Mika
Lady Gaga has a very unjaded intelligence. It's brilliant, 'cause it's anti-snob.Collection: Intelligence
I'm fascinated by religion, but I'm not particularly religious.Collection: Religion
Some people say I've got a five-octave range, which is ridiculous. That would mean I'd sing like Mariah Carey or that alien in 'The Fifth Element.' And I'm nothing like that blue alien. I've got a range of about 3 1/2 octaves.
I'm not necessarily that big of a clubbing junkie, but I really like dance music as a genre.
I say I have a midlife crisis every time I start and finish a record.
The stage is my territory, my boxing ring. That's where I'm free.
New York is a bit of a dangerous place to me because you often leave in a blur.
I'd never compare myself to Freddie Mercury because I look up to him far too much. As an artist, not necessarily as a person.
I make mistakes. I say stupid things. I do idiotic things. And, quite frankly, I'm proud of them. Why not make mistakes?
I completely understand the responsibility I have in continuing the sonic style that I have created.
I'm not creating an enigma or leaving mystery, I'm just respecting myself enough as an artist to give myself room to grow and not to be devoured all in one go.
I was born out of classical music.
I never talk about anything to do with my sexuality.
Some people make records that are defined by their sexuality, but mine really are not.
I was quite the quiet teenager. I was a bit of a loner, a little bit of an outsider.
Sometimes I dress like what I want for lunch, because all I can think about is having a tuna sandwich.
I lack trust in others.
You never know which gig is going to be your last.
Melody is disarming. It's anarchic!
You can't believe the amount of speculation you get over your private life.
As a teenager, in my songbook, I used to script what my lighting would be like. I used to dance in my roo;, it was like putting myself in a trance, and making myself feel good about things, almost like a private ceremony of begging people to like you.
Most of the people who write pop music were outsiders at some time in their life.
They say shyness is a form of egotism, and you are only shy because you care too much about what people think of you. And maybe its true, maybe I am just an egotist.
I've always said in the press, I can fall in love with a man. I can fall in love with a woman. And I've always said that I have no shame in that.
I don't know where my father is from. I just don't. He's lived in so many countries.
Strangely, I feel that I become increasingly reclusive in my normal life and more open and candid in my music.
Identity for me is something that has to be played with and explored, and not become complacent about or uninterested in.
I was brought up in many different cultures, moving around all the time, and I find my identity in my songs. I project the identity I want to have throughout the songs that I write.
I think my music generally transcends a lot of genres.
I was always told that I was too strange or that I was too cheesy by different groups of people, like the record companies said I was way too weird and the indie people wouldn't even let me in their band.
When you're not part of a club, you have to find another way of surviving.
To me, being a classical snob in the highest possible way and being an indie snob is just as bad!
I can't just listen to music walking down the street unless I have a reason to. I can't just listen to music as a piece of junk in the background. It drives me insane.
My relationship with my mother is not cute.
I am terrible at relationships.
I'm dangerously generous.
I've never, ever labeled myself.
If I really like the smell of something - a piece of tar or my goddaughter's plastic doll - I put a tiny piece in a bottle with a label. I keep them in a fridge in my bathroom.
I'm not a great dancer. I know I'm not. But I know that I can move. I can throw shapes, just not in the right order.
You can't deny your limitations.
I love collaborating with strong women.
I am totally unapologetic about pop music.
I think, 'How could anybody mock a good pop song?' It is timeless; it transcends barriers; it breaks down every single type of social barrier that you can possibly have. It can deal with the most difficult subjects, even if it abstracts the subject matter.
My life isn't tabloid-friendly.
There's always apprehension whenever I launch anything, it seems. When I launch a tour, people are always, 'Oooh, is this gonna work?' And when I launch an album: 'Ooh, is this gonna work?' Or a new video. 'Really?' It's always like that - but I've always acted on the impulse that I have nothing to lose.
In the past, it weighed on me because nobody in my family is gay. I had no role models so I had to find my own way.
In my older songs, I used to hide behind fictional characters to deflect attention away from myself.
Oh, I'm quite harmless in real life.
I write songs to turn myself into something else. And then I become that, and I want to become something else.
The best way to make the most serious point in the world is to be as unserious as possible.