It's Mika I seek-a

At work a month ago I was setting up CD giveaways ("enter to win!"), and when I came to one by a singer/songwriter called Mika, I was stopped in my tracks. Oh, Mika! He was my ideal: awkward and shaggy-haired with a hint of non-threatening ethnicity. I was mesmerized by his headshot and captivated by the exotic history his press release revealed (not to mention the fact that he's gay as last Christmas).

I told my boss that when we got our review copies of the CD, I needed one. It was kind of a joke. I didn't even know what Mika's songs sounded like. To be honest, I didn't really care. It was just fun to ask every day when I got to work, "Are the Mika CDs in yet?"

One day last week there was a copy sitting on my desk when I arrived. I was kind of disappointed that the joke would now be over. Mika would probably suck, and if that was the case, his puppy-dog eyes wouldn't be enough.

But imagine my surprise when he didn't suck! Life in Cartoon Motion is a great album. It's all bubble-gum pop, but it's complex enough that it doesn't get boring after the first listen. And it's a rare thing when I can tolerate *happy* music, since I tend to prefer songs that makes me want to kill myself.

Since the album's release last week, I've heard Mika's first single in a movie trailer and I've seen the album in the "featured titles" section of iTunes. But I like to think I discovered him first.