Life in Cartoon Motion

Life in Cartoon Motion
Studio album by Mika
Released 5 February 2007 (2007-02-05)
Genre
Length 46:16
Label Island (United Kingdom)
Casablanca (United States)
FMR
Warner Bros. (Australasia)
Producer
Mika chronology
Dodgy Holiday
(2006)Dodgy Holiday2006		 Life in Cartoon Motion
(2007)		 Songs for Sorrow
(2009)Songs for Sorrow2009
Singles from Life in Cartoon Motion
  1. "Grace Kelly"
    Released: 29 January 2007
  2. "Love Today"
    Released: 23 April 2007
  3. "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)"
    Released: 23 July 2007
  4. "Happy Ending"
    Released: 15 October 2007
  5. "Relax, Take It Easy"
    Released: 23 December 2007
  6. "Lollipop"
    Released: 7 March 2008

Life in Cartoon Motion is the debut album released by British recording artist Mika. The album was produced by Greg Wells and Mika himself, mixed by Wells, with co-production on two songs by Jodi Marr and John Merchant. The album was released via Island Records on 5 February 2007 in the United Kingdom, and via Casablanca Records on 27 March 2007 in the United States. The album's lead single, "Grace Kelly", stayed at number one on the UK Singles Chart for five weeks straight and became a number-one hit in many countries.

The album debuted at number 1 in the United Kingdom, selling 7.8 million copies worldwide since its release.[1] The Life in Cartoon Motion album cover has since been used in a commercial for the iPod Touch. It was the ninth-best-selling album in the world during 2007.[2]

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.[3][4][5] 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.[5] 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."[6] 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".[4] 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."[4] 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."[5] The cover for the album and booklet was designed by Mika's sister, Yasmine, who works under the pen name DaWack, Richard Hogg and Mika himself.[5] 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."[4]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]
Drowned in Sound1/10[8]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[9]
The Guardian[10]
Observer Music Monthly[11]
Pitchfork1.5/10[12]
Robert Christgau[13]
Slant Magazine[14]
StylusD−[15]
Rolling Stone[16]

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.[17] In January 2007 it was considered the best new talent in the BBC's Sound of 2007 music poll.[18] About 130 music critics and broadcasters from the UK agreed that Mika was the sound of 2007.[3]

It has received highly polarized reviews, earning one star from The Guardian[19] and four stars in the London Evening Standard.[20] The album received 1 out of 10 from the Drowned in Sound website,[21] and prompted Brian May of Queen, a fan of Mika, to criticise the website[22] for making unnecessary personal attacks at Mika.[23][24]

Release

The original version of the album, released in the United Kingdom and Europe on 5 February 2007, contains a total of twelve tracks, including the hidden track "Over My Shoulder" and the bonus track "Ring Ring". It also includes an enhanced section, with links to music videos and live performances, as well as other exclusive content. The version released via the iTunes Store in Europe featuring three additional acoustic recordings as bonus tracks. The American version of the album, released on 27 March 2007, is essentially the same as the British release, however, it includes the exclusive bonus track "Erase", not included on the original release. American versions of the album bought at Best Buy stores also carry two exclusive bonus tracks - acoustic versions of "Love Today" and "Satellite", while the American iTunes Store version also includes an exclusive acoustic version of "Grace Kelly". The version of the album released in Japan is essentially the same as the original British release, however, it also includes the American exclusive track "Erase", as well as the Japanese exclusive track "Your Sympathy", as well an enhanced element containing the music video for "Grace Kelly".

The demo version of the album, issued to media journalists and critics, has a very different track listing than any of the main versions of the albums. It does not include the tracks "Lollipop", "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)" and "Over My Shoulder", but does include the Japanese only bonus track "Your Sympathy", as well as including "Gave It All Away", Mika's original version of the track, before it was given to Boyzone. Mika's version had never appeared on any other release, until the release of the Asian Tour Edition in March 2008, which includes the eleven standard tracks from the British album, the European bonus track "Ring Ring", "Gave It All Away" from the demo version, "Erase" from the American version, "Your Sympathy" from the Japanese edition, and the B-side recordings "Satellite", "One Lonely One" and "Instant Martyr". The album was also packed with a bonus disc, including six acoustic recordings, four live recordings, and the single mix of "Happy Ending".

Charts performances

The album had a lot of success in Europe, it charted in all the charts and had certifications in most of them, the album actually has 1,650,000 sales in United Kingdom and 1,450,000 sales in France the countries where the album had biggest success. The album is 5 times platinum in Belgium and 2 times platinum in Switzerland, 3 times platinum in Ireland, the album also has gold and platinum awards in Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Serbia, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark, Germany and Greece. The album also charted in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and the rest of European countries. In Asia the album was certificated in Lebanon, Japan, China and South Korea but charted in most countries. In Oceania the album was 2 times platinum in Australia and gold in New Zealand. In America the album was 2 times platinum in Canada and has more or less 500,000 sales in the United States. The album has gold and platinum awards in 32 countries worldwide, and has approximately 7.9 million sales.

Track listing

All songs produced by Greg Wells.

Standard edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Grace Kelly"
  • Mika
  • Jodi Marr
  • John Merchant
  • Dan Warner
3:07
2."Lollipop"Mika3:03
3."My Interpretation"
3:35
4."Love Today"Mika3:55
5."Relax, Take It Easy"
4:30
6."Any Other World"Mika4:19
7."Billy Brown"Mika3:14
8."Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)"Mika4:08
9."Stuck in the Middle"Mika4:08
10."Happy Ending"Mika4:45
11."Over My Shoulder" (hidden track)Mika4:45

Personnel

  • Mika – lead vocals, piano, keyboards, guitar, backing vocals, percussion, programming
  • Greg Wells – producer, mixer, guitar, bass, drums, programming, percussion, keyboards
  • Tim Pierce – guitar
  • Dylan Schiavone – guitar
  • Lyle Workman – guitar
  • Dan Rothchild – bass
  • Matt Chamberlain – drums
  • Derek Cintron – percussion
  • Fabien-Waltmann – programming
  • Backing vocals by: Zuleika Penniman, Paloma Penniman, Fortuné Penniman, Audrey Moukataff, Alexander Millar and Ida Falk

Orchestra

  • Larry Corbett – cello
  • Lee Thornburg – horns
  • The Spoon Orchestra of Chiswick – orchestra
  • Studio Gospel Choir – backing vocals
  • Maxi Anderson – choir leader
  • Paul Buckmaster – string arrangement
  • Jerry Hey – brass arrangement

Production

  • Jodi Marr – producer, percussion
  • John Merchant – producer, recording engineer
  • Joe Zook – recording engineer
  • Carlos Alvarez – recording engineer
  • Joe Chiccarelli – recording engineer
  • Chris Nicoladies – recording engineer
  • Drew Pearson – recording engineer

Charts and certifications

References

  1. ↑ "Mika Biography". BBC News Online. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  2. ↑ International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (2007). "Top 50 Global Best Selling Albums" (PDF). ifpi.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 January 2011. Retrieved 2008-09-03.
  3. 1 2 Mika's Rise and Shine Archived 15 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine. OhMyNews.com. Retrieved 14 February 2007.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Q&A: Mika, the latest singing sensation from across the pond Associated Press. 5 April 2007. Retrieved 13 April 2008.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Miriam Zendle Interview with Mika Digital Spy. 16 October 2006. Retrieved 13 April 2008.
  6. ↑ Linda McGee Mika - Life in Cartoon Motion RTÉ. Retrieved 13 April 2008.
  7. ↑ "AllMusic review".
  8. ↑ "Drowned in Sound review".
  9. ↑ "Entertainment Weekly review". 30 March 2007.
  10. ↑ Petridis, Alexis (2 February 2007). "The Guardian review". London.
  11. ↑ McLean, Craig (21 January 2007). "Observer review". The Guardian. London.
  12. ↑ "Pitchfork Media review".
  13. ↑ "Consumer Guide Review".
  14. ↑ "Slant Magazine review". Archived from the original on 30 September 2007.
  15. ↑ "Stylus review". Archived from the original on 10 May 2012.
  16. ↑ "Rolling Stone review".
  17. ↑ "Mika:Life In Cartoon Motion (2007): Reviews". Metacritic. CNET Networks, Inc. Retrieved 24 March 2009.
  18. ↑ Jones, Emma (5 January 2007). "Entertainment | Sound of 2007: Mika". BBC News. Retrieved 31 December 2009.
  19. ↑ Petridis, Alexis (2 February 2007). "Mika, Life in Cartoon Motion". Guardian Unlimited. London. Retrieved 4 February 2007.
  20. ↑ "CDs of the Week". Evening Standard. 2 February 2007. Archived from the original on 20 May 2007. Retrieved 4 February 2007.
  21. ↑ "Mika: Life In Cartoon Motion". Drowned in Sound. 5 February 2007. Archived from the original on 12 February 2007. Retrieved 16 February 2007.
  22. ↑ Brian May (5 February 2007). "Another Nasty Piece of Work". www.brianmay.com. Archived from the original on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2008.
  23. ↑ Oliver Duff (6 February 2007). "May springs to Mika's defence". The Independent. Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 11 January 2008.
  24. ↑ "Brian May in DiS-hating shocker!". Drowned in Sound. 7 February 2007. Retrieved 11 January 2008.
  25. ↑ "MIKA (8) - Life In Cartoon Motion". Discogs.
  26. ↑ "Life In Cartoon Motion". iTunes.
  27. ↑ "MIKA (8) - Life In Cartoon Motion". Discogs.
  28. ↑ "MIKA (8) - Life In Cartoon Motion". Discogs.
  29. ↑ "Life In Cartoon Motion". iTunes.
  30. ↑ "MIKA (8) - Life In Cartoon Motion". Discogs.
  31. ↑ "MIKA (8) - Various Tracks". Discogs.
  32. 1 2 "Life in Cartoon Motion [Asian] by Mika: Amazon.co.uk: Music". amazon.co.uk.
  33. ↑ Argentina. Universal Music Argentina.
  34. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Mika – Life In Cartoon Motion". Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  35. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Mika – Life In Cartoon Motion" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  36. 1 2 "Ultratop.be – Mika – Life In Cartoon Motion" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  37. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Mika – Life In Cartoon Motion" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  38. ↑ "Mika Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  39. ↑ "ČNS IFPI". IFPI Czech Republic. International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
  40. ↑ "Danishcharts.com – Mika – Life In Cartoon Motion". Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  41. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Mika – Life In Cartoon Motion" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  42. ↑ "Alternative Top 30". dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  43. ↑ "ALLOFMP3. Digital music". allofmp3.com.
  44. ↑ "Mika: Life In Cartoon Motion" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  45. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Mika – Life In Cartoon Motion". Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  46. ↑ "Officialcharts.de – Mika – Life In Cartoon Motion". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  47. ↑ "Greece". Ifpi.gr. Archived from the original on 27 October 2007. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  48. ↑ "Hungary". Mahasz.hu. Archived from the original on 2 February 2010. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  49. ↑ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 21, 2007". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  50. ↑ "Italiancharts.com – Mika – Life In Cartoon Motion". Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  51. ↑ "You Taiju: Life in Cartoon Motion". Oricon Marketing Promotion (in Japanese). Retrieved 22 May 2008.
  52. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – Mika – Life In Cartoon Motion". Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  53. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Mika – Life In Cartoon Motion". Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  54. ↑ "Portuguesecharts.com – Mika – Life In Cartoon Motion". Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  55. ↑ "Музыка KM.RU - Новости - Клип певца Mika лидирует на всех музыкальных каналах". Music.km.ru. 2007-07-25. Archived from the original on 2 March 2009. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  56. ↑ "Spanishcharts.com – Mika – Life In Cartoon Motion". Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  57. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Mika – Life In Cartoon Motion". Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  58. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Mika – Life In Cartoon Motion". Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  59. ↑ "Mika | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  60. ↑ "Mika Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  61. 1 2 3 Archived 25 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
  62. ↑
  63. ↑ "Winehouse and Lewis head charts". BBC News. 31 December 2007. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  64. ↑ "Decenium Charts - Albums 2000-2009". dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 8 February 2015. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
  65. ↑ "The Official UK Charts Company". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  66. ↑ "Mika estrena el primer single de "We Are Golden", su segundo álbum". LT24 Radio San Nicolágs (in Spanish). 21 July 2009. Archived from the original on 3 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  67. ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2007 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association.
  68. ↑ "Austrian album certifications – Mika – Life in Cartoon Motion" (in German). IFPI Austria. Enter Mika in the field Interpret. Enter Life in Cartoon Motion in the field Titel. Select album in the field Format. Click Suchen. 
  69. ↑ "Ultratop − Goud en Platina – albums 2009". Ultratop. Hung Medien.
  70. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Mika – Life in Cartoon Motion". Music Canada.
  71. ↑ "Guld og platin i november". ifpi.dk. Archived from the original on 7 June 2012. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  72. ↑ "French album certifications – Mika – Life in Cartoon Motion" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.
  73. 1 2 "Mika" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
  74. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Mika; 'Life in Cartoon Motion')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  75. ↑ "Top 50 Ξένων Aλμπουμ". IFPI Greece. Archived from the original on 2 July 2007. Retrieved December 23, 2016.
  76. ↑ "Adatbázis – Arany- és platinalemezek – 2007" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ.
  77. ↑ "Ecco il nuovo mondo di MIKA". TGCOM (in Italian). Mediaset. 18 September 2009. Archived from the original on 3 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  78. ↑ "Irish album certifications – Mika – Life in Cartoon Motion". Irish Recorded Music Association.
  79. ↑ "Shadan Hojin Nihon Record Kyokai Kakushu Tokei" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved 22 May 2008.
  80. ↑ "New Zealand album certifications – Mika – Life in Cartoon Motion". Recorded Music NZ.
  81. ↑ "Discos de Ouro e Platina 2007" (in Portuguese). Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa. Archived from the original on 12 December 2008. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  82. ↑ ""ЗОЛОТО" И "ПЛАТИНА" International 2007" (in Russian). 2M. Archived from the original on 24 January 2009. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  83. ↑ "Spanish album certifications – Mika – Life in Cartoon Motion" (PDF) (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Select album under "Chart", enter the certification year in the field "Year". Select the certification month in the field "Semana". Click on "Search Charts".
  84. ↑ "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 2007" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden.
  85. ↑ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (Mika; 'Life in Cartoon Motion')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien.
  86. ↑ "British album certifications – Mika – Life in Cartoon Motion". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type Life in Cartoon Motion in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  87. ↑ Myers, Justin (1 July 2016). "One hit album wonders – huge albums that were hard acts to follow". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
  88. ↑ "IFPI Platinum Europe Awards – 2014". International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
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