What ‘Grace Kelly’ singer Mika said about viral TikTok challenge

NEW YORK – Platinum selling singer-songwriter Mika reveals exclusively to USA TODAY that he’s planning to mark the 20th anniversary of his debut album, “Life in Cartoon Motion,” which released in 2007 with the catchy single “Grace Kelly.”

“We’re doing something quite glorious,” the singer, 42, teases. “I can’t say too much about it now, but it’s going to go around the world.”

Mika, born Michael Penniman Jr., says that when he created the LP, he was “looking for freedom.” The artist was born in Lebanon, but conflict in the country forced his family to Paris. At age 7, Mika’s father was on a business trip to Kuwait and “effectively taken hostage in the American embassy” during the Gulf War. He was able to return home to his family after eight months. But Mika reflects that his father came back “a different person.”

“Our life fell apart in Paris,” he continues. Mika remembers his family piling into a Toyota Previa (“the most wonderful, ugliest car ever made in the history of cars”) and moving to London after the ordeal. “I got kicked out of school and that’s when I started doing music.

“I was looking for a way of finding color, finding love, finding joy, putting it into my life and then making sure that it would be part of my daily life,” Mika says of his debut album, released when he was 23. “That was why I wrote that first album. It’s as simple and as complicated as that.”

Mika comments on TikTok, ‘Grace Kelly’ duet challenge

Mika’s breakout single “Grace Kelly” recently had a moment on TikTok, as fans and celebrities took part in the “Grace Kelly” duet challenge by singing different parts of the song together. Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell even got in on the action.

The singer-songwriter calls the trend “fun” and says it made him giggle. But when it comes to TikTok, he has a hot take that isn’t related to any musical trend.

“Everyone who’s 35 and upwards gets on TikTok and then ends up spending money and buying stuff,” he dishes. “They’re all embarrassed but it’s true.”

Mika’s online shopping habits are not exclusive to TikTok either.

“When I found myself the other day actually considering to do a quick purchase buy of a perfume that I had not smelled, but that looked really intriguing on Instagram, I thought, ‘That’s it. I’ve hit rock bottom,'” he joked.

At least the singer-songwriter has his job to keep him busy and maybe keep him from another “nice raincoat.” Mika is currently traveling the U.S. on the “Spinning Out Tour” in support of his album “Hyperlove,” his seventh LP and first all-English album since 2019.

“It’s taken quite a few years to get back to the States just because of life and chaos, but the audience is so far has been remarkable,” he says. “Staying weird and defending weird, experimental pop with the most amount of fearless joy possible is not just a kind of manifesto, but a mission.”