The Boy Who Knew Too Much (album)

The Boy Who Knew Too Much
Studio album by Mika
Released	21 September 2009 (see release history)
Recorded	June 2008–2009[1]
Genre	Pop, rock
Length	41:13[2]
Label	Casablanca/Island/Polydor[3]
Producer	Greg Wells, Imogen Heap, Mika[1]
Mika chronology
Songs for Sorrow (2009) The Boy Who Knew Too Much (2009) The Origin of Love (2012)
Singles from The Boy Who Knew Too Much
"We Are Golden" Released: 7 September 2009 "Blame It on the Girls" Released: 5 October 2009 "Rain" Released: 23 November 2009 "Kick Ass (We Are Young)" Released: 17 June 2010

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[4]
The A.V. Club	(A-) [5]
Entertainment Weekly	(A) [6]
The Guardian	[7]
Los Angeles Times	[8]
The Observer	[9]
PopMatters	[10]
Rolling Stone	[11]
Slant	[12]
Spin	[13]
The Times	[14]

The Boy Who Knew Too Much^[15] is the second studio album by singer Mika. It was released on 21 September 2009,^[16] under Casablanca Records in the United States and Polydor and Island Records in the United Kingdom.

Contents 1 Background 2 Response 2.1 Critical response 2.2 Singles 3 Track listing 4 Personnel 5 Release history 6 Chart performance 6.1 Year-end charts 6.2 End of year charts 7 References 8 External links

Background

Mika worked with producer Greg Wells, who also produced his debut album Life in Cartoon Motion.^[1] The album was written in Olympic Studios, London, which began in June 2008. In September 2008 he moved to Rocket Carousel Studios, Los Angeles, where the album was recorded.^[1] Mika has described the album's themes as dealing with his teenage years, and "in a sense is kind of part two" of his first album.^[17] In contrast to his first album, which "contained innocent fairytales", Mika pitches the new album's songs as "gothic Tim Burton-esque fantasies."^[18] The album was originally titled We Are Golden after the first single from the album, "We Are Golden". On 20 July 2009 in an on-air interview with DJ Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 1, Mika revealed he was considering renaming the album, because he wanted "something a little more ridiculous."^[19] On 6 August 2009 it was confirmed that the album's title would change to The Boy Who Knew Too Much.^[20] As with Mika's debut album Life in Cartoon Motion, the album artwork has been designed by Mika's sister (who works under the nom de plume DaWack), the Australian illustrator Sophie Blackall, Airside collaborator Richard Hogg and Mika himself. The artwork has been inspired by children's picture books from the 1940s to 1970s.^[21]

Response

Critical response

The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, based on an aggregate score of 72/100 from Metacritic.^[22]

Singles

• "We Are Golden" was the first single from the album. It received its UK radio debut on BBC Radio 2 on 20 July 2009. It peaked at #4 in the UK Singles Chart. "Blame It on the Girls" was the second American and Japanese single from the album.^[23][24] It peaked at #1 in Japan but failed to make any impact in America. "Rain" was the second UK and German single, released on 23 November in both digital and physical format.^[25][26][27] It peaked at #72 in the UK Singles Chart, making it Mika's first UK single to miss the Top 40. In Germany it peaked at #56.^[28] "Blame It on the Girls" was released as the third UK single, on 15 February 2010.^[29] It also peaked at #72 in the UK, exactly the same as Mika's previous single "Rain". The song "Good Gone Girl" charted within the Romanian Top 100 on airplay only, without being released as a single.^[30]

Track listing

Personnel

• Mika – vocals, keyboards, background vocals, background violin

Additional musicians

Walter Afanasieff – percussion, keyboards The Andrae Crouch Choir – background vocals Lorna Bridge – background vocals Paul Buckmaster – strings Matt Chamberlain – drums, percussion Andrew Dermanis – additional vocals Gary Grant – horns Jerry Hey – horns Imogen Heap – drums, background vocals, keyboard Dan Higgins – horns Alex Millar – background vocals Audrey Moukataff – background vocals Chris Nicolaides – background vocals

Cherisse Osei – drums Owen Pallett – violin Tim Pierce – guitar Fortune Penniman – background vocals Paloma Penniman – background vocals, additional vocals Zuleika Penniman – background vocals Bill Reichenbach Jr. – horns Dan Rothchild – bass, background vocals Fabien Waltmann – keyboards Martin Waugh – guitar, background vocals Greg Wells – keyboards, drums, bass, percussion, guitar Ida Falk Winland – background vocals Lyle Workman – guitar

Release history

Country	Date
Hong Kong (Digital Version)[34]	5 September 2009
The Netherlands	16 September 2009
France	18 September 2009
Australia
Germany
Italy
Ireland
United Kingdom	21 September 2009
Argentina[35]
Mexico
South Korea (Regular & Deluxe Edition)[36]
United States	22 September 2009
Brazil
Canada
South Korea (Korean Special Edition)[37]	27 May 2010
Hong Kong (Asia Tour Edition)[38]	2 June 2010

Chart performance

The album debuted at #4 on the UK Albums Chart and remained on the Top 40 for four weeks.^[39] The album debuted at #1 on the French Albums Chart, becoming Mika's second consecutive album to reach the top of the French albums chart and the album is double platinum with more of 200,000 copies sold. In the USA, the album debuted at #19 on the Billboard 200. In Italy the album debuted at #10 on the Italian Albums Chart, and it has been certified Gold with more of 50,000 copies sold.^[40]

Chart (2009)	Peak position
Argentine Albums Chart[41]	6
Australian Albums Chart[42]	10
Austrian Albums Chart	9
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[43]	3
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[44]	3
Canadian Albums Chart	19
Danish Albums Chart	24
Dutch Albums Chart[45]	5
French Albums Chart[46]	1
German Albums Chart[47]	6
Greek Albums Chart	45
Irish Albums Chart[48]	14
Italian Albums Chart[49]	10
Mexican Albums Chart[50]	29
New Zealand Albums Chart	30
Norwegian Albums Chart[51]	29
Portuguese Albums Chart[52]	17
Spanish Albums Chart	7
Swedish Albums Chart	14
Swiss Albums Chart	2
UK Albums Chart[53]	4
US Billboard 200	19
US Billboard Top Electronic Albums	5

Year-end charts

Chart (2009)	Position
Swiss Albums Chart[54]	60

End of year charts

Chart (2010)	Rank
European Top 100 Albums[55]	49

Preceded by The Resistance by Muse

French Albums Chart number-one album 27 September 2009 – 4 October 2009

Succeeded by Tour 66: Stade de France 2009 by Johnny Hallyday

References

External links

• MikaSounds.com – Mika's official website
• Mika on YouTube

Mika Albums Life in Cartoon Motion • The Boy Who Knew Too Much • The Origin of Love Extended plays Dodgy Holiday • Songs for Sorrow Singles Life in Cartoon Motion "Relax, Take It Easy" • "Grace Kelly" • "Love Today" • "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)" • "Happy Ending" • "Relax, Take It Easy" (re-release) / "Lollipop" The Boy Who Knew Too Much "We Are Golden" • "Blame It on the Girls" • "Rain" The Origin of Love "Elle me dit" Other songs "Everybody Hurts" • "Kick Ass (We Are Young)" Concert tours Dodgy Holiday Tour (2007–2008) • 1955 Tour (2009–2010) • Imaginarium Tour (2010) DVDs Live in Cartoon Motion • Live Parc Des Princes Paris Other articles Discography