GRACE KELLY - MIKA
Mika, a 23-year-old male Beirut-born jack-of-all-musical trades, puts a jaw-dropping, wild-eyed Scissors Sisters-meets-Freddie Mercury four-octave vocal imprint on “Grace Kelly,” which topped U.K. singles in January — based solely on digital sales. From its audacious howling-into-a-squeal falsetto opening verse — “Do I attract you? Do I repulse you with my queasy smile?/Am I too dirty? Am I too flirty?” — the cosmic uptempo production sounds like nothing that stateside radio has ever indulged. Polarized reactions are a certainty, given the self-proclaimed “operatic spoof’s” manic musical overdrive. “Grace Kelly” is surely atypical, conspicuous in its weird, ambrosial, hyperactive originality. We can’t even imagine what’s in store from full-length debut “Life in Cartoon Motion,” due in March. Billboard
