Let's talk about Mika - BBC's sound of 2007

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6230415.stm

SOUND OF 2007 TOP 10

1. Mika
2. The Twang (above)
3. Klaxons
4. Sadie Ama
5. Enter Shikari
6. Air Traffic
7. Cold War Kids
8. Just Jack
9. Ghosts
10. The Rumble Strips

Flamboyant pop singer-songwriter Mika has been named the best new talent in the BBC's Sound of 2007 music poll.
The Beirut-born, London-based 23-year-old has been compared to the Scissor Sisters and Freddie Mercury.

More than 130 UK-based music critics and broadcasters took part in the poll by naming their favourite new acts.

Birmingham rock band The Twang were second, with "new rave" group the Klaxons third. Corinne Bailey Rae came top of last year's Sound of 2006 list.

The BBC News website's new music survey is now in its fifth year. Rapper 50 Cent, Keane and The Bravery have been among previous winners.

Razorlight, the Scissor Sisters, The Feeling, the Kaiser Chiefs and KT Tunstall are among the others that have appeared on past Sound of... lists before making it big.

Mika's debut single Grace Kelly has already received heavy radio airplay and is currently the most frequently played song on BBC Radio 2.

He said he was "thrilled" at his position on the Sound of 2007 list.

"It means a lot, especially if you look at the people who have won in the past five years. It's great company to be in," he said.

"I've got a long way to go and I've got a lot to achieve. Musically, I've got a lot of room to grow. I see this as the first stage."

He asked the public to give him a chance and not judge him too quickly.

"I really want people to know me, to find out about me, and if they really like me, to stick with me," he said.

"Hype is scary. This is a lot of hype, I'm aware of that. But anyone who's a writer really wants longevity."

Radio 2's head of music, Colin Martin, praised Mika for being "infectious, immediate and melodic".

"Every so often an artist comes along with hit written all over them and 2007 looks like being Mika's year," he said.

Alison Howe, producer of influential TV show Later... with Jools Holland, said he was "a natural pop star with style, personality and great pop songs in spades".

And Q magazine editor Paul Rees said: "He looks the part and his songs suggest what would have happened had Queen cross-bred with the Scissor Sisters."

Below Mika on the list, The Twang have been called "Britain's best new band" by the NME, while the Klaxons incorporate infectious leftfield guitar pop with rave attitude and imagery.

R&B singer Sadie Ama, sister of 1990s soul star Shola Ama, is at fourth, with Enter Shikari - a band who mix hardcore rock and trance - in fifth place.

The poll was complied by asking the UK's most knowledgeable and influential tipsters to name their favourite three new acts.

The responses were weighted to take account of each pundit's stature, genre and record in previous polls, as well as the order in which they ranked their tips, with the results compiled into a top 10.

Artists were not eligible if they had already had a top 20 single or album in the UK, or if they were already famous for any reason.

― danzig (danzig), Friday, 5 January 2007 07:48 (eighteen years ago)

"Grace Kelly" is overtheatrical dirge, but "Relax, Take It Easy" has been burning up the clubs in Europe for a while now - and it's fantastic.

― danzig (danzig), Friday, 5 January 2007 07:52 (eighteen years ago)

"Flamboyant"

― StanM (StanM), Friday, 5 January 2007 08:47 (eighteen years ago)

(is there a similar euphemism for straight?)

― StanM (StanM), Friday, 5 January 2007 08:50 (eighteen years ago)

We need less flamboyance in music and more substance.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 5 January 2007 08:54 (eighteen years ago)

Just Jack, that most reliable of MVE/charity shop staples. Has the record company staving off liquidation then?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 5 January 2007 08:55 (eighteen years ago)

I had a listen on his website. yuck.

― el juan (el juan), Friday, 5 January 2007 09:06 (eighteen years ago)

Touchingly, in their top tips for 2007, the Grauniad are still under the impression that Art Brut will one day make ~~a decent record~~ it big.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 5 January 2007 09:09 (eighteen years ago)

It's equally touching that Lex got to write about TTC, but I think the chances of them doing anything above the radar in 2007 is pretty slim.

Ghosts used to be a band called Polanski, my friend put out two of their actually-not-bad singles to complete indifference

― Feargal Hixxy (DJ Mencap), Friday, 5 January 2007 09:48 (eighteen years ago)

eh, i think ttc can do a cansei de ser sexy or the knife or something. this is not chart-stormingly big but then i don't think mika will be either and it would be boring to write about leona x factor.

i really like the sadie ama single, though not as much as some of her r&g stuff; she has a great voice though, hope she puts it to good use.

i will track down mika but nothing i've read about him enthuses me particularly.

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Friday, 5 January 2007 09:56 (eighteen years ago)

When first I heard of Mika it really was a case of head in hands and "FFS, do we have to go through all this AGAIN?"

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 5 January 2007 10:04 (eighteen years ago)

You remember Stars In Their Eyes: Kids Special? Remember the nine year old who *did* Jake Shears? That's what Mika reminds me of.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 5 January 2007 10:05 (eighteen years ago)

oh now i think mika will be big then, and i am even less interested in him! oh well at least he's not wimpy bloodless swedish gaypop eh?

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Friday, 5 January 2007 10:07 (eighteen years ago)

I have a feeling Mika will be massive, considering Grace Kelly is possibly the most blatant Freddy Mercury Xerox I have ever heard.

pay attention, hip gunslinging French teachers

Lex did you really write this?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 5 January 2007 10:18 (eighteen years ago)

aaargh i loathe freddie mercury!!!!!!

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Friday, 5 January 2007 10:23 (eighteen years ago)

Charitably I would ascribe the hip gunslingers to a clumsy editorial modification, unless Lex admits differently.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 5 January 2007 10:25 (eighteen years ago)

the truth is i wrote it ages ago and can't remember! doesn't bother me though, not as much as my sparkle/r kelly recommendation in the playlist being ascribed to someone else!

seriously though WATCH THIS VIDEO

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Friday, 5 January 2007 10:31 (eighteen years ago)

If you were writing charitably about TTC I would have assumed you wrote it ages ago. Like 2003.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 5 January 2007 10:32 (eighteen years ago)

The Twang (above)

They really should be called that.

― StanM (StanM), Friday, 5 January 2007 10:36 (eighteen years ago)

"I really want longevity. The UK is an amazing atmosphere for pop at the moment - by that I mean anything from Razorlight to KT Tunstall, anything that's popular. It's so full of artistry and innocence."

His single just sounds like Freddie doing 'Got To Get You Into My Life'. I'm not sure what void it's filling but it's not, like, hateful

― Feargal Hixxy (DJ Mencap), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:18 (eighteen years ago)

artistry innocence kt tunstall razorlight pop lolz

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:23 (eighteen years ago)

If his single sounded like Freddie Garrity doing "Got To Get You Into My Life" then it might have been better.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:31 (eighteen years ago)

If his single sounded like Fred Truman doing "Bring Me To Life" etc etc etc

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:37 (eighteen years ago)

The UK is an amazing atmosphere for pop at the moment

i actually think uk pop is the worst it's been in, like, my ENTIRE LIFE. (not that this matters ONE JOT because foreign - mostly american - pop has been superlative)

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:38 (eighteen years ago)

If his single sounded like Fred West doing "Let's Think About Living" &c &d &e

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:43 (eighteen years ago)

NO british albums in my top 20 of 06! (alex smoke and skream bobbing around just outside it though)

three british singles in my top 20 - scritti politti (15), rex the dog (19, is he british even?), amy winehouse (20)

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:45 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, UK pop at the moment pretty much flat-out sucks. Last pop record that made me stand up was Switch It On by Will Young. Razorlight? KT Tunstall? Claw my fucking eyes out.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:48 (eighteen years ago)

so WHY do people continue to trumpet british pop???

the trouble is the answer is OBVIOUS - better access to artists for the media.

my top 10 singles of last year = entirely american and german.

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:50 (eighteen years ago)

The idea of anyone citing Razorlight as a shining example of the 'innocence' of pop music is blowing my mind

― Feargal Hixxy (DJ Mencap), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:57 (eighteen years ago)

Just realised my favourite British Actual Pop song of last year actually was either of Jamelia's singles (like #80 on my list). This assuming Lily Allen doesn't count for whatever reason people can come up with today and the Pet Shop Boys don't count because they are old men.

― reverto levidensis (blueski), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:57 (eighteen years ago)

i'm actually talking 'pop' as in all pop music!

lily allen and psb didn't make my list because everything they released in 06 was AWFUL. jamelia merely mediocre.

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:58 (eighteen years ago)

Lily Allen I like in a very, very passive way. She's got a few nice hooks.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:58 (eighteen years ago)

Razorshite, Kate E Turnstile, Paolo Nutbag etc. are rock pretending to be pop.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:59 (eighteen years ago)

marcello - i completely agree, but people always shout me down whenever i say that about eg britpop

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:01 (eighteen years ago)

NO british albums in my top 20 of 06! (alex smoke and skream bobbing around just outside it though)

Hi dere Martian Macpherson.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:01 (eighteen years ago)

haha i thought that as i pressed submit :(

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:03 (eighteen years ago)

better than MATTY JAGGER THE MUSLIM FOETUS though eh

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:04 (eighteen years ago)

i'm actually talking 'pop' as in all pop music!

in that case the Hot Chip singles and Akala's 'Shakespeare' would be my faves (tho the latter cheats by sampling German trance-pop ha). favourite British album of last year probably 'The Warning', which is only a C+ really.

either way, definitely a big lull

― reverto levidensis (blueski), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:05 (eighteen years ago)

British pop singles don't *need* to be good right now though from a business standpoint because albums are selling in big numbers, plus the live scene is selling nuff tickets.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:06 (eighteen years ago)

Are albums still selling in big numbers though?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:07 (eighteen years ago)

british albums are shit too!

i like hot chip, but they're so much better remixed.

i think the only british pop artist i have any enthusiasm about for what she is, is amy winehouse.

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:08 (eighteen years ago)

Are albums still selling in big numbers though?

Year on year album sales are stable, but much more British albums are selling over American albums now.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:12 (eighteen years ago)

Amy Winegum isn't pop either. She's just the 21st-century Carmel (ask your dad).

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:13 (eighteen years ago)

whether she's pop or not, she's good

i am getting into old music now, i am going to acquire the entire mary j blige back catalogue (the ones i don't already have) off amazon marketplace this month

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:14 (eighteen years ago)

janet jackson too maybe

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:14 (eighteen years ago)

I agree, even the new Sophie Ellis Bextor single is shockingly mediocre - and she's had 4 years to prepare it.

― danzig (danzig), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:14 (eighteen years ago)

New SEB sounds very Australian.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:17 (eighteen years ago)

In a Birthday Party "Sonny's Burning" way or a Stefan Dennis "Don't It Make You Feel Good" way?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:19 (eighteen years ago)

Angry Anderson I hope

― Feargal Hixxy (DJ Mencap), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:24 (eighteen years ago)

these BBC Sound polls are always useless

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:27 (eighteen years ago)

Skipping 56 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

haha miss piggy

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 11 June 2007 09:22 (seventeen years ago)

i like the two mika songs i have heard.

there.

― Alan, Monday, 11 June 2007 09:50 (seventeen years ago)

I think he is a vile creep.

― Ronan, Monday, 11 June 2007 10:25 (seventeen years ago)

figures. i like music by too many vile creeps for it not to be a pattern!

nb on hols i heard a gary glitter song being used in an advert. marvellous.

― Alan, Monday, 11 June 2007 10:43 (seventeen years ago)

we're almost halfway through the year and I have heard of three of the BBC's sound of 2007's ten

anyone top that?

― RJG, Monday, 11 June 2007 10:50 (seventeen years ago)

Ditto

― Tom D., Monday, 11 June 2007 10:55 (seventeen years ago)

I've heard all except Sadia Ama. I assume that means I lose?

― Dom Passantino, Monday, 11 June 2007 10:58 (seventeen years ago)

sadie ama is the only one who's any good.

mika is vile but surprisingly ignorable.

― lex pretend, Monday, 11 June 2007 11:09 (seventeen years ago)

as just names, they are all pretty bad. even the twang (above)

― RJG, Monday, 11 June 2007 11:58 (seventeen years ago)

I've heard all except Sadia Ama. I assume that means I lose?

You're a journalist tho?

― Tom D., Monday, 11 June 2007 11:59 (seventeen years ago)

that's what the wikipedia entry says

― Ronan, Monday, 11 June 2007 12:08 (seventeen years ago)

I thought the Wikipedia entry said that despite my surname I wasn't related to fellow Italian national Roberto?

― Dom Passantino, Monday, 11 June 2007 12:14 (seventeen years ago)

disappointing lack of details re travelling circus days

― blueski, Monday, 11 June 2007 12:15 (seventeen years ago)

six months pass...

eh, i think ttc can do a cansei de ser sexy or the knife or something. this is not chart-stormingly big but then i don't think mika will be either

-- lex pretend (lex pretend), Friday, 5 January 2007 09:56 (11 months ago) Bookmark Link

I haven't got Soundscan figures, but this sounds right to me, I'd guess that Mika and TTC have sold similar numbers of records this year.

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 10:22 (seventeen years ago)

There's still time for The Twang to overtake them both.

― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 11:18 (seventeen years ago)

Didn't Hale and Pace used to use "twang" as a comedy slang term for onanism in their skits?

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 11:20 (seventeen years ago)

404: Celebrity Not Found

― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 11:22 (seventeen years ago)

"Hopefully, Hale and Pace will come to realise that life is mostly miserable"

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 11:24 (seventeen years ago)

I bet Mika wishes he could have sold as many records as The Knife, though.

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 11:24 (seventeen years ago)

"Every so often an artist comes along with hit written all over them and 2007 looks like being Mika's year"

amirite?

― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 11:25 (seventeen years ago)

How did the Twang fail to become big again? I tend to assume that with enough backing you can throw any old crap at today's indie kids and they'll eventually buy it.

― Matt DC, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 11:27 (seventeen years ago)

http://www.tix4events.co.uk/imgprods/thetwang.jpg

Looking like a tarmac gang not big in NME.

― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 11:29 (seventeen years ago)

How big is 'big' in this def'n? They seem to tour uni venues of 1000-1500 capacity pretty regularly

― DJ Mencap, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 11:30 (seventeen years ago)

And left them immaculately tarmac-ed.

― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 11:30 (seventeen years ago)

Whoever thought TTC was gonna make it internationally = out of his mind. Although, Cuizinier did inspire that Yelle song

― baaderonixx, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 11:31 (seventeen years ago)

It's because that godawful "Live and Die In These Towns" track by The Enemy makes The Twang even more irrelevant than they should be.

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 11:32 (seventeen years ago)

Timmy Mallett is still touring uni venues of 1000-1500 capacity pretty regularly.

― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 11:33 (seventeen years ago)

As a buy-on on the Twang's tour

― DJ Mencap, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 11:35 (seventeen years ago)

He does the Block Paving.

― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 11:36 (seventeen years ago)

The Twang, Timmy Mallett, and TTC sounds like a top show to me.

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 11:36 (seventeen years ago)

Check dates at yr local uni, Dom.

― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 11:37 (seventeen years ago)

Probly get Chunnel off Big Brother thrown in for 10 quid.

― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 11:37 (seventeen years ago)

Man, her VH1 show is bad.

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 11:38 (seventeen years ago)

She's still working?

― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 11:39 (seventeen years ago)

She hosts "Wannabe", where desperate girl group wannabes battle for a final shot at stardom. Or something.

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 11:40 (seventeen years ago)

http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/16/17/23311716.jpg

― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 11:41 (seventeen years ago)

Mika hasn't sold as many records as Hale and Pace either.

TS: Grace Kelly vs The Stonk.

― Dingbod Kesterson, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 11:57 (seventeen years ago)

uninteresting fact: The Twang use the hook from Salt n' Pepa's 'Push It' as the bassline on their new single

― blueski, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 13:24 (seventeen years ago)

i think you mean the cars?

― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 13:27 (seventeen years ago)

http://www.ents24.com/web/artist/92955/The_Twang.html

I overestimated the popularity of The Twang which is easily worth LBZC's imminent derision

― DJ Mencap, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 15:13 (seventeen years ago)

lol they're playing the Northampton Roadmender. pwnd

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 15:16 (seventeen years ago)

one year passes...

Listening to this record now and damn it if "Love Today" doesn't remind me of Erasure more than anybody since Erasure, and I miss Erasure. And "Love Today" seems to me completely unimpeachable -- maybe partly because it never went anywhere in the US so I've never heard it except on this record, whereas my understanding is that people actually did hear it enough to tire on it in England? But no, people upthread seem to have heard it once, like me, and been uncharmed by it. Strange.

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 19 June 2009 02:54 (fifteen years ago)

You don't have to miss Erasure, they're still around.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 19 June 2009 03:01 (fifteen years ago)

i still think this album is pretty good

― surm, Friday, 19 June 2009 03:05 (fifteen years ago)

also he's lebanese so i gotta represent

― surm, Friday, 19 June 2009 03:06 (fifteen years ago)

oh and he's incredibly hot, i forgot

― surm, Friday, 19 June 2009 03:06 (fifteen years ago)

Ah you Levantines and your clique. (I lie.)

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 19 June 2009 03:15 (fifteen years ago)

Gotta say, it would never have occurred to me even to check whether Erasure still existed. And you're right, they do! Are they good?

But back to Mika: thinking about it a bit more maybe the best referent isn't Erasure but the Communards. Even if everything went right for Mika I can't see him producing anything like "Chains of Love" but I can see him making the next "Never Can Say Goodbye."

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 19 June 2009 03:16 (fifteen years ago)

To pursue the above analogy a little further, if Mika were to re-envision and record the definitive version of a 10-year-old R&B track, what would it be?

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 19 June 2009 03:20 (fifteen years ago)

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