Singer Mika on new French album and promise of a ferocious future Beirut concert

The Lebanese-French singer says there will be a time and place for such show and when it comes it will be unapologetic

Lebanese-French pop star Mika closes the 2023 Jazzablanca Festival with a greatest hits performance. All photos: Jazzablanca

He was in fine form and even brought audience members up on stage

Nearly 20,000 people attended the three-day festival

Mika is preparing to release separate English and French albums

His Jazzablanca set featured hits Grace Kelly and Relax, Take It Easy

Mika performing on the main stage

Mika was awarded the Lebanese National Order of Merit from the Lebanese government

The Jazzablanca Festival is held over a weekend at the sprawling Anfa Park in Casablanca, Morocco

Mika has promised a "ferocious" show should he return to Beirut as part of his latest tour.

Speaking to The National ahead of his headline performance at Morocco’s Jazzablanca Festival on Saturday, the Lebanese-French pop star says the city’s gradual economic recovery makes the prospect of a return performance feasible.

Mika’s last concert in Lebanon was at the 2010 Baalbeck International Festival.

"I would like to think that we are getting to a point now that there is a little more buoyancy in terms of activities in Lebanon and people are moving around and spending money," he says.

"While things are happening, it is still a difficult environment to go and say, 'Hey, come see a show,' even if we don't charge money for it.

"Because there is still the challenge of creating a safe and good show and, at the moment, people have other important considerations.

“I do feel there will be a time and place for such an event and when it comes it will be ferocious and unapologetic."

That energy should be reciprocated by fans, considering his deep attachment to Beirut.

In response to the 2020 port explosion, Mika rallied international pop stars such as Kylie Minogue and Italy’s Laura Pausini, as well Mexican-Lebanese actress Salma Hayek, for I Love Beirut, an online concert film to raise funds for the reconstruction effort.

The emotional production – featuring testimonies from survivors and footage of the shattered windows and scarred walls of the Gemmayzeh and Achrafieh neighbourhoods – earned Mika the Lebanese National Order of Merit from the Lebanese government.

Juxtaposing images of the devastation with stories of survival and euphotic pop performances of hits Grace Kelly and Origins of Love, Mika describes the film’s approach to grief and loss as rooted within the region.

"I think it is a very Oriental thing and it's really important to be very proud of that.

“It is this strange duality that has been instilled within me and many of us from the Arab world, by that I also include North Africa and parts of Central Africa," he says.

"It gives us the ability to handle our sadness with a certain kind of delicious poetry. I know that sounds like a cliche, but I assure you it's not."

Mika is now trying to distil his poetry in different languages.

He says he is currently working on two new albums, one in English and one French, with release dates to be announced.

While the French record is a shrewd move, considering he has built a formidable fan base in France as a former judge on the country's version of talent show The Voice, Mika admits it took him a while to wrap his head around the concept, even with a fluent tongue.

"The first thing that will come out is the French album and its a very different kind of singing.

"I wanted to find my own musical language and a way of expressing myself without betraying my colours," he says.

"So, with this French album I am pushing myself out of my comfort zone.

“There would be cases where I would be excited about a song but when I sing them, I sound like a muppet and not credible. So, I would have to rewrite them and that's something that doesn't happen as much when I am working in English.”

As for the English album, expect the Relax, Take It Easy singer to develop upon long-standing themes of emotional growth.

He views his albums as therapeutic and welcomes the analysis of them from fans and the press.

"Their psychoanalysis has saved a lot of singer-songwriters money on therapy," he says.

"But I still love making albums and we do need to protect the concept. It's more than just one song streaming 200 million times online.

“Albums are about storytelling and if they are not protected then artists cannot write songs that way authors write novels. I think that will be really a shame."