camille*

I have to be honest, I wasn't following Mika very closely back in 2007 but it's true that I never imagined Adele would be more successful than him by now. Especially as he really was described as a social phenomenon here (I've watched documentaries about the 2000/2010 decade and when they come to music they mention Mika and this huge success) But you are right, he lived up to the expectations and truly was the Sound of 2007. I just hope he can still be the sound of many years to come.

But besides Adele, it seems to me that from the previous winners only Keane and Jessie J are still very successful..? And maybe Ellie Goulding but I'm not sure as she is just starting to get known here in France.

I heard Celebrate at Debenhams in the UK two weeks ago. I was very pleasantly surprised as I thought Mika songs weren't played much out there anymore

Happy anniversary MFC! It's my 4th one as a member here and it really does feel like home

The hashtag #WewantArianaGrandeinFrance is trending here, so I guess she's got followers in France too even though I had never heard of her before! Probably a younger audience, I wonder if this will have any consequence on Mika's popularity.

Happy New Year MFC!

It should be in there. Why isn't it in there? If I understand correctly, the first link is actually the list for the whole year up to end of October. Mika should at least be in the first category for 50000 albums...

He was awarded Platinum after the 2nd gig in Paris, Doriand tweeted about it https://twitter.com/Doriandavecund/status/268679428350025728/photo/1/large

It's great! I'm not that surprised though. I went to the Coldplay gig in Paris this Autumn and while we were queuing Grace Kelly and EMD were played from inside the stadium. Most people sang along and even cheered when they heard the first notes

I agree with you, we have always heard that LICM sold more than 1.5 million and TBWKTM around 400.000 if not more. Also it was said that EMD sold more than Relax which is not the case with these figures

Finally got home to watch this!! Thank you very much Mika and Deb for this cute video Very very lovely, made me laugh and made my eyes twinkle

Yes he got us all worried when he said that and now new dates are being announced Not that I'm planning to go to these gigs anyway, but it's nice to know he'll be back after all. I think for him 4 months without us is a very long time

Sephira's post was not particularly nice towards British fans but yours is not towards French... As Macboll wrote, please don't generalise, not everybody acts the same even if they are from the same country.

I don't understand why you are reacting like this. If you are ok with waiting for Mika outside a radio show and have time for it, and if you managed to meet him and show him you were there to support him, good for you. But not everybody can do that or even wants to do that. Our main way of supporting him is still by buying his music and attending his gigs. Roundhouse was sold out so I think British fans were there when needed. You don't have to wait for him before or after a show to call yourself a fan.

I love it when we can identify which MFCers they are talking about Happy for you and Eloise

Have fun everyone This is a gig I would have particularly loved to attend

I'll be there too, as well as lots of other French fans! It's an event with various artists but there will be a big group of Mika fans

I'm more than at the moment

Yes he did... he can't sing 'slut' on UK radio He used to restrain himself from saying bad words in early interviews in French too, but with time he got it that nobody cares and now he doesn't bother anymore

Gosh I loved this performance! I use '' a lot in here but really, I was very moved by OOL and this cover song was fantastic, I don't think I've ever enjoyed a cover that much.. How is it possible that he makes me love him more each time?!

He will be on a French TV/radio show next Saturday so it will only be one week off. I hope it's still enough for him to have a good rest

Is there a way to watch the show on Sky Uno tonight online?

Wow wow wow! :wub2: This is such an amazing experience Deb! I remember you from Compiègne when you did your best to organise the queue and I'm really happy that it's people like you who get to live such a dream

This is an interview from Virgin Radio Lille, just before the gig in Roubaix on October 31st. He says nice things about the fans at the end We are here in Roubaix at the Colisée just a few hours before you go on stage, how are you feeling? It's the first French date and so I want to sing songs in French, and I'm stressed because it's the first time and I don't know... Also it's the first theatre I'm playing in on this tour. Before that we performed in clubs and halls, but not really theatres. And a theatre means completely different dynamics. It means that when I go on stage, people are seated, they stand up, the sound in my ears is very different because it comes back to the stage differently and well, everything is new, it's as if it was the first show of the tour, actually it's not the first date of the tour at all but I've got stage fright as if it was the first time. We could think that it's normal but it's a feeling that I hate. It's a kind of positive stress probably; because the audience is there, they are waiting, it's an audience from the North that you know well. It's a very warm audience, they sing, they like to be into it wholeheartedly, but it also gives me some pressure because it's been a long time since I've performed here next to Lille, it's been years, and so I really want to do something nice, something good and it's probably the worst moment to talk to me, before a gig, it's when the monster comes out and then when I go on stage, I calm down. A new album, the 3rd one, completely different from the first two, what is different according to you? There is a difference, but it's not completely different, we can recognize me in every way, in the melodies, in my way of writing songs, it's pop music with a lot of influence from classical music, 70s music, a bit of electronic sound, it's a mix, like me, like a person, I'm a mix of different sounds and different cultures. At the same time it's clear that there's an evolution, I gave myself challenges, for example on this disc I told myself I really wanted to make something fresh, something that would continue my story. And for me this is essential, if we don't continue the story, then what are we doing? I like looking back at my 3 albums and see 3 periods of my life, very honest, very different. I live my life in my albums and when you listen to my albums you can completely see a snapshot, a kind of portrait of my life during these 2 or 3 years everytime I make an album. And I like continuing like this, because it is something honest, something real, it is not planned. I make the music that comes out from the period during which I'm writing. What stands out from this album is happiness and joy There's a lot of joy in this album and it's funny because most of the people who tell me, mostly in interviews, 'well the album is quite dark', I tell them 'what are you talking about?'. It's clear that the lyrics are dark, it comes from a time in my life when really there were a lot of dark and sad things, but at the same time the album is really happy, very festive, it's like a kind of medicine, like a psychedelic potion in a way, and for me that's what music is for. It helps taking me out of these sad times. So the lyrics are rather sad or deep, but the music is very joyful. It's the combination of both. Music wraps up sadness and eventually joy comes out from the whole That was the goal. For me personally that was the goal and when I went to the studio, when I escaped my life in London, from my family and friends and everyone I knew, even from my own music and career, I flew to Montreal to work with someone and I didn't come home for 8 months. Because I didn't want to go back before I had written everything. That was Nick Littlemore? It was Nick Littlemore from Empire of the Sun. And with him I went in a room and I felt as if I was in a band, the same way I had made the first album, surrounded by people, musicians, a musical collective. It was fun. Going to the studio was all I wanted to do. There are 4 songs in French, is it important to sing in this language? You have spent a long time living in France. Yes I grew up with French music, by Gainsbourg, Françoise Hardy, Rita Mitsouko, and also some trashy pop at the same time. It was not only classy people, I liked everything. And I still like everything. I've got a filter that makes me like something completely trashy and 30 seconds later I'm listening to Tom Waits crying. It's a mix and for me it's important not to be snob, and so I grew up with a lot of French music, very serious and pop music and I think it really educated me, from the age of 2 to 10 I was listening to this. And in French music there's always melody, it's very important. For me it's fun to sing in another language, a language that brings melody to the singing in a very different way than English. It's much more percussive. And I also like working with someone who can help me with the lyrics, and when I work in French I work with my songwriter friend Doriand, and I like his way of expressing himself, in a way you can't express in English in my opinion. Do you already look back a bit thinking 'what is happening to me is incredible, this huge success with the first album, this audience behind me', do you look at it with clear-headedness? How do you analyse this? Hmm well... I don't analyse. I don't look. I can't. I do what I do and I go on stage to handle the reality of what I do. I don't know if it makes sense, but when I go on stage it becomes something real. When I look at my audience and they look at me, I've got a contact that is real. It's not abstract, it's not hype, it's not press, it's not figures. Fans are hugely important for an artist, maybe for you particularly, what would you like to say to your fans who have been following you from the start? My fans are everything, really in my career it's the most essential thing. They are part of my universe. I've always said I come from nowhere so I'll create my own world. I'm Lebanese, a bit English, French, American, a real mix, I'm a gypsy. And so I'll create with my music and my shows and my visuals my own universe. But creating your own universe without the fans is useless. They give me so much, they also give me ideas and they'll be on stage with me tonight, 6 or 7 of them will be singing with us. Did you choose them? Yes I chose them, I asked them to send a video of them singing and my musicians and me chose them together. And I'm never scared when I ask my fans to do something. I don't know why. I'm not scared. I'm not scared it will go wrong because honestly they have such a good vibe that I always trust them. Yes they are very important in what I do. And they are very loyal and I'm very lucky.

Lol I liked your analogy! Sorry I didn't really understand that the 2 shows were so very different. I was not even around at the time. I didn't know he was already focusing more on France back in 2009? I thought it started with the success of TBWKTM here. Anyway as much as I like to know Mika loves France and to have him doing tours here, I'm worried too that he won't be such an international star anymore. I really wish him to succeed everywhere.