Thanks to Nezza for the translation.

Up close, Mika is a shy boy who replies to our questions in a quiet voice before going on stage. But the 27 year old Anglo-Libanese, who debuted with great success in 2007 with Grace Kelly, is always more and more crazy and theatrical on stage. The thousands of fans who went to his summer gigs in Italy this summer know that all too well.
A new version of his second album The Boy Who Knew Too Much has recently been released exclusively in Italy. It contains the new single Kick Ass (We Are Young) and some rarities. “By now I haven’t stopped for a year and a half.” he tells Sorrisi. “The record has sold a million and a half copies but I gained that by working like mad.”

The record’s less commercial than the previous one…
“Of course, but it was an artistic choice that I couldn’t renounce. It isn’t a banal record, it’s not very radio friendly. As an artist I refuse to follow the current trend.”

Your audience spans many generations: children, adolescents, adults. How do you explain that?
“It depends on the fact that my songs, that don’t appear serious, deal with important and universal themes such as lonelyness, drugs, sexuality.”

Your new single deals with a superhero and is part of the soundtrack to the film “Kick Ass”. But do you like comics?
“Yes, but I don’t like the films they make of them. On the big screen the superheroes are always repressed. There’s real violence, there’s no sex.”

‘ When the shells came in we’d hide in the basement of the garage − with the cars, which all had full
tanks of petrol’

The sun-kissed Corniche, west Beirut. Perfect for a people-watching promenade, the waves lapping the rocks as fishermen haul wriggling flashes of silver from the surf. In high summer 2010, this waterfront walkway in the Lebanese capital offers glorious views of the eastern Mediterranean.

Back in the mid-Eighties, when Lebanon was in the grip of its 15-year civil war, the Corniche also offered, says Mika, a clear look at the gunboats that were trying to bomb his childhood home to smithereens.

‘ We lived on the fourth floor of that apartment building,’ says the Beirutborn, 26-year-old pop star, gesturing to a squat block on the landward side of the coastal road. Then, as now, the ground floor of the building was occupied by a car dealership.‘ When the shells came in we’d hide in the basement of the garage – with the cars, which all had full tanks of petrol.’

Thanks to Mari from the MFC

Click on the picture to view the set. Thanks to Kumazz from MFC for the scans.

Translation by Lilstar, after the jump

Also, there seems to be something wrong with the gallery. I have pictures of Mika at Devilrobots and him arriving in Lebanon, but I can’t seem to upload them. Trying to fix it so you will get them soon!