Mika - The Origin of Love

There're fond memories of the breakthrough of Mika. Grace Kelly was an amazing pop song. Relax, Take it Easy was an amazing pop song. Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) was a not-so-amazing pop song. Despite its very much uneven nature, the Lebanese/French/British gentleman's debut album Life in Cartoon Motion was full of promise (even if Pitchfork and the Guardian seemed to have a tragic lapse of joy) and for a brief moment it looked like British pop music, in answer to Amy Winehouse and Adele, had its male equivalent. Skip forward two years to 2009 and his sophomore effort struggled to set the world alight. It wasn't exactly terrible - and lead single We Are Golden was just as euphorically catchy as anything - but it led to the fear that he was a one-off.

Maybe it's third time lucky then. Following a soundtracking duty with Kick-Ass, The Origin of Love sees Mika team up with Nick Littlemore (Empire of the Sun), Benny Benassi, Klas Åhlund (Robyn) and Pharrell Williams. With all the shits flung by Pharrell this year surely one of them has to stick?

In a moment of oddly forseeable instrumentals, album #3 opens with its title track and an upbeat, choir-led piano backing. "Like stupid Adam and Eve they found their love in a tree, God didn't think they deserved it," Mika reveals, before devoting the title to a romantic interest. It's an acquired taste. Those who might object to twee piano tunes should probably sprint away from the rest of the album (although albums #1 and #2 should've been fair enough warning), because 'Lola' is that and more: romantic cliches abound ("beg and borrow, cheat or steal", "like a fish out of water") despite Mika's protests ("What's the point in singing silly love songs?"). Benny Benassi pops up on 'Stardust', an unsurprisingly catchy and looking-skyward production that calls for all manner of confetti-cannon music video moments.

Not all of Mika's 20-teen remouldings are successful, however: the autotuned, repetitive chorus vocal of 'Make You Happy' is unnecessary and irritating, and spoils an otherwise fine single from him. The opening to 'Underwater' sounds glaringly similar to Adele's Set Fire to the Rain (which I'm aware is likely not unique to Adele, but let's just go with a recent example), and the whole aquatic/overwhelming love metaphor doesn't help to dispel that similarity. We resurface however with the wonderfully catchy 'Overrated', the first of two Klas Åhlund productions that draw perfectly on the electropop wonder he's helped Robyn to pioneer in recent years. It does rather seem, and 'Kids' is further proof of this, that Mika is most comfortable with a midtempo romantic track, and he's got a fun knack for cute, catchy pop.

But every now and then he tilts far too close to the annoying side of childishness. The whole storytelling aspect of 'Love You When I'm Drunk', coupled with the song's daft trumpets make it all very mundane and an endurance challenge. He goes a step further in sampling Popular from the musical Wicked for 'Popular Song', and introduces an equally irritating Priscilla Renea (who's written for Cheryl Cole and Rihanna, which might explain my ire). When he reigns in his camp sides, however, he's charming and earnestly fun: 'Step With Me' sees Mika planning to get married and live together for 30 years, over a sweet reggae-pop tune. The English version of his single 'Elle Me Dit', 'Emily', sees Mika reemploying the advisory tones he used on previous singles Billy Brown and Grace Kelly, and again it's all endearingly catchy. 'Heroes', too, is lovely. 

Regrettably, though, the album ends with 'Celebrate', that Pharrell Williams collaboration. The signs were all there (his Conor Maynard, Usher, Adam Lambert works this year), and inevitably it's a totally forgettable sub-Maroon 5 track. Sub-Maroon 5. Imagine that.

For the most part the album's engaging and cute, but lacks something in the way of personal reflection and revelation that is required to pull off a romantic confessional.

Rating: 5/10
Highlights: Overrated, Stardust, Emily, Kids, Step With Me
Avoid: Celebrate, Popular Song, Love You When I'm Drunk, Underwater

Artwork Watch: It looks like every ill-conceived Olympics logo font splashed together.
Up next: Noisettes