Mika - Life In Cartoon Motion
Release Date: February 5th, 2007
Label: Casablanca



The current pop climate is open for a jack-of-all-trades, and listening to Mika�s debut album, Life In Cartoon Motion, that seems to be exactly the title he�s going for. From theatrical rock (lead single Grace Kelly) to smooth disco (Relax, Take It Easy) to quirky piano pop (Billy Brown), Mika covers it all� and it�s a clean sweep across the board.

Life In Cartoon Motion is 2007�s first perfect pop album. Its choruses are bigger than everyone else�s, and its ringleader, led by his remarkable falsetto, undeniably brandishes that ever-so-coveted x-factor. Like it or not: Mika is destined to be a star. And, really, how could you not like it? With songs as addictive as the stomping playground romp Lollipop and the this-is-how-Orson-should-have-sounded Big Girl (You Are Beautiful), resistance really is futile. Life In Cartoon Motion even has its anthem, the gorgeous guitar/dance hybrid Love Today. Its potentially saccharine sentiments are brilliantly subverted as Mika ends the chorus with a simple refrain: �love, love me.� We do.

Equally impressive, albeit in different ways, is Any Other World, a haunting ballad that makes excellent use of a cutting string section. Then there�s Stuck In The Middle, a very Scissor Sisters-esque track with a piano riff that echoes that very band�s Laura from a few years back. Add that to the radio pop of My Interpretation and the soul-inflected closer Happy Ending, and you�ve got a filler free, absolute delight of an album. As Mika himself preaches: �Relax, take it easy.� And, enjoy. A

Key Tracks: Love Today, Any Other World, Relax, Take It Easy