Mika is back, this time en français!
I’ve loved Mika dearly since his 2007 hit “Grace Kelly“, still a staple on every “happy” or “upbeat” themed playlist I have. The album on which that song appears, Life in Cartoon Motion, also contains the infectious “Love Today“, the is-it-or-isn’t-it-a-double-entendre “Lollipop“, the tale of “Billy Brown“, the gorgeous “Any Other World” and, of course, his ode to curvaceous ladies, “Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)“.
And we didn’t have to wait long for Mika’s return – in 2009, “We Are Golden” made clear that this man and his joyful songs were here to stay, and were only getting better. No sophomore slump for this guy; just about every track on The Boy Who Knew Too Much left an indelible impression on me, most notably “I See You“, “By the Time” (featuring the lovely Imogen Heap), “Blame it on the Girls“, “Blue Eyes” and “Toy Boy“.
I knew of Mika’s bilingual abilities, and figured it was only a matter of time until he released some French language songs. Here in the U.S. of A., non-English songs tend to chart lower or not at all compared to songs in English. Shakira figured that one out. Heck, even an accent can hurt one’s chances of topping the charts (that’s the only reason I can come up with for why “Pass Out” didn’t chart in the U.S., which I’m still mad about). Of course, you have your exceptions – Romanian novelty hit “Dragostea din Tei” comes to mind, and more recently, “We No Speak Americano” by Australian pop duo Yolanda Be Cool, which samples an Italian song.
While Mika may not fit neatly into the narrow constraints of U.S. pop radio, his new single is absolutely worth a listen.
In fact, “Elle Me Dit” prompted my move back to Grooveshark; I lost patience with waiting for this song to come to Spotify. It’s on Grooveshark. Spotify: so much more organized, such a better interface. Grooveshark: such better selection. Moving on…
“Elle Me Dit” is, in a word, joyful. If you’re like me and ne parlent pas français, you may not be able to sing along immediately, but Mika’s characteristic playfulness, which is all over this song, more than makes up for it. And dancing around your bedroom like a kid from Yo! Gabba Gabba knows no language.
Google Translate tells me that “Elle Me Dit” means “she said to me” or “she told me”.
And here are the lyrics (from lyricsnotes.com) alongside their English translation (in 3 JPG images)! Check it out!
So, that was pretty much a long way to go about saying that the song has a great theme as well – receiving some carpe diem-ish life advice from an older female figure, perhaps a mother or grandmother.
I’ll take this moment to descendre de l’Internet, as per the wise woman’s advice. Then I may just play this song and danse danse danse.
Tuneiverse 