lot and somehow that’s a diverting picture, as is the thought of him, in the next track, sucking too hard on his Lollipop.

 

 

What a funny boy he is. He can be a scary lad too. On Happy Ending, he sounds like he could be a big-breasted woman called Jamelia. I’m avoiding that track in the future!

 

 

Stuck in the Middle is pure Scissor Sisters, well, if the Scissor Sisters were actually good. And I love Mika’s venomous lyrics here: “I sit about and think about the day that you’re gonna die.” An excellent song to listen to while you’re plotting the vilest revenge.

 

 

Mika rocks. No, make that struts!

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thx for posting, so rococo. :)

 

and NO, stuck in the middle is NOT pure scissors sisters... what the heck is this person talking about..? :sneaky2:

 

Avoca you will laugh at me, I didn't realise so rococo was someone's name, I thought you meant the review was so rococo, and I was like WTF!! :roftl::roftl:

Apologies to so_rococo, I think your name is actually great!!

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Thanks for posting! :thumb_yello:

 

I never thought about this line in that way:

 

'“I sit about and think about the day that you’re gonna die.†An excellent song to listen to while you’re plotting the vilest revenge.'

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