If you've been casting your eye amongst the many 'ones to watch in 2007' articles that appear this time of year, then you'll have seen one name mentioned more than most. Mika, a 23-year-old singer born in Beirut and raised in London, has already got the critics very excited, and his blend of electronica and easy listening could well be inescapable throughout the next 12 months.
Indeed if Grace Kelly is anything to go by, it's hard to see where he can fail. Insanely catchy, it very obviously owes a huge debt to the Scissor Sisters, but there's more than a hint of Queen in there as well. Mika's voice is very reminiscent of Freddie Mercury, a fact he seems to acknowledge in the line "so I tried a little Freddie" before launching into a pitch-perfect impression of the moustachioed one.
Yes, it may feel a little forced at times (you can almost imagine a marketing man shouting "quick, we need a Scissor Sisters for those people who bought The Feeling's album"), but ultimately this is uplifting, joyous pop, perfect for the post-Christmas blues.
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