camille*

When I translated the interview I was sure there would be some reactions about this bit about the French audience (totally understandable) I think when he says 'they were the only ones to...', he can't really be talking about the audience but more about reviews and articles.. How can he know what the audience understood? Of course he can talk to a few people after the show but how many would have told him 'I loved this reference to Arte Povera' So yes maybe from the media it looks like France understood something more. But probably just because it wasn't covered as much in other countries...

Yes I think the Internet and Twitter in this instance can help develop a connection and of course that's why I use it too. I created a Twitter account almost exclusively to follow Mika and everything Mika-related. I think what I meant (yes because I'm not even sure of my point here) is that it's hard for me to develop a connection when the connection doesn't exist or not yet. I'm not saying I'm crying on my own because Mika doesn't tweet me , just that it's sometimes hard for me to tweet something either deep and sincere or witty and funny. I just tweet very common things that he must read thousands of times Anyway, it's always nice to have your view on this

I figured that out and this is exactly what I'm avoiding to do. But at the same time my tweets are probably too common to be interesting And I find it hard to be familiar when you're not familiar with him in real life either. It's a shame but I think I could have talked to him a little bit after 2 gigs this year; but I just don't say anything (or something silly and useless he doesn't even listen to). Maybe I can only be very outgoing during the gig and at no other time (which is the main thing anyway)

I feel a bit like you do when I tweet him. I don't write to him having really in mind that it will eventually reach him (even though I'm careful not to write to him as if he was really one of my friends). So when I read some of his replies, or some stories like yours about the Iceland gig, I'm even more surprised to think he might have read our tweets. I think it's maybe easier for tweets from people he knows to stand out though, like yours or Rose's. So I still don't expect replies or anything for my part

Wow And thank you for the reports!

I've watched the video twice now and it's hard to explain what I think about it. It clearly didn't win me over; but at the same time it's not a disaster either. I wasn't expecting too much of the video for several reasons : I'm not a big fan of previous videos, I love the song UW too much I knew it would be hard for the video to please me as much as the song, and I didn't particularly like the pictures posted here in this thread or the one by Mika on Twitter. I'm not shocked by Mika's acting or the problem with lip synching (which I hadn't even noticed the first time and probably wouldn't have the second time if I hadn't been reading MFC in between ). I'm not annoyed by the use of fake water either, I think it's one of the most 'Mikaish' things in there. I think it's just the whole idea and setting that looks a bit too cheesy to me (I hope it doesn't sound too harsh, I may not be using the right word) I agree with Mellody who says it's on a border line; there are moments I see it as quite artistic, poetic and nice (both on the boat and underwater) but 2 seconds later I find it cheesy and laughable It doesn't really matter to me because it doesn't change my admiration for Mika but I can only imagine the faces of some people I know when they watch this video

Wow I hope Yuna watched the first video He talks about the paper rolls in Seoul

Thank you Mari Just a summary from me instead of a full translation: He says he is planning to work with a young 20 something girl artist; and that she is Swedish. He hopes to form a perfect pop girls band with 3 girls in a very 90s style, created from scratch () He says he might perform somewhere for his 30th birthday (festival) but he's not sure yet and he wants to have a private party in the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen with 30 of his friends. He says he chose small venues for this tour because this time it is all about the music. He talks about remixes of his songs and says he always enjoys having his songs remixed, it is something serious for him not just something to dance on in clubs. He says he's learnt about his nomination to the NRJ Music Awards and he's happy about it, that last year he didn't expect to win, that he looked at the sequence on the Internet after a while and was ashamed of his face when he learnt he had won And that it's always when you think you're going to lose that you win. He says he loves the French song 'Marcia Baila' by Rita Mitsouko, a sad song about a woman dying of cancer but very happy in the melody, and Gainsbourg and Barbara and France Gall... At the end the presenter tells him a sentence in regional French (I couldn't understand myself) which means 'Ohlala you are all crazy' and he asked Mika if he could say it during his gig tonight. Guess we need to wait for some reports from tonight's show now!

Very nice interview!! Thanks for posting. I translated it He says he doesn't like interviews and 'says no to almost everything' : 'All the essential things are in my songs'. However, it is an extraordinarily relaxed Mika who answered our questions yesterday night. Just before his show at Le Silo, in Marseille. A part of 'TOOL' has been recorded in the Provence region. What memory do you keep from it? Yes, at La Fabrique in Saint Rémy de Provence, a very beautiful place. I wanted to be somewhere, alone with Doriand with whom I was writing. In these situations, I need to almost live in the studio, someone from the city hall had lent us a Yamaha piano. I was sleeping where I was working with the idea to be in a sort of cell and to give 100% of my energy to my music. The French audience keeps a real fervour for you, how do you feel about this? I have a very honest relationship with my French audience. They have a sense of humour and a lot of tolerance. I noticed it in particular when I prepared my show in a very handmade way. I had played it in London, in New York and in Paris at the Cirque d'Hiver. The goal was to let the magic settle with tiny bits of nothing, the French audience was the only one to understand what I was looking for, the only one who talked about references to street art, to Arte Povera... These French songs on your last album, is that a gift for them? Also a gift to myself. Because I love French chanson that taught me a lot. This album is in the continuity but has a freshness that makes it like the first album. How did you succeed in doing that? It is exactly the goal I was trying to reach. I was telling myself 'if you can't capture a kind of freshness, what's the point in making music?' I make a completely honest kind of music which is the reflection of my life. What do you fear in creation? I'm afraid of mediocrity and of becoming a caricature. This is why I'm changing while remaining true to what I profoundly am. When you stop giving yourself challenges, you take that risk. It's also true in personal life, this is when love goes away. So when you're successful in pop music, people tend to tell you 'don't change'. It's a poisoned gift. So you don't listen to this kind of advice? No but I hear it. And I fight against it, to remain sincere while evolving. Is it the result to your maturity, you will soon be 30 I'm not afraid to be 30. Anyway I have already been through several identity crisis : the first time when I lost my soprano voice, then for the first album and again each time for the next ones! How did you come up with the idea for the EMD video and why did you choose Fanny Ardant? She was ideal for this video because the song talks about a 50 year old woman's identity crisis , she wants to destroy her son because as she refuses him to be 30, she hopes not to be confronted to her 50 years old. Fanny Ardant is the perfect representation for me of the 50 year old woman who is punk and glamour, full of life. After this album 'The Origin of Love', do you know more about the reasons that make us fall in love? I think it is in relation with ourselves, with ego. When we talk about love, we talk about life. Do you have a dream as an artist? To settle in a theatre for 2 weeks and create a show with a real visual universe that I would have built from beginning to end, with a mise en scene, something between theatre and gig. Why not in Marseille, which will be European Cultural capital in 2013? I'm looking for a theatre. I was thinking about Paris but it's true that the idea to do it in a French city that wouldn't be Paris tempts me too. We'll see. You have recently talked about your private life, your homosexuality. Was it the right moment? For 99% of the people, it hasn't changed anything. And I don't care about the remaining 1%. Talking about it was coming from a positive feeling maybe in relation, precisely, with the fact that I'm going to be 30. I did it by sincerity, only for this. France is in the middle of a society debate about marriage for everybody, what's your view on it? I'm for equality for all, whatever the sex of the person we love. Even if, as a person, I'm not obsessed by a qualification nor by a religious side to the formalization. Sexuality is part of life. It is the strength of music, to be able to talk about this in every country. Are you worried about Lebanon, about this part of the world you're attached to, after the recent events? Yes. I'm afraid it will get worse, that 2013 will be a year of disaster.

Here are some of my pics from Paris And the rest here http://s1300.beta.photobucket.com/user/camille_427/library/Mika%20Paris%2013-11-2012

I can't thank you enough for this!! This is perfect thank you so so much.

As hard as it was to wait for the new album, to me it seems perfectly normal to have a few years gap between 2 albums. Compared to a lot of artists it wasn't even that long. I know that most French artists take 2 or 3 years to release new material and I think it's the same with bands such as Coldplay or Muse. I think I don't expect Mika to act as a popstar and release something new every 2 months like let's say Rihanna or Katy Perry (and not always of very good quality). I see him as all the other artists who just take time off stage to think, write and create

Last time I read something about it, I learnt it was cancelled due to his busy schedule. It was posted on the Futuroscope forum by administrators if I remember well.

I read about this in Melgine's report yesterday and was surprised that it wasn't much talked about yet.. Well I think he might have meant no tour in France in 2013 too. That would kind of make sense to be honest, so that he can take time to go to Asia, South America or any other part of the world he has mentioned before. And he would do a few French festivals this Summer. But... at the same time, he says it's to go back to the studio... So that's confusing. And I believe he has already said once during his French promo in September that he clearly wouldn't leave so much time to release a new album. Now I need to remember where that was exactly.

Merci Virginie! Loved your report with all the details (And no tour in 2013... didn't expect that) Hmm I think I read something last Summer about it being cancelled... I need to look for it again

I'm sure I will try to keep this short and will end up writing a long report once again... Oh well nevermind... So. This gig. I arrived at 2.30pm at the venue after a morning at work and a train journey. I was a bit worried about how many people I would find in the queue already but at the same time my expectations were not too high as initially I wasn't even supposed to have my afternoon off and would have arrived in the evening. I only organised my trip a few days before. Well I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived because there was the same number of people at 2.30 than at 10.30 at the Brussels gig! I was second row with a nice view in Brussels so I knew this could only be good. Queuing wasn't too long for me then and I met again some French friends and also met Jieun, a French speaking Korean girl. When the doors opened we realised they were opening several doors instead of only one where the numbered queue would have entered. Luckily I was in front of that second door. So when we were let in I even had the choice to be front row at the sides or second row right in the middle. I chose the latter and I absolutely don't regret it. Ok my story is already way to long and I haven't talked about the gig! Just before the gig one of the roadies told Nina who was beside me that we would get a surprise start. But at the same time we could see the lyrics for Un Soleil Mal Luné on stage.. And in fact it was a different intro to the gig, more dramatic (it sounded like the Latin part in OOL) and then it started with Un Soleil Mal Luné Mika was amazing. I think he was really happy. He seemed to enjoy himself and to be very sincere when talking. Some main points : the balloons on OOL and confetti on Celebrate were great! It can seem 'dull' just hearing about it in a report but I really enjoy it at the shows. I think the crowd was great, I tried to look up at the balcony a few times and people seemed to move a lot too. We were reactive to what Mika was doing and vice versa which is just the best at a gig I think. On LYWID, Mika did the same as in Brussels when we had to imitate a girl's gesture. This time it was funnier before the song because there were some crazy funny moves and Mika was doing them on stage with such... energy shall I say We ended up doing the same move as in Brussels on the song though, and a girl went on stage again to film this Mika was in a whistling mood a lot of times, we had an epic start of SITM with this, and also on Popular. Too bad apparently a lot of people (including me) can't whistle because that was fun. As said before we sang the song from Snow White too I think because of this whistling. Before Stardust he explained that this venue was dangerous for him because he could hear what everybody in the front rows was saying. He said he wakes up at 2pm during the tour and it is a surreal life, and that he can't see the daylight. At one point he also said it will be a long time before he performs in Paris again () and that he will truly miss it. Before Karen he said he had forgotten to dedicate it to the real Karen before so he dedicated it after shortly explaining the story. After he introduced the band I don't really know what happened but he noticed Venezuelian girls in the front row and told them 'I guess you're pissed to be in the corner' so he made them come up on stage. I was still with the Korean girl so we said she's from Korea, Mika heard and helped her go on stage too Then he said he will sing a song for the first time, I was thinking about Heroes because there was a part of the set with a soldier on it, and it happened! He sang it. I started filming and I stopped right in the middle because I was enjoying too much The chorus is very intense! During EMD out of nowhere he started sitting down on the edge of the stage, and because he kind of pushed the people in front of me to get some space I literally had him singing in front of me and the Korean fan I will never forget this! It wasn't long, maybe the first verse, but so unexpected, I loved it! Otherwise the rest of the songs were just great, I loved Love Today with Max struggling to stand on the piano , Lola was fun with all the clapping and Underwater was really beautiful with the whole audience singing along and Mika looked particularly happy then After the gig we waited outside, Mika came out and it wasn't organised as I have seen in Roubaix (BTW there were more people in Roubaix than in Paris, how crazy is that) but not half as messy as it was in Brussels. He was kind of mobbed but at the same time it was not too hard to get closer to him. So I got an autograph. Maybe one day I'll manage to tell him something To finish this day on a nice note (very nice even), when I went back to my hotel I turned the radio on and heard UW for the first time! So I had been dreaming about seeing Mika in Paris since I've been a fan and now it happened and I am so not disappointed. It was better than I could have imagined. I don't even have post gig depression (yet anyway) because I'm so so happy with this gig. When I read the few reports here I can see that many people felt the same and it makes it even more special Now Mika please, announce some dates for 2013

For me this song is the most beautiful one out of the 3 French songs (EMD is too different so I won't include it) exactly because it's the best of the French language that we can hear in there (with Mika's soft voice in addition ) It's nice to know that non native speakers also appreciate this special sound. As for Mika being French, I've had an example of French people still thinking Mika is French in the queue for the gig on Tuesday, the Korean girl who I was queuing with told me her French teacher thought he's French. It doesn't surprise me that much because Mika is indeed bilingual but still; are they not interested at all to not even know where he's from...

Before I write a report (hopefully tonight), here are my 3 videos from this gig: [YOUTUBE]Cfe4YF3QswQ[/YOUTUBE] [YOUTUBE]KGeMebj1MRA[/YOUTUBE] [YOUTUBE]LBUW7ovFFjM[/YOUTUBE]

The gig was incredibly amazing!! Right now I can't even describe it... I loved everything about it, and yes hearing Heroes for the first time is one of the reasons for it! And also that he sat down at the edge of the stage to sing EMD right in front of me It was so crazy that he let people from far abroad come on stage

'There are no replies to show' in this thread?! Well I suppose most people posted in the thread for the first gig... Anyway... I can't wait for tomorrow, Mika in Paris, a dream come true

Label Barclay has been tweeting about what is going on in Paris Last pic :

This is the gig I attended in September. Such a magical night I'm waiting for the DVD just as if I was going to go to the gig again, that is to say like that:

Bienvenue Elodie! Hope you'll enjoy your time here with us (Fan de la Cité de la Peur? )