Island
Pop, 2007

Now this is an interesting fellow. It’s hard to describe Mika’s music because it’s an eclectic and even eccentric mix of high-pitched falsetto, a theatrical tenor reminiscent of Freddie Mercury, and various feel-good summer anthems. It’s like Jason Mraz on a Bee Gees high after listening to too much Queen. In other words, this is an often kooky and unpredictable bubble gum music at its finest.

From channeling the duet of Freddie Mercury and Barry Gibb that was never made in the ridiculously infectious new anthem for Sesame Street that is Lollipop to the delightful and comparatively mellow My Interpretation, this fellow is like an adorable performing monkey putting on a manic show to remember. This collection of tunes can sometimes get too cheesy for my liking, such as during the Eurovision hell that is Relax (Take It Easy) and the bonus track Ring Ring, but on the whole this is one happy and not always lucid acid trip vision of a pop album. I adore, adore this one.

The best track is easily the theatrical Happy Ending that, I feel, captures the whole feel of this album perfectly. It’s grandstanding at its most obvious and finest, complete with adorable female guest vocals and Mika sounding his most adorably earnest and heartbroken. This song takes advantage of his falsetto perfectly. Oh, and did I say that he looks so easy on the eyes in the music video?

Kinda like an alien Jason Mraz in a big pink teddy bear costume coming down from wherever planet he hailed from to capture the hearts and souls of journal-keeping dreamy little girls everyone, Mika has me feeling like a young girl and getting ridiculously infatuated with pretty boy pop artists all over again. I believe I should be embarrassed by this reaction, but what the heck, it’s pop music and I’m allowed to behave like this. So…