The Lebanese-British singer speaks to us ahead of his two nights at QSW this week.
1. He speaks at least four languages
In addition to English (he grew up in London), a bit of Arabic (he was born in Lebanon) and a smattering of mandarin, Mika speaks French, Italian and Spanish fluently. ‘I do the Voice of France and [Italian] X Factor, but I didn’t speak Italian before the show – I learned it in two months,’ he says casually. ‘It was fun.'
2. His mixed background means he’s prone to mimicry
‘The amount of times I’ve had some half drunk Irish person want to smash me in the face because they think i’m taking the piss…But the truth is, it’s a reflex, I mirror accents in front of me,’ he says. ‘It’s really strange, because if I’m in a good mood I copy the accents around me. If i’m in a bad mood, my English accent gets really magnified and exaggerated.’
3. He’s been coming to China since he was 13
‘Every single time we had a holiday as a kid, my mother would take us to interesting places; whenever we had money to go on holiday we never went to a beach,’ says mika. ‘The first time I came to [China] was in 1996 – all three of my sisters speak fluent mandarin and lived in Beijing for years, so that’s partly why I spent so much time there. We were always pushed to explore because we don’t have that place where we’re supposed to belong.’
4. He owes his style to his mum and sister
‘I love and I work with my mother in this regard,’ he says of his look. ‘My mother started showing me everything from the new Valentino team, and they have none of that false pretense that you can get in fashion. They don’t stink of a perfume bottle is the way I like to say it.
For them, it’s really about telling stories, so we developed this entire thing, and for the last few years I wear Valentino, and I wear Valentino Couture, and it’s men’s couture, which doesn’t exist. And we tell stories with the clothes, and that finds its way into the album cover, which I designed with my sister, and that finds its way into my set designs.'
Mika is performing at QSW Creative Arts Centre on Thursday 25 and Friday 26 Feb.