MIKA

about the artist
Throughout his career, MIKA has crafted a world of gritty romance amidst the joy and playfulness of technicolored alternative pop. He's a renaissance artist of impeccable intention who's name has rightfully found its way alongside legendary acts such as Elton John, Freddie Mercury and Prince.
MIKA opened his pop career in 2007 with the defining single Grace Kelly, which went on to sell over 3 million copies worldwide and was the second British single ever to top the chart on downloads alone. It was #1 in the UK for 5 weeks and topped the charts in 6 other countries also.…
MoreThroughout his career, MIKA has crafted a world of gritty romance amidst the joy and playfulness of technicolored alternative pop. He's a renaissance artist of impeccable intention who's name has rightfully found its way alongside legendary acts such as Elton John, Freddie Mercury and Prince.
MIKA opened his pop career in 2007 with the defining single Grace Kelly, which went on to sell over 3 million copies worldwide and was the second British single ever to top the chart on downloads alone. It was #1 in the UK for 5 weeks and topped the charts in 6 other countries also. His debut album, Life In Cartoon Motion, has over 2.8 billion streams to date,
selling over 8.3 million albums and racking up 12.8 million digital track sales. The album went straight to #1 in the UK and 11 other countries.
His second album The Boy Who Knew Too Much released in 2009 continued the trend, making it into the top ten in over 10 countries worldwide and included the hits We Are Golden, Blame It On The Girls and Rain. In 2011 MIKA released the French language single Elle Me Dit which topped the French charts for 8 weeks in 2011 clocking up over 300,000 sales and becoming the second best selling single of the year in the process. The video featured legendary French actress Fanny Ardant and has over 85 million plays.
His third album The Origin of Love, was released to international acclaim in 2012 and included the huge single Celebrate, featuring Pharrell Williams, and US smash Popular Song, which was later reworked as a duet with pop superstar Ariana Grande. The Popular Song duet video currently has over 212 million views.
MIKA then conquered the hearts of TV audiences across Europe, appearing as a judge on the X Factor Italy and a coach on The Voice France, as well as launching his own television variety show in Italy, Stasera Casa Mika, which won the 2017 Rose d'Or Award for Entertainment.
2015 saw the release of Mika's 4th studio album, No Place In Heaven, to critical acclaim, created with long-time collaborator and Grammy nominated producer Greg Wells and featured hit singles "Talk About You" , "Staring at the Sun" and the iconic video for "Last Party" shot by Peter Lindbergh.
His 2019 record, My Name Is Michael Holbrook, was a sort of turning point for MIKA, a healing process. "I had a sense of urgency to transform pain into something beautiful and more hopeful," says MIKA. After writing the album in home studios in Miami and Tuscany over the course of two years, MIKA went to Brussels to record with producers Marc Crew and Dan Priddy. Together they crafted soundscapes spanning different decades of pop tracking the entire album live using vintage synths and enlisting all star players from around the world.
In 2019 and 2020 he took to the road once more, bringing the magic across the UK, US, Europe and beyond. He was part-way through his eastern leg when the pandemic struck and the world changed. But he still managed to keep busy during lockdown. Heartbroken by the devastating explosion in Beirut, Lebanon in MIKA decided to honour his Lebanese heritage by organising an online charity concert in support of the people of Lebanon and the victims of the blast. But this was no ordinary online concert. 'I Love Beirut' featured guest performances from around the world including Kylie Minogue in London, Rufus Wainwright in LA, Mashrou Leila in NYC, Laura Pausini in Rome and Dana Paola in Mexico City, as well as sending a small crew to Beirut itself to meet people on the ground. The result was a truly breathtaking film with moments of joy and sadness, hope and resilience. Fans tuned in from a record-breaking 106 countries around the globe and the concert raised an impressive total of over €1m for Save The Children Lebanon and The Lebanese Red Cross.
MIKA has also worked with world renowned composer and conductor Simon Leclerc to perform orchestral versions of his many hits, first with L'Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal in Quebec, followed by a special televised performance at the Teatro Sociale in Como, Italy and most recently with two sold out shows in October 2021 at the Philharmonie de Paris in France.
In May 2022, after a triumphant return to Coachella, MIKA had the honour of acting as an international host of that year's Eurovision Song Contest. The show was broadcast live globally from Torino Italy. MIKA dazzled the audience with a show stopping medley at the finale with audience figures reaching 161 million viewers, far larger than the legendary US Superbowl. He followed this up with a summer of shows and festivals across Europe, as well as spending months in the studio working on his next releases.
In February 2023, MIKA released his first film score to the French-language movie 'Zodi et Tehu: freres du desert,' for which he worked with over 160 musicians from around the world, including celebrated South African artist Nomfundo Moh and classical Berber musicians from Morocco. He also reunited once again with acclaimed conductor and composer Simon Leclerc, with whom MIKA collaborated on his symphonic concerts. The soundtrack marks a foray into new musical territory whilst remaining unmistakably MIKA.
Also in 2023, MIKA was a co-host, with legendary pianist Lang Lang and presenter Claudia Winkelman, of Channel 4 UK'a hit new show 'The Piano' which garnered number 1 ratings in its time slot and has already been renewed for 2024. He also continued festival dates across Europe and beyond, including Japan, South Korea, Morocco and stand out performances at Isle of Wight Festival and a sold out show in London.
MIKA has been nominated for and won awards from the Brits, the Grammys, the Ivor Novellos, Capital Radio, Q magazine, The NRJs, The World Music Awards, BT and Vodaphone, Virgin Media and MTV's Europe, Asia, Australia and Japan, amongst others. He is also the recipient of the prestigious French award "Chevalier dans l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres." MIKA has now sold over 15 million albums globally and has Gold or Platinum awards in 32 countries worldwide.
His newest release "C'est la vie" is the first single from his first fully French album to be released December 1 2023 via Island Def Jam France.