Mika sent us a very personal email giving us the heads up about his latest video, “Make You Happy”:
Here’s the first song I wanted you to hear from my new record, The Origin of Love. This is not a single but a song I really love and wanted to share with you.
I commissioned a short film which I felt perfectly captured the sentiment of the track. The film was directed by Iouri Philippe Paillé and was made in Montreal. This is where the entire album started taking shape a year ago with Nick Littlemore at Planet Studios in Papineau.
I can’t wait for you to hear the first single and the rest of the album very, very soon.
Okay, so we have a sneaking suspicion Mika didn’t just send us that email. But we like what we hear so far. Check back for more info about The Origin of Love’s release date.
Mr. Enemabag Jones
A music video featuring zero gay imagery, for a song written by a straight singer. Why should I care, Mika?
Lefty
The song’s a little dull imo, but the video is particularly bland and seemed a bit old-fashioned with that almost embarrassed concession to a gay audience at the end.
Rio
@Mr. Enemabag Jones:
Isn’t Mika bisexual?
That aside, I’m a little disappointed in this song. I don’t know why he felt the need to autotune himself.
tigerflake
i agree with lefty. for an artist that’s queer-friendly or sexually ambiguous, (pretty sure he’s gay even though he went on record quasi saying he was bi), this is an annoyingly hetero-normative video. i kept looking for the gay couple. imagine how different this video would be if it was predominantly same sex couples and a token straight couple! the music itself isn’t forwarding any sonic agendas, either, and sounds like a rejected cut from a queer as folk compilation.
Matt
Actually Enema Mika is bisexual. Tigerflake who cares it was a nice song.
Chris
Actually there is a gay couple in it. Watch it again
Alex
@Rio: That’s a vocoder, not autotune. It requires a keyboard.
@Mr. Enemabag Jones: There were like two gay couples in it. Mika is bisexual.
God forbid there be any straight couples in a queer person’s music video. Why don’t we regulate his creative expression based on his sexual identity.
Lefty
@Alex: Well, Mika chose to email the fucker to a gay site, so he’s obviously not shy about “regulating” his financial interests our way.
Even a sizable portion of the mainstream straight media tends to be more inclusive than this, these days.
Surely the importance of representations of LGBT people in the media is an issue which doesn’t need much explanation here?
It’s not essential, of course – he’s entitled to do whatever the fuck he wants. But when a gay artist seems more shy or less inclusive about LGBT people than the mainstream media, it’s a bit of a disappointment.
There’s nothing wrong in saying that or demanding more… 🙂
Elton
@Rio: He’s only bisexual in the sense of being cowardly and not comfortable enough with himself to admit that he is gay!
Mika, girl please!
Mr. Enemabag Jones
@Alex:
I think you’re confusing the androgynous females for males. And I haven’t seen hide, nor hair of Mika lately to know whether he came out as bi.
John
he doesn’t like labels, it’s so hard to understand this? he told in a magazine that if they want, they can say he is bi, but that’s not entirely a statement. and he doesn’t sent a email to the site, he wrote this on his twitter for everyone read it.
jason
Mika is awful. The video is full of heterosexual imagery. I won’t be supporting Mika at all. I hope he flops.
Jonathonz
@Alex: It would be nice, in this day and age, for videos by LGBT pop singers to include gay couples in their videos about love. He had, what, 12 couples in this video and he sort of threw in a gay one at the end? I find it very irritating myself.
Jonathonz
I personally find it very irritating to see a video by an LGBT singer that is “all about loving couples” as this one obviously is and all we get is a token gay one, sort of thrown in at the end, like two guys kissing is embarrassing or something. I actually had to rewind the video to even see if it was two guys kissing at the end. Patrick Wolf recently had a similar video and all the couples were straight. I won’t support these artists until they can include gay people in their videos. It’s bullshit. Thanks for the invisibility Mika. Thanks for nothing.
Jonathonz
It’s a crappy song to boot.
Jay
Lefty-Mika is bisexual and an LGBT musician. I’ll bet you wouldn’t be saying this if it was Lady Gaga. People need to watch the video there are male/male couples in it.
jason
You’ve got to remember that British record labels are very homophobic. They will filter out any video that shows male-male couples.
Kodes100
Love, love love Mika’s MAKE YOU HAPPY! You have a HIT on your hands Mika!
There is a gay couple at 2:56.
Kudos Mika!
Stand up against bullies – especially at the MFC. Young Mika fans should be & feel safe at the Mika Fan Club. Learn to play nice with others moderator “C.”
jason
You can barely see the gay male couple. If you blink, you’ll miss it. The video seems to have been edited so as to make the gay male couple obscure while playing up all the other combinations. It’s a form of homophobia.
I won’t be buying anything from this travesty Mika.
Isaiah
because it’s a great song. Everything doesn’t have to be gay.
Katia
How disappointing to see how art of someone so talented is judged by their sexuality or their choice not to be included in rules, the video is beautiful and the debate here just sees if there are gays or straights it, disappointing to see that it matters.
The low vision of people today are doing that prejudice increases, and the enormous progress achieved by people who are heroes like Mr. Milk become forgotten, Mika is not militant, he is a talented artist, and has all my respect, another thing that goes forgotten lately.
Bailey
yay! another no-talent overly autotuned poser.
Mari
@Katia: X!!!!! THE ONLY INTELLIGENT COMMENT HERE ,THANKS! 😉
He’s a f*cking genius ,envious! 😛
Kodes100
If you want to be angry at something be angry at the bullying going on at the Mika Fan Club. This going on about Mika’s so-called ambiguity about his sexuality is nonsense. Mika is not a closet case! He hates labels in every part of his life.
The bullying gainst women at the MFC is something that can be STOPPED.
I love MAKE YOU HAPPY!
Kudos Mika!
LilMissGolden
OMFG PEOPLE!!! -,- why are you so annoying?? He is amazing singer and make unique music. And that is important… MUSIC!!! Just say if you like song or not…
I LOVE THIS SONG!!! *fungurling*
The Lady
I saw one couple that was definitely male/male and one that was either male/male or so androgynous as to be undecipherable.
Why can’t couples just be couples? The video is about pairs of people and making one another happy, not sexual politics.
The song is a pretty interesting evolution of what’s always been Mika’s trademark sound – infectious eargrabbing pop that you find yourself humming at unexpected times. I rather like it, even though it’s very different from my usual tastes.
Lefty
@The Lady: “Why can’t couples just be couples?”
Because the vast majority of the world treats the sight of gay couples as, at best, a little odd and, at worst, something to physically/verbally attack or worse.
I’m surprised the importance of gay representations in the media (esp. by gay artists who you’d naturally expect to be more sympathetic and sophisticated with those representations) needs any explanation on a gay website.
In an ideal world it shouldn’t matter, but you try walking around the streets of any city or town anywhere in the world, holding the hand of someone who just happens to be the same gender as you and then come back and ask us “Why can’t couples just be couples?”.
We don’t live in an ideal world yet, that’s why…
Lefty
@Kodes100: Who’s bullying women on the MFC and why are they bullying them?
The Lady
@Lefty: I live in the deep south, in a VERY small town (under 2K people). I walk around with my girlfriend all the time. Perhaps because we act like it’s normal, and not OMGHOMOHANDHOLDING we get treated as though we’re normal. Yeah, we’re lucky we live in the US and not somewhere with sharia law, but still.
I do see two gay couples in the video, first clear shot at about :34 and then again at :46. Different couples, even. Maybe the problem isn’t under-representation, but that in the video it’s normalized, so your brain is so trained to heteronormativity by OTHER media, you have to actually look at the quick flashes to see that it’s anything other than what you expect to see in a video.
Lefty
@The Lady: Hmmm, you seem to suggest that gay couples who are faced with homophobia for public displays of affection are somehow the ones at fault.
I’m pretty sure you don’t face homophobia because you’re lucky to live somewhere where people aren’t so inclined.
But good for you, I’m pleased.
I’m sure you can at least imagine that it isn’t so easy for most gay people around the world and this is why representations of gay people are important. As is coming out, for the same reasons, of course.
As to your second paragraph, it’s not so much “normalized” in the video as just a bit blink-and-you’ll-miss-it.
Again, you seem to suggest the fault is with us.
It’s a bit of a stretch, I’m afraid, but you’re entitled to your view, of course. 🙂
The Lady
@Lefty: Lefty, I certainly don’t mean to suggest that it’s anyone’s fault other than the person holding the intolerant view.
As to spotting the couples in the video, i think pretty much all of the cuts are blink and you miss it. Because we’re trained by all the OTHER media out there that couple=boygirl, that’s what we see even when it isn’t true. I had to go back and watch it several times because the intercuts are SO chaotic, to be able to pick out the gay couples. Now that I know which they are it’s VERY easy to spot.
Kodes100
Why are there so many people bitching about the lack of gay represenation when the gay couple is shown three seperate times??
What the hell is your problem??
Stand up & protect women at the Mika Fan Club if you want something to bitch about & something important to support.Female Mika fans are verbally assaulted there!
Lefty
@The Lady: Fair enough. That’s interesting what you say about the video. That hadn’t occurred to me; I’m going to watch it again. Thanks…
@Kodes100: We’re not “bitching”, we’re discussing… :p