Global Pop Phenomenon, MIKA, Releases Sophomore Album, WE ARE GOLDEN, September 22

NEW YORK--(Business Wire)--
Multi-platinum recording artist Mika will release his sophomore album, WE ARE
GOLDEN, on September 22nd via Casablanca/Universal Republic Records. Produced by
Mika and Greg Wells (Katy Perry, P!nk), this record is the highly anticipated
follow-up to 2007`s LIFE IN CARTOON MOTION, which sold over 5 million copies
worldwide. The new album features guest contributions by Imogen Heap and Final
Fantasy`s Owen Pallett, and contains brilliant first single of the same name,
"We Are Golden," which will be unveiled with an exclusive first play on
England`s Radio 1 on July 20th. The song will also be streaming on Mika`s
website - http://www.mikasounds.com - that day, and a video for the track,
helmed by acclaimed Swedish director Jonas Akerlund, is currently in the works.

Life has moved in accelerated motion for Mika, a Beirut-born, London-bred
songwriter, since releasing his debut album in 2007. Claiming the space between
Freddie Mercury, Elton John, David Bowie and ABBA, Mika`s infectious songs - pop
anthems such as "Grace Kelly," "Love Today," and "Relax" - rocketed the singer
to international acclaim within months of his album`s release. Critical praise
landed squarely on his shoulders across the globe for his keenly-honed choruses
and unmistakable three-octave range, unlike any other voice in pop music. Award
nominations followed throughout 2007 and 2008, garnering Mika Grammy`s, Brit
Awards, World Music Awards, and the UK`s most prestigious songwriting honor, The
Ivor Novello Award. Fashion designers such as Matthew Williamson and Christian
Louboutin designed bright, dazzling stage attire for him to match his own
color-soaked, exuberant live show. When the dust finally settled - closing a
world tour in Paris, France, where he played to an arena packed with 65,000
people - Mika began to set his sights on his next record.

Following the age-old motto "if it ain`t broke, don`t fix it," Mika returned to
Los Angeles, where he made his first record, and loaded his recording studio
with visual inspiration, toys, posters, 60`s children`s books, trinkets and more
to create a world entirely of his own where the songs could grow. The resulting
album, a firecracker explosion of effervescent, gorgeous piano pop, shows Mika
building upon the strengths of his debut (every chorus is instantly memorable)
while expanding arrangements and styles to create a record that is even more
joyous and unique than his first. WE ARE GOLDEN straddles a line between
childish naïvete and world-worn sophistication; Mika likens this transformation
as the shift from childhood and LIFE IN CARTOON MOTION`s innocence to something
more akin to adolescence. As such, the songs on WE ARE GOLDEN are ebulliently
bold, embracing the mysteries, melodramas, adrenaline and vitality of one`s
teenage years to startling affect. The arrangements are bigger and more
beautiful than ever before, and the album is underpinned by an open-hearted and
accepting idea of what living in the 21st century means in all its
contradictory, complicated glory.

Title track "We Are Golden" opens the album with a chorus that could only be
described as "absolutely amazing," featuring a massive choir, defiant
declarations and a driving beat.. "Blame It On the Girls" marries skittering
percussion with floor-stomping piano and a swoon-worthy chorus, while "Rain" -
featuring droplets of violin plucks from Owen Pallett and additional programming
by Stuart Price - is a bona fide dancefloor anthem, Mika`s stunning voice
floating effortlessly over pillows of synths. "Toy Boy" features sweeping, 40`s
Disney orchestration, and "Dr. John" mixes a 60`s sunlit, hand-clapped chorus
with a plea for clarity from confusion. Indeed, from stirring ballads to
candy-coated choruses, WE ARE GOLDEN retains a breadth of vision that speaks not
only to Mika`s extraordinary melodic sensibilities, but also to the incredible
stories he tells within his songs. From Mika, we would expect nothing less.

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For more information on Mika, please contact:
Press Here
Linda Carbone/Jen Appel
212-246-2640
Linda@pressherepublicity.com
jen@pressherepublicity.com
or
Universal Republic Records
Serena Boyd, 212-841-8201
Serena.boyd@umusic.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009