MIKA

Although he’s a quite well-known artist, I think he’s a bit underrated. You might have already heard some songs of his, like Grace Kelly or Relax, take it easy. They’ve become worldwide hits quite fast, I still remember it vividly, I was in a primary school at the time and every other phone ringtone was Mika’s song.

Interesting fact : Mika was born in Beirut, and his roots are Lebanese. Since he was a little child he was moving a lot with his parents, but he lived most of his life in the UK. Little does anybody know that he’s a poliglot! He can speak fluently English, French, Italian, Spanish and a little bit Arabic and Mandarin.

Mika (or rather Michael Holbrook Penniman Jr.) has about three and half/four octaves. He’s been classicaly trained since he turned 10 years old, by a professional Russian opera singer. His phenomenal control over his voice and vibrato is a good proof of  that. Mika can easily sing in low as well as in high register and his timbre is very distinctive from other voices in the music industry. If you recall for instance the chorus of Grace Kelly, you’ll know what I mean. This way of expression was and still is very innovative and impressive.

I absolutely adore his way of singing, how confident he is on the stage, his charisma is out of this world! He truly enjoys performing and it’s as clear as day that he’s not faking emotions while singing. He’s a nuclear bomb in fast, funky and dance songs and an emotional story-teller when it comes to ballads. I think it’s essential for a vocalist to have this kind of depth and urge to express their feelings through their voice, to be a soul exhibitionist, as weird as it may sound. And I think Mika is a good example of such artist.

To tell the truth, I’ve only really started to listen to his music when I become hooked on the French edition of The Voice : la plus belle voix. He’s one of the judges in there since 2014, so for 5 seasons in total for the time being, but it is already confirmed that he’s also going to participate in the next season in 2019. For a long time, The Voice : la plus belle voix was my favourite singing competition and I believe it’s the best edition of The Voice including The Voice US, UK, Poland etc., at least in my opinion. Why is that? Because it never ceases to surprise me one way or the other. Each episode is not only exceptionally pleasing in terms of music, songs choices and arrangements, but the ambiance all in all is why it’s worth it to give it a try. The contestants are also very creative too and from the get-go! There are very few blind auditions from other countries which are as striking or as thrilling. Besides, I really like the judges and their banter, they make a great team of their own. And thanks to this show I’ve realised that Mika has another trait I didn’t know about : he’s a good teacher! He’s so enthusiastic when he explains and gives tips and advices, how one can improve his/her voice or performance, the ways to interpretate the song, how to go about on the stage. He’s painfully honest when he has to but his criticism is constructive and argumentative and he’s just sharing his experience with newbies or wannabe singers, he makes them come out of their shells, which I find admirable and make me like him even more. And to top it all he’s a really funny guy!

I wrote that The Voice : la plus belle voix was my favourite singing competition, because I like I am a singer better now, which I already talked to you a bit about in my post about Dimash (stay tuned, I’m preparing a special post about this show!)

For now, I recommend you to listen to the live version of Grace Kelly in an exquisite arrangement with Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maestro Simon Leclerc.