Life in Cartoon Motion

Not to be confused with Live in Cartoon Motion.
Life in Cartoon Motion
Studio album by Mika
Released 5 February 2007 (2007-02-05) (UK)
22 March 2007 (2007-03-22) (U.S. and Italy)
Genre Glam rock, power pop, electronica
Length 46:16 (Standard/Int'l edition)
49:53 (U.S., Canadian and Italian edition)
Label Island (United Kingdom)
Casablanca (U.S.)
Producer Greg Wells, Mika
Mika chronology
Dodgy Holiday EP
(2006)		 Life in Cartoon Motion
(2007)		 Songs for Sorrow
(2009)
Singles from Life In Cartoon Motion
  1. "Grace Kelly"
    Released: 29 January 2007 (2007-01-29)
  2. "Love Today"
    Released: 23 April 2007 (2007-04-23)
  3. "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)"
    Released: 23 July 2007 (2007-07-23)
  4. "Happy Ending"
    Released: 15 October 2007 (2007-10-15)
  5. "Lollipop"
    Released: 21 December 2007 (2007-12-21)
  6. "Relax, Take It Easy"
    Released: 31 December 2007 (2007-12-31)

Life in Cartoon Motion is the debut album by 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 5 February 2007 in the United Kingdom, and on Casablanca Records on 27 March 2007 in the U.S.. The single "Grace Kelly" stayed at #1 in the British charts for five weeks straight and became a #1 hit in many countries. The album debuted at #1 in the United Kingdom, selling 5.7 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.

Contents

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]

Cover design

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

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [5]
The Daily Telegraph [6]
Blender [7]
Drowned in Sound [8]
Entertainment Weekly (B+)[9]
The Guardian [10]
The Independent [11]
Los Angeles Times [12]
Pitchfork Media (1.5/10)[13]
Rolling Stone [14]
Slant Magazine [15]
Stylus (D-)[16]
Observer Music Monthly [17]
Uncut [18]
Robert Christgau [19]

Initial critical response to Life in Cartoon Motion was very mixed. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 55, based on 23 reviews.[20] In January 2007 it was considered the best new talent in the BBC's Sound of 2007 music poll.[21] 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[22] and four stars in the London Evening Standard.[23] The album received 1 out of 10 from the Drowned in Sound website,[24] and prompted Brian May of Queen, a fan of Mika, to criticise the website[25] for making unnecessary personal attacks at Mika.[26][27]

Singles

Single UK US Au Eu It Fr Nl No Release
"Relax, Take It Easy" + +* + + + + EP – early 2006 (UK); June 2007 (Eu); July 2007 (Canada)
"Grace Kelly" + + + + January 2007 (Worldwide); March 2007 (US)
"Lollipop" + +* + April 2007 (Norway, Switzerland); January 2008 (Canada)
"Love Today" + + + + + + + April 2007 (Worldwide)
"Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)" + + + + July 2007; Fall 2007 (Canada); February 2008 (Australia)
"Happy Ending" + + + + + October 2007 (Eu); January 2008 (Ne)
"Relax, Take It Easy" /
"Lollipop"		 + Double A-side single – December 2007 (UK)

Track listing

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Grace Kelly"   Mika, Jodi Marr, John Merchant, Dan Warner 3:07
2. "Lollipop"   Mika 3:03
3. "My Interpretation"   Mika, Jodi Marr, Richie Supa 3:35
4. "Love Today"   Mika 3:55
5. "Relax, Take It Easy"   Mika, Nick Eede 4:30
6. "Any Other World"   Mika 4:19
7. "Billy Brown"   Mika 3:14
8. "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)"   Mika 4:08
9. "Stuck in the Middle"   Mika 4:08
10. "Happy Ending"   Mika 4:35
11. "Ring Ring (Bonus Track)"     2:50

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.

Weekly charts

Chart (2007) Peak
position
Argentine Albums Chart[28] 1
Australian Albums Chart[29] 5
Austrian Albums Chart[30] 6
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[31] 1
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[32] 1
Canadian Albums Chart[33] 2
Czech Republic Albums Chart[34] 24
Danish Albums Chart[35] 3
European Top 100 Albums[36] 1
Finnish Albums Chart[37] 11
French Albums Chart[38] 1
German Albums Chart[39] 6
Greek Albums Chart[40] 1
Hungarian Albums Chart[41] 12
Irish Albums Chart[42] 2
Italian Albums Chart[43] 9
Japanese Albums Chart[44] 13
Mexican Albums Chart 5
Netherlands Albums Chart[45] 1
New Zealand Albums Chart 3
Norwegian Albums Chart[46] 1
Portuguese Albums Chart[47] 9
Russian Albums Chart[48] 1
Spanish Albums Chart[49] 3
Swedish Albums Chart[50] 3
Swiss Albums Chart[51] 1
UK Albums Chart[52] 1
US Billboard 200 29

Year-end

End of year chart (2007) Position
German Albums Chart [53] 12

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/Shipments
Argentina[54] Gold 20,000
Australia[55] 2× Platinum 200,000
Austria[56] Platinum 15,000
Belgium[57] 5x Platinum 200,000
Canada[58] 2x Platinum 200,000
Europe[59] 4× Platinum 4,000,000
France[60] Diamond 750,000
Germany[61] Platinum 200,000
Hungary[62] Gold 10,000
Italy[63] Platinum 146,446[64]
Ireland[65] 3x Platinum 45,000
Japan[66] Gold 100,000
New Zealand Gold 7,500
Portugal[67] Platinum 20,000
Russia[68] Platinum 20,000
Spain[69] Gold 40,000
Sweden[70] Gold 20,000
Switzerland[71] 2× Platinum 30,000
United Kingdom[72] 5× Platinum 1,500,000

References

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  2. ^ a b c d Q&A: Mika, the latest singing sensation from across the pond The Associated Press. 5 April 2007. Retrieved 13 April 2008.
  3. ^ a b c d Miriam Zendle Interview with Mika Digital Spy. 16 October 2006. Retrieved 13 April 2008.
  4. ^ Linda McGee Mika - Life in Cartoon Motion RTÉ. Retrieved 13 April 2008.
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  6. ^ "The Daily Telegraph review". London. 3 February 2007. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/02/03/nosplit/bmpopcds103.xml#2. 
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  8. ^ "Drowned in Sound review". http://www.drownedinsound.com/release/view/9109. 
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  43. ^ Italy
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  53. ^ [1]
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External links

Mika
Albums
Life in Cartoon Motion • The Boy Who Knew Too Much • The Origin of Love
Extended plays
Singles
Life in Cartoon Motion
The Boy Who Knew Too Much
The Origin of Love
Other songs
Concert tours
Dodgy Holiday Tour (2007–2008) • 1955 Tour (2009–2010) • Imaginarium Tour (2010)
DVDs
Other articles