Teenaged Dreams in a Teenage Circus,3 Out of 5 Stars
The debut album from Mika, Life in Cartoon Motion, was a splashy, colorful explosion of sugar pop that seemed to go to the top of every chart except the American ones. Mika himself is a chameleonic music swirl, parts Freddy Mercury, George Michael/Wham! and Elton John, capable of extreme catchiness yet artistically delirious at once. He's a guilty pleasure with bonus nutrients.
His sophomore album, the more seriously titled "The Boy Who Knew Too Much," races headlong down the same candy-land trail, but hints at a more tart center beneath all the frosting. The irresistible "Rain" makes you tap your dancing foot while asking if he should be happy. You'd be hard pressed to notice, because Mika is the kind of songwriter for whom over-the-top is a limit to be conquered as many times as possible. "Blame It On The Girls" and "We Are Golden" (the first two singles) are so flamboyantly effervescent that they'd make Elton and Mercury both proud - or at least make you wonder if Mika should just chuck it all, cover A-Ha's "Take On Me" and be done with it.
It's only on the song "Blue Eyes" that Mika finally tones it down a bit, moving into the kind of pop Paul Simon perfected with Graceland. That song is indicative of why The Boy Who Knew Too Much only rates as three stars; after awhile, there's only so much sweetness you can ingest before insulin shock starts to settle in. Mika proves again here that he can sling impeccable pop melodies with effortless ease, but "Blue Eyes" makes me wonder how much he could accomplish if he held back on the Andrew Lloyd Weber and maybe took some time studying up on the Paul McCartney.
The debut album from Mika, Life in Cartoon Motion, was a splashy, colorful explosion of sugar pop that seemed to go to the top of every chart except the American ones. Mika himself is a chameleonic music swirl, parts Freddy Mercury, George Michael/Wham! and Elton John, capable of extreme catchiness yet artistically delirious at once. He's a guilty pleasure with bonus nutrients.
His sophomore album, the more seriously titled "The Boy Who Knew Too Much," races headlong down the same candy-land trail, but hints at a more tart center beneath all the frosting. The irresistible "Rain" makes you tap your dancing foot while asking if he should be happy. You'd be hard pressed to notice, because Mika is the kind of songwriter for whom over-the-top is a limit to be conquered as many times as possible. "Blame It On The Girls" and "We Are Golden" (the first two singles) are so flamboyantly effervescent that they'd make Elton and Mercury both proud - or at least make you wonder if Mika should just chuck it all, cover A-Ha's "Take On Me" and be done with it.
It's only on the song "Blue Eyes" that Mika finally tones it down a bit, moving into the kind of pop Paul Simon perfected with Graceland. That song is indicative of why The Boy Who Knew Too Much only rates as three stars; after awhile, there's only so much sweetness you can ingest before insulin shock starts to settle in. Mika proves again here that he can sling impeccable pop melodies with effortless ease, but "Blue Eyes" makes me wonder how much he could accomplish if he held back on the Andrew Lloyd Weber and maybe took some time studying up on the Paul McCartney.
1 comment:
I, too, was a bit disappointed in this sophomore effort. Mika is very talented, both as a singer and a songwriter, but the mix on this was not what it was on the debut. Hopefully, there is more great music to come.
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