Life in Cartoon Motion
A few years ago I was turned on to Mika by a close friend, and I've been obsessed ever since. I wanted to review an album by someone totally obscure and cool but in the back of my mind I kept thinking about Mika. The best music is the music that just makes you feel genuinely AMAZING, and that's exactly what Mika does, every time. So I figured I'd review a bit of his first album. "Life in Cartoon Motion" is quintessential Mika and my favorite out of his two albums (the other being "The Boy Who Knew Too Much").
Mika has been fairly "big" in Europe for awhile now and is beginning to capture the U.S. (I'm just waiting for everyone to realize how amazing he is). He's from London and debuted his first album in 2007. His music's hard to define for me, being a person who recoils at the word "pop". I guess I would describe it as alternative pop. Wikipedia describes him as several things, including pop rock and glam rock. Some of his songs are definitely more "pop-y" than others, but both of his albums definitely have a great range of songs. There are very upbeat songs like "Lollipop", "Love Today", "Relax, Take It Easy", and "Ring Ring". Then there are some more somber and comparatively chill songs like "My Interpretation", "Any Other World", and "Over My Shoulder". Then there are the songs that seem to tell a story such as "Billy Brown". All, of course, featuring Mika's trademark falsetto. Mika is often compared to Freddie Mercury (which I find to be the ULTIMATE compliment).
Another thing that makes Mika's songs unique are the short bits of dialogue at the beginnings and ends of a lot of his songs, particularly "Ring Ring" where a woman with a thick accent tells her story for the last 45 seconds of the song. The song also features a phone ringing at the beginning. This is just an example of the little unique, creative things Mika does. Everything he does makes me melt, I can't tell you enough, you just really have to listen. The song "Over my Shoulder" makes me hold my breath every time I hear it, it's absolutely beautiful.
This is the music video for "We are Golden", which is on his second album, but it's the video that really made me fall in love with him, and I hope you do too. (Don't be scared off by his half nakedness)
Cheers!
Gianna
Great success! You found something I knew nothing about...I probably shouldn't know anything about it? Right? I could have lived a full life w/o having seen that video. Lol.
ReplyDeleteVery positive. Very poppy. Mika himself seems a bit old for this song.
Sigh, I know, I know, Mika is not for everyone. But I think your life is a lot better from having seen the video, just saying. There's something about him that makes me love him. Mika was about 25 when he made this video, so I guess you could call him too old for the song but we're all little kids (if not awkward teenagers) inside, aren't we?
ReplyDeleteWell...maybe.
ReplyDelete