Sophie Stratford talks to Michael Holbrook Penniman better known as Mika about his songs, the Brits and Lady Gaga.

TAKING real life and repackaging it as a bizarre fairytale is the inspiration for Mika, who is back on the crest of a wave after two critically-acclaimed albums. The London-based singer-songwriter is dominating the radio playlists again by using Blame It On The Girls, taken from second album The Boy Who Knew Too Much, as his latest single.

He recorded the majority of this album in Los Angeles with producer and musician Greg Wells, who also worked on his debut album, Life In Cartoon Motion. Asked about influences, Mika says: “Trisha, and basically things now, real life, my life as a teenager. Pretty much everything around me. Things I see on the street, things I see on the train to things that I read in books and comic books. Everything.”

Discussing his favourite tracks, he says: “A song called Rain (another single release) which I really like because it has this happy sad theme and so much music from the Ninties which I love. There is also a song called Toy Boy which is kind of delirious, it’s the creepiest fairytale on the record for sure. It talks about a boy whom expresses his life through the eyes of a doll and falls in love with the boy that owns him, but then gets broken-hearted when the boy abandons him.”

Mika says his two albums “fit together perfectly in a weird sort of way, which is what I wanted. I wanted them to be part one and part two of each other.”

Blame It On the Girls is a happy slice of timeless, sing-along pop bliss.

“It is rhythmically and lyrically a lot of fun and it has this typical kind of teenage attitude in the lyrics, and I picked it as a single because it makes my feet move and I guess that’s a good sign,” he says.

On the difference between the two albums, he adds: “It has become more violent more gothic. The sound has become a little bit more full of fantasy , and it’s darker in a way with a little bit more of a teenage angst to it – that was a natural progression.”

The Northern Echo tipped Mika for stardom back in 2006 when Grace Kelly was released as a demo and he has risen to fame pretty quickly. His first album sold more than 5.6m copies worldwide and helped Mika win a BRIT Award and receive a Grammy Award nomination. He is less happy over his many obsessive fans.

“People have lived outside my house for four days and we had to call the police, actually my neighbours called the police. I’ve had lots presents – videos of people naked, people always send me underwear, with funny drawings on them, I actually wonder ‘do they really think I’m going to wear them’?”

The singer has also been linked to Lady Gaga in the press and says: “I think she’s brilliant, funny, clever and very entertaining.”

Mika confesses to being driven by his desire for fame and love of performing, however I’m intrigued into how Mika knew that music was his forte.

He says: “When I was 12. I got my first job, I’d been kicked out of school, I didn’t have anything to do. I started to sing and became good very quickly and ended up with a gig.

Then I realised there was another way of living your life where you weren’t treated like **** and you actually had a responsibility to do something that you could be proud of.

So it became my life and I realised that’s what I wanted to do.”

Mika is working on new material for a movie, but claims he’s not really concerned about albums.

“It’s all a bit everywhere, but in a good way though and I think I feel quite liberated.”

The artist has also nominated for a Brit Award – Best Male Solo Artist – where the competition is Robbie Williams and Dizzee Rascal. “I am very chuffed to be nominated in my category especially with the other artists that are nominated, a lot of them I am a fan of. It’s a pleasure, I don’t know if I’ll win, probably not.

However I like the nominations it’s like a little brat pack.”
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