Mika
Life In Cartoon Motion

I write these lines with a bit of resentment… My fault, I know, my fault because I let myself be carried away by an almost childlike enthusiasm in the face of the miracle of "Grace Kelly," the magnificent single that is currently all over every radio station and TV channel. It's not every day that a song stands out in the perpetual flow of overly predictable notes that the entertainment industry feeds us daily, and so, my fault, I became an immediate fan of Mika, the twenty-three-year-old of Lebanese origin who is supposed to resurrect pop!

Resentment, I said… Yes, because listening to this "Life In Cartoon Motion" has been a cold shower, lukewarm to be generous.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it's bad music, quite the opposite: the album sounds like a good product of cheerful and absolutely non-boring pop, well sung, well played, well written.
But, precisely, there's the suspicion that it's a product... And it's a feeling that, from the second track onward, returns intermittently among some actual good ideas, far too many times.

The recipe is good, but if in cooking highlighting the flavor of the various ingredients is a virtue, with music the result varies…

- A generous handful of Scissor Sisters to please the Americans, usually so hostile towards English products: so talented well-placed falsettos ("Love Today"), disco-revival attitude (the base of "Relax, Take It Easy" is a "citation" of "Died In Your Arms" by Cutting Crew) and, why not, some blatant imitation (the piano riff of "Stuck In The Middle" is really too similar to one of the early hits of the New York colleagues, a certain "Laura").

- A teaspoon of vintage Robbie Williams (in the ballad "My Interpretation") and a teaspoon of new Robbie Williams (in the rudeboxian "Big Girl").

- To emphasize the British flavor (and maybe become Sir Mika) let's dare a pinch of Beatles ("Billy Brown") and a general pass in the style of Elton John.

- All of this, mandatory to be considered a genius, sprinkled with a "near-overdose" of Freddie Mercury-style vocal games (practically everywhere).

Probably this young singer will sell so many copies that he won't have to worry about repeating the effort with a second album (one year it's Andreas Johnson, one year it's James Blunt), no harm in that of course. If you also think about the imminent return of Britney Spears, it feels natural to elevate Mika to a great musician, but... alas... no revolution underway...

It's just the usual music!