Mika

He can be anything you like.

Mika is a British singer-songwriter of American and Lebanese parentage who burst out in the music scene in 2007 with the song "Grace Kelly".

He is very sparkly.

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Mika provides examples of the following tropes:

• Always Camp: Since reviewers always describe him as camp! However, his vibrant songs, flamboyant trappings, and eccentric tendencies more than justify it.
• Ambiguously Brown: Mika's mother is Lebanese, his father American.
• Bi the Way: Despite his dislike for labels, he has stated that we may "Call me bisexual, if you need a term for me."
• Break the Cutie: Due to a Sadist Teacher and the unfortunate nature of Kids Are Cruel, a nine-year-old Mika was teased relentlessly once his family moved to London - so much so that he had a mental breakdown which rendered him mute and unable to read for a while. Six months of homeschooling got him back on track, as well as a different school to return to. He's probably laughing at them now, too.
  • It is not without mention that the reason his family moved to the United Kingdom in the first place was due to his father being held hostage in Beirut during the Gulf War. Though the rest of the family was technically safe in Paris, their dwindling income threatened to put them on the streets. Mika really had quite a difficult childhood, once you think about it.
• British Accents: If reporters and fans are anything to go by, though, it's really more of an Americanized British with a tinge of French.
• Collector of the Strange: He archives smells. No, really.
• Dream Team: His mother designs his costumes. His older sister, Yasmine (or DaWack), hand-paints Mika's sketches. Some of his younger siblings have helped with set design and background vocals. They really are a quite self-sufficient family.
• Mr. Fanservice: Being a mix between Bishonen and Tall, Dark and Handsome does have its benefits.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Seems to have a penchant for these, considering his friendships with Christian Louboutin and Ian McKellen.
• Messy Hair: His signature look.
• No Pronunciation Guide: While his actual name is Mica, the reason he uses Mika as his stage name stems from the large amount of people mispronouncing it as "Meescha" or "Maika".
• One-Hit Wonder: In the United States, Mika is a very strange example. The only song of his that most recognise over here is "Love Today" and THAT'S only because it's been used in countless ads and TV shows! Never mind the fact that he did a song for the movie Kick-Ass that was arguably better than "Love Today." American fans have to explain who he is when mentioning him.
  • "Grace Kelly" is fairly well known as well.
• Quirky Household: Mika often fondly calls his family home such, open to artistic expression and friendly visitors at all times.
• Secret Identity: Mika has admitted to having several alternate identities under which he writes songs for other artists, just to do something different once in a while. Just how many he has, and who they may be, is unknown.
  • Currently, we only know that he has one named Alice, for which he wrote a song used by Eros Ramazzotti.
• Self-Backing Vocalist: From time to time. With a voice that can (allegedly) reach about four or more octaves, who wouldn't?
• Shirtless Scene: The video for "We are Golden" has him prancing about in only his boxers. Cue squees all over the internet.
  • Also, sometimes in concert. Admittedly, it must get hot in that clunky spacesuit.
• Stern Teacher: Mika has described his childhood Russian vocal teacher as "terrifyingly tough".
• Vocal Dissonance: Considering how, erm, squeaky his voice gets in some of his songs, you'd be expecting a whole lot more moe when it comes to his appearance. He's actually somewhat sterner looking in reality (see page photo), though some may beg to differ.

Mika's songs displays examples of:

• Anti-Love Song: "Lollipop" and "Erase".
• And a Diet Coke: "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)" has a refrain of

"Diet Coke and a pizza, please!"

• Armored Closet Bi: "Billy Brown"
• Big Beautiful Woman: "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)".
• Cannot Spit It Out: "I See You".
• Colorful Song: "Grace Kelly", at least in the chorus.
• Design Student's Orgasm: Both versions of "Relax (Take It Easy)" feature this style, as does the cover art for his CDs.
• Everything Sounds Sexier in French: Behold, Grace Kelly in French.
  • Also "Elle Me Dit", one of his more recent songs.
• The Four Chords of Pop: "Happy Ending".
• Gender Flip: In the song "Loverboy", he flips between directing his statements to either a girl and a boy.
• Hidden Track: His first album (Life in Cartoon Motion) features "Over My Shoulder," a hidden track after "Happy Ending." So if you weren't depressed enough after the Lyrical Dissonance and misleading title of "Happy Ending", there was the haunting bonus track to back it up.
  • The track was also a bit of an Ensemble Darkhorse for reviewers, with many preferring it to the "main" songs.
• Lyrical Dissonance: He seems to love pairing cheerful, bouncy tunes to lyrics about disillusionment as one grows up and how love is pointless and only causes pain.
• Rock Me, Amadeus: The beginning of "Grace Kelly" comes from The Barber of Seville.
• Video Full of Film Clips: "Kick-ass" was written specifically for the movie of the same name. It makes sense that the majority of the video is clips of the movie, though Mika does make an appearance in between.
• Yandere: Being stalked by one in "Ring Ring", but is one in "Touches You".
• You Know What They Say: From "Lollipop":

"I was walkin' with my mama one day, when she warned me what people say:
Live your life until love is found, or love's gonna get you down."