Tom: His third album did… OK, I guess? Number 1 in France, but only number 24 on the UK charts. And partly this is due to it being a calmer, more stripped-down Mika, with less of the flamboyance that everyone remember from, well, that one big song he had.
It was with a bit of surprise that I stumbled across this single, released earlier this year. And here’s the odd thing: it’s not off the album.
Tim: Okay…
Tom: So here’s the history: start with one or two lines from a song from the musical Wicked. Write a whole new track around it; then sing the choruses and mostly-speak the verses with the woman who wrote Little Mix’s “DNA”, among many others.
The trouble is, that track isn’t really a big radio winner. It’s not bad, but it ain’t going to get airplay. The solution: throw out the songwriter, get a Nickelodeon pop starlet to sing with you instead, and go back to first-album Mika syrupy-sweetness.
Tim: Ooh, and speed it up a bit. That helps a lot. And your thoughts on this version?
Tom: I CANNOT GET THIS OUT OF MY HEAD.
Tim: Ah.
Tom: It’s a brilliant pop song. The return for that final chorus is just glorious.
Tim: It really is – it could come straight off the first album, with the happy pop attitude that was so prominent. (And back then in general, now I think about it, with Alphabeat around as well. Why isn’t pop so happy any more?)
Tom: So the question is: this could clearly sell a heck of a lot more records that Mika’s recent, less poppy style. I wonder how much of a battle is going on behind the scenes between the man making the music and the suits selling singles?
Tim: Ah, artistic integrity. Awful stuff. Just, make the tracks that sell, and that people like, and be done with it.