Life in Cartoon Motion
Studio album by Mika
Released	January 29, 2007 (UK) February 13, 2007 (Europe) March 27, 2007 (USA)
Genre	Pop rock Powerpop Pop
Length	50:49
Label	Island (UK) Universal/Motown (U.S.) FMR/Warner Bros.(Australasia/Worldwide)
Mika chronology
Life in Cartoon Motion (2007) TBA (2008/2009)

Life in Cartoon Motion is the debut album by pop singer Mika, produced by Greg Wells and Mika, mixed by Greg Wells, with co-production on two songs by Jodi Marr and John Merchant, released on Island Records on February 5, 2007 in the UK, and on Universal/Motown Records on March 27, 2007 in the U.S..

The single "Grace Kelly" stayed at #1 in the UK for seven weeks straight and became a #1 hit in many countries. The album debuted at #1 in the UK, selling 5.6 million copies worldwide since its release and counting. The album cover of Life in Cartoon Motion has since been used in an iPod Touch commercial. It was the fifth best-selling album in the world in 2007.

[edit] Background

Prior to obtaining his record deal, Mika sent demos to many record companies in Britain, but was never signed. One record label in particular claimed that Mika had a good voice, but insisted he write more conventional songs like Robbie Williams in order to become more commercial. Mika rejected this advice.^[1][2][3] The song "Grace Kelly" was inspired by these problems. In 2006 Mika signed with Island Records and began recording his debut album.

His musical influences are based in classical music.^[3] Before Mika released his debut album he promised the media that "It was a magical world that you could live in. A parallel universe for people that is illusory and enchanting and amazing."^[4] Some songs on the album are sexually ambiguous, prompting some questioning regarding Mika's sexuality. On this, Mika comments that he has no taboos about what he can use to tell a story or what stories he can actually tell. He believes that sexualizing music is great, but politically sexualizing music and making the artist's sexuality the defining point of someone's music is "boring".^[2] He says about his own sexuality: "...laying myself out on the table to almost a tabloid level and kind of sharing my entire personal life, I'm really not into that."^[2]

The songs on the album have different subjects. "Grace Kelly", as stated before, is about the struggle of getting a record deal. Mika stated that the song is a very important song on the album mostly because:"...it's a flagpole for the record in terms of lyrical content and the whole pop vision I wanted to get across."^[3]

In March 2007 the album was released in the United States. Before its release there was much publicity about the album, mainly due to its success in Europe. Mika commented on the hype by saying: "I think I'm lucky. Hype can be good and hype can be bad. The good thing that's happening to me is that the hype is about the project, it's about the music ... I'm not the son of anyone famous, I haven't really slept with anyone particularly well known ... it's really just about music, and that's something I think is very healthy."^[2]

[edit] Cover Design

The cover for the album and its inside booklet was designed by Mika's sister (who works under the pen name DaWack) and Mika himself.^[3]

[edit] Reception

In January 2007 it was considered the best new talent in the BBC's Sound of 2007 music poll. About 130 music critics and broadcasters from the U.K. agreed that Mika was the sound of 2007.^[1] It has received highly polarized reviews, earning one star from The Guardian^[5] and four stars in the London Evening Standard.^[6] The album received 1 out of 10 from the Drowned in Sound website,^[7] and prompted Brian May of Queen, a fan of Mika, to criticise the website^[8] for making unnecessary personal attacks at Mika.^[9][10]

[edit] Reviews

• Allmusic link
• BBC 2007/01/08
• The Daily Telegraph 2007/02/03
• Dotmusic 2007/02/08
• Drowned in Sound 2007/02/02
• Entertainment.ie link
• Evening Standard 2007/02/02
• The Guardian 2007/02/02
• The Independent 2007/02/02
• Los Angeles Times 2007/03/25
• The Observer 2007/01/21
• Pitchfork Media 2007/04/17
• PopMatters 2007/03/26
• Q
• Rolling Stone link
• The Scotsman 2007/02/02
• Slant 2007/03/17
• Sputnikmusic 2007/02/11
• Stereology link
• Stylus Magazine (D-) 2007/02/06
• UrbanWire link

[edit] Singles

• "Lollipop" and "Relax" were released in Australia to radio but was only added to one radio show - The Hot Hits. It was not successful in Australia and therefore did not have a physical release or much airplay.

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Standard edition

(All songs written by Mika unless otherwise stated).

1. "Grace Kelly" (Mika, Jodi Marr, John Merchant, Dan Warner) – 3:05
2. "Lollipop" – 3:05
3. "My Interpretation" (Mika, Jodi Marr, Richie Supa) – 3:35
4. "Love Today" – 3:55
5. "Relax, Take It Easy" – 4:30 (contains a prelude monologue to "Any Other World")
6. "Any Other World" – 4:19
7. "Billy Brown" – 3:15
8. "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)" – 4:11
9. "Stuck in the Middle" – 4:07
10. "Happy Ending" – 4:35 / 10:21 (includes hidden track "Over My Shoulder" – 4:45)

[edit] American and Canadian edition

1. "Grace Kelly" (Mika, Jodi Marr, John Merchant, Dan Warner) – 3:05
2. "Lollipop" – 3:05
3. "My Interpretation" (Mika, Jodi Marr, Richie Supa) – 3:35
4. "Love Today" – 3:55
5. "Relax, Take It Easy" – 4:30
6. "Ring Ring" – 3:37 (contains a prelude monologue to "Any Other World")
7. "Any Other World" – 4:19
8. "Billy Brown" – 3:15
9. "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) – 4:11
10. "Stuck in the Middle" – 4:07
11. "Erase" (Mika, Jodi Marr, Desmond Child)) – 3:38
12. "Happy Ending" – 4:35 / 10:21 (includes hidden track "Over My Shoulder" – 4:45)

[edit] Australian and British edition

1. "Grace Kelly" (Mika, Jodi Marr, John Merchant, Dan Warner) – 3:07
2. "Lollipop" – 3:03
3. "My Interpretation" (Mika, Jodi Marr, Richie Supa) – 3:35
4. "Love Today" – 3:55
5. "Relax, Take It Easy" – 4:30 (contains a prelude monologue to "Any Other World")
6. "Any Other World" – 4:19
7. "Billy Brown" – 3:14
8. "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)" – 4:08
9. "Stuck in the Middle" – 4:08
10. "Happy Ending" – 4:35 / 10:21 (includes hidden track "Over My Shoulder" – 4:45)
11. "Ring Ring" – 2:49

Life in Cartoon Motion has a hidden track after "Happy Ending." If the CD is left playing after that song is played, you can hear "Over My Shoulder."

[edit] Bonus Tracks

• UK Edition

1. "Ring Ring" (Mika, Jodi Marr) (Bonus Track) – 2:47
2. Splash Page Live Link (CD-Rom Section)

• UK Digital download

1. "Grace Kelly" (Acoustic)
2. "Stuck in the Middle" (Acoustic)
3. "Relax, Take It Easy" (Acoustic)

• Japanese Edition

1. "Ring Ring" (Bonus Track) – 2:47
2. "Your Sympathy" (Bonus Track) – 3:10
3. "Grace Kelly" (Video)

• US Best Buy Edition

1. "Love Today" (Acoustic) (Best Buy Bonus Track) – 2:58
2. "Satellite" (Acoustic) (Best Buy Bonus Track) – 4:13

• Canada Digital download

1. "Grace Kelly" (Acoustic) (iTunes Canada Bonus Track) – 3:14
2. "Stuck in the Middle" (Acoustic) (iTunes Canada Bonus Track) – 3:54
3. "Relax, Take It Easy" (Acoustic) (iTunes Canada Bonus Track) – 3:02

[edit] Chart performance

"Life in Cartoon Motion" was named the fifth worldwide best-selling album of 2007, beating many established artists and groups. Mika was also the world best-selling male singer of 2007. According to Billboard, the album spent 7 weeks at number 1 in Europe in 2007.

[edit] United World Chart chart trajectory

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Mika's official website
• Mika at MySpace
• Greg Wells
• Interview with Greg Wells about producing the album
• Jodi Marr