Album Review: Mika - Life in Cartoon Motion (3 / 5)

Mika emerged on the U.K. pop music scene in January with an infectious radio friendly first single "Grace Kelly." The bombastic, hook-laden track drew instant comparisons to Scissor Sisters and Queen, and quickly raced to the top of the charts.

"Grace Kelly" opens Mika's first album, Life in Cartoon Motion, but sadly, the promise of that first single is not fulfilled on most of the rest of the collection. There are some other winners, notably second single "Love Today," which similarly dives into Mika's love for joyous melodic pop, but too many songs take the party a little too far.

"Lollipop" is a case in point. Mika sings really high (Jimmy Sommerville high) in parts, scored by piano chords, hand claps, etc. But with lyrics like "Sucking too hard on your lollipop," it's just too sickly sweet. Two other tracks suffer similarly. "Billy Brown" is a silly love ballad with a gay twist (Mika's own sexual orientation remains tightly under wraps) and "Big Girl," seemingly an inspirational ditty for overweight women, instead manages to sound insulting. Scissor Sisters like to have campy fun too, but Mika doesn't yet know when to quit. He doesn't sing these songs so much as hover over them like some sort of circus ringleader.

Back to the positive though. Some of the more "serious" tracks are fairly decent. "My Interpretation" is great piano-driven mid-tempo pop, akin to something we'd have gotten from Robbie Williams pre Rudebox. Frankie Loves Hollywood-inspired "Relax, Take it Easy" is good too.

But the serious stuff can go awry too. The strings on otherwise quiet "Any Other World" are so forward in the mix I feel like I'm being assaulted by them. "Happy Ending" swells to big choruses, but for Mika to be relegating the drama of a song to a chorus seems wrong somehow.

First albums can be tough if an artist hasn't formed a strong identity yet, and that seems to be the case here. Mika tries out a variety of hats--dramatic, campy, silly, serious--and finds that a happy medium is probably the best course. Hopefully we'll get more "Grace Kelly" and "Relax" next time out.

Best tracks: Grace Kelly, Love Today, Relax, My Interpretation