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The arrival of Mika

greta

By greta
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lilmot

lilmot

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"I'm making absolutely no adjustments whatsoever and I'm spending an insane amount of money on the tour. I really couldn't give a f--- because that's what it's all about," he laughs, proclaiming the show "completely big and fantastical. I have a responsibility to bring the same thing over and not compromise or be cheap about it, or otherwise it would be a disappointment."

"I hate the word `over-the-top.' Nothing's ever over-the-top. There's just magic creating another world, and I think I have a responsibility with this show to do that because it's all based on that."

 

 

OMG, he is really going to be here and I am really going to see his concert (if I don't die before then). Just reading this makes it seem more real. Maybe I better not think about it... it could be dangerous to my old old heart.

Thanks, Greta, for posting, it is a nice article.

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lilmot

lilmot

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Which show are you going to?

 

Seattle and I also have tickets to Vancouver, so most likely both (well, if I'm still alive etc etc etc) Since he didn't come to this part of the US last time I thought maybe he never would and it would be twenty years before I finally saw one of his concerts. Now, it seems unbelieveably close.... (but not as close as the Montreal and Toronto dates hehe)

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avoca

avoca

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His hit album made him Britain's biggest pop star last year. Now Mika brings his outsized, confetti-strewn concert to Toronto

 

January 26, 2008

Ben Rayner

Pop Music Critic

 

If Life in Cartoon Motion is, as Mika claims, his "schoolyard album," then the next should probably be his "last laugh at the schoolyard album."

Like many a confident pop peacock before him, the Lebanese-born Londoner responsible for last year's inescapable hit, "Grace Kelly," had a decidedly rougher time of it back in the playground days. His school years in Paris and London's South Kensington neighbourhood saw him "bullied to the death," he recently told British newspaper The Times, to the point he suffered a "complete breakdown" before he'd even hit his teenage years.

Now, at 24, the operatically inclined, decidedly sexually ambiguous singer, pianist and songwriter born Mica Penniman has spun gold – nay, platinum – from the very same fantasy world of DayGlo doodles and theatrical music in which he sought escape during his childhood. His unapologetically garish debut album, Life in Cartoon Motion, has moved 4.5 million copies worldwide since its release last February, effectively making him the biggest British pop star of 2007.

It's been a meteoric rise to stardom, then. But Mika assures us he's the last person anyone will hear bemoaning the agonies of fame.

"Although I'm not like most other people who do this pop thing, I am fully aware I'm a pop musician and that I always wanted to be a pop star and that I always wanted to do this job. I wanted to make a pop record that came from a real place, that came from songwriting and that was true to myself, and I'm very comfortable with that," he says, kicking back in his London flat after a week-long vacation at a "totally ridiculous" hotel on a private South American island.

"I'm not necessarily tabloid fodder. I'm extremely private. The one thing I respect more than anything else is my privacy, and if that means I lose a few inches on the tabloid columns, it's fine by me."

The past year's whirlwind, he says, has kept him far too busy to succumb to "the madness and cliché" that often comes with sudden stardom, anyway. Indeed, Mika has been on the road steadily since the end of 2006, and will only wind touring chores for Life in Cartoon Motion down after the brief North American tour that brings him to Kool Haus on Tuesday night and an appearance on the Brit Awards – where he's up for Best Male Solo Artist and Best Album, among other nominations – next month.

"Quite frankly, the whole experience has been defined by 2007 being the year when I really learned what it was like to be on the road and to tour and to do gigs night after night with a day off between every three days, and to just travel around the world, literally working for your supper, getting sick all the time and having to deal with it," he says. "I've been touring now for about a year and a half, and that time has really been defined by the gigs.

"There are perks y'know ... I know now I can do shows in almost any country. Some of them will obviously be bigger than others, but I know I can do a show, whether it's to 500 people or 15,000. It's quite an incredible situation to be in."

A situation largely of Mika's own making, too, as he's the rare contemporary pop star of his stature and global reach who can take complete credit for his own art.

This eases the pressure of crafting a worthy follow-up to Life in Cartoon Motion somewhat, since, "I don't have that idiot syndrome of having to rebel against my first album because it was someone else's work," he says. Besides, he was already writing and demo-ing songs for the second album while he was recording the first, so the prospects of creative exhaustion saddling him with the dreaded "sophomore jinx" seem slim.

He's musing about doing an acoustic tour at some point. But for now, one gets the impression his more immodest ambitions will win out. Those same ambitions, by the way, mean audiences who take in the Canadian and U.S. dates on his latest tour will still be getting the ridiculous, confetti-splattered production Mika takes to much larger crowds across the Atlantic.

"I'm making absolutely no adjustments whatsoever and I'm spending an insane amount of money on the tour. I really couldn't give a f--- because that's what it's all about," he laughs, proclaiming the show "completely big and fantastical. I have a responsibility to bring the same thing over and not compromise or be cheap about it, or otherwise it would be a disappointment.

"I hate the word `over-the-top.' Nothing's ever over-the-top. There's just magic creating another world, and I think I have a responsibility with this show to do that because it's all based on that."

 

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/297225

 

 

 

ahaha he found {for real} an island off the coast of Mexico?! ^^

 

thx, greta. :wink2:

 

 

if there's a peacock here, it's not mika.. :mf_rosetinted:

 

acoustic tour..? :mf_lustslow: yes, pls... :wub2:

 

the reviewer is really "friendly" to mika, eh..? :mf_rosetinted: bless him... not :mf_rosetinted:

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Gatagordinha

Gatagordinha

Posted
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Nice article, thanks greta for posting.

 

I agree an acoustic tour would be fantastic, but he is only 'musing' (according to the journalist) on doing it, at some point - which is rather vague. I don't think we should get our hopes up too high! :naughty:

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Christine

Christine

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Now, it seems unbelieveably close.... (but not as close as the Montreal and Toronto dates hehe)

 

It will be here before you know it! And you won't faint dead away, I promise.

 

I agree an acoustic tour would be fantastic, but he is only 'musing' (according to the journalist) on doing it, at some point - which is rather vague. I don't think we should get our hopes up too high! :naughty:

 

Yes, he's going to start playing stadiums in July. It seems unlikely that a lengthy acoustic tour is in the offing. Fans think in terms of what Mika's doing next month, he's probably thinking in terms of possibilities for the next 5 or 10 years.

 

Since even Mika doesn't know what twists and turns his career is going to take it's all just musing at this point.

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avoca

avoca

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It will be here before you know it! And you won't faint dead away, I promise.

 

 

 

Yes, he's going to start playing stadiums in July. It seems unlikely that a lengthy acoustic tour is in the offing. Fans think in terms of what Mika's doing next month, he's probably thinking in terms of possibilities for the next 5 or 10 years.

 

Since even Mika doesn't know what twists and turns his career is going to take it's all just musing at this point.

 

tell ya, he's playing in a stadium in july.. but it's one gig.

his venues are bigger and bigger. the london venues are huge,the ones in italy and many others, were huge. so that's NOT a novelty for europe. his really small gigs are few and selected now.

but the parc the princes things is a special occasion (1 big gig instead of many small) and it's NOT a coincidence it's paris.. he'd not do a stadium in any other city right now, the way i see it. :wink2:

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Christine

Christine

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he'd not do a stadium in any other city right now, the way i see it. :wink2:

 

True, but I'm sure he's going to start playing arenas in other places if he's doing it in Montréal. He's far more popular in the UK and France than anywhere in North America.

 

It would be a pretty odd choice to do an acoustic tour when he's moving into arenas and releasing his second album.

 

My guess is this topic only came up in the context of the interviewer asking if he was going to scale back his European show for the smaller N. American venues.

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-Jennie-

-Jennie-

Posted
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An acoustic tour would be nice!

 

And he did say something on Monday about being on holiday, something like still thinking they were on the beach or something, I can't quite remember.

 

Yeah he said something about being on a beach for the last week or something...

 

I'd love an acoustic tour! (As long as the venues were nice and small again?) It was nice to see a different kind of performance on Monday with it all being acoustic :thumb_yello:

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Lollipop_Dealer

Lollipop_Dealer

Posted
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Oh My God!!! He went to a private South American island?!?! :blink::jawdrop:

I'm having a heart attack!!

He should come to Argentina to rest in here! It's a really nice place to rest!! Actually, my house is the best place to rest! Haha, I'm kidding.

Mika, too bad that you don't came here to visit us! Next time tell us and we'll go there to visit you! lol

 

 

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Aaurora

Aaurora

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"There are perks y'know ... I know now I can do shows in almost any country. Some of them will obviously be bigger than others, but I know I can do a show, whether it's to 500 people or 15,000. It's quite an incredible situation to be in."

 

I bet you can't do one in Australia :mf_rosetinted:

 

Oh, you can?? Prove it :mf_rosetinted::mf_rosetinted:

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