Edward Paul ChiaSo it was a pleasure to review Mika’s debut pop album- Life in Cartoon Motion, which has since hit #1 on the UK album charts following its release there on Feb 27. The album which was released here on Mar 27, has sie seen the song “Grace Kelly” gain popularity on both Power 98 and Perfect10’s countdown charts.
And Mika does come highly rated; after all, if you came out tops of BBC News’ Sound of 2007 Poll, you should be pretty good right?
He also isn’t the average run-of-the-mill pop star with a decent voice, good looks but pretty much lacking in the brains department. In fact, Mika has much better credentials than them.
According to Wikipedia, Mika was trained by a Russian opera professional and has held music-centric jobs which vary from “classical performances in the Royal Opera House, writing in-flight music for British Airways and creating an Orbit Chewing Gum jingle”.
Plus, a friend of mine who is a great fan of both the legendary British Rock band Queen
and Mika likened Mika’s vocal capacities to Queen’s former front man, the late rock legend Freddy Mercury (coincidentally, both Britons are not born in Britain). And I have to admit, Mika seems to possess the ability to switch from his normal singing voice to a falsetto effortlessly, which is something that only a great singer like Mercury was able to do.
Life in Cartoon Motion is lively and fresh with the music seemingly coming together to justify the album title.
As a bonus, the album cover, designed by his sister, Yasmine, matches the title, with its bright cartoon like patterns. Call it a minor detail but it brings about good cheer and interest to an album that in some ways reflects Mika’s various musical influences.
Musically speaking, the entire album shows Mika’s wide vocal range, stretching from ballads like “My Interpretation” to a techno-like number in “Relax (Take it easy)”.
Songs like “Grace Kelly” which have since become a UK#1 singles hit and “Love Today” are infectious with their lively tempo and energy, and deserve to be hits with fans of mainstream pop music.
“Billy Brown”, on the other hand, is an interesting piece about a married man engaging in a homosexual affair. And it’s in this number that Mika defines his ability as a musician. While the song doesn’t contain as much energy as his others, its lyrics provokes one to think about society’s prejudice against homosexuality.
Overall, the album is an interesting piece of work. Mika’s Life in Cartoon Motion certainly breathes a breath of fresh air to an industry that is already overflowing with songs that seemed to be churned out of a conveyor belt. In short, it ranks highly among my list of “Must Have Albums” for 2007.
Now it’s back to TV land for me, until I hear a great song on “The Dance Floor” to review that is, or perhaps if Sanjaya from American Idol somehow manages to record an album (If William Hung can do it, why can’t he?).
UrbanWire gives Life in Cartoon Motion4 out of 5 stars.