Review of The Boy Who Knew Too Much Album by Mika

Review of Mika' s album The Boy Who Knew Too Much

Mika The Boy Who Knew Too Much Album

A lot of artists fear being forgotten when they prepare a comeback with their sophomore album, even if they've had a fair degree of success the first time around, they can always find themselves surplus to requirements when returning. Mika however is in no danger of that happening anytime soon. His big voice and big hair as well as his massive selling single Grace Kelly, means that he's still very much ingrained on the average pop fans ever lapsing conscience.

One listen of album opener and single We Are Golden and it's pretty clear that Mika will be dominating the commercial radio airwaves for some time to come. It follows the same blueprint as Big Girls (you are beautiful) with its anthemic chorus and self help lyrics of 'we are not what you think we are, we are golden'. He even brings in a choir at one point that sounds like a mixture of children and adults alike, perhaps mirroring his own sprawling fan base while doing so.

The sound and style of the tracks on this album contrast with each other as much as the colours on the albums multi-coloured artwork. Michael Jackson esque power ballad I See You with its flowing minor piano keys and self deprecating lyrics of 'You don't see me at all but I see you' are soon washed over by a wave of hand drumming and Caribbean sounding guitar plucking in the form of charming sing-along Blue Eyes.

What follows in the shape of Good gone girl is the heavy helping of theatre school charisma that we saw on smash hit Grace Kelly. With a fast tempo and upbeat vocals we basically find Mica trying and failing to recreate that particular hit to no avail. A quick redemption however soon arrives with the energetic Touches You, which contains more than a hint of George Michael song writing style as well as vocal delivery. Containing a chorus that's designed to stick in your head for days on end it proves to be the albums strongest track and a sure fire number 1 for the near future.

It would be criminal not to mention the repulsive Toy Boy though. If you thought the title was bad then be warned, the song itself is even worse. Remember that song Big Big World by Emilia? Well imagine that mixed with Lilly Allen's Alfie only 10 times worse and you've found yourself at the frightening door of Mika's Toy boy. Truly rancid.

One thing that's obvious after listening to The Boy Who Knew Too Much, is that Mika hasn't changed the winning formula that he successfully used to spike the drinks of the public on debut album Life In Cartoon Motion. The same wacky stage school antics remain in the form of his many outlandish brash pop songs as do the odd flowery ballads here or there, but who can blame him for not changing what worked so well the first time around?

Sam Marland


Official Site - http://www.mikasounds.com

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