MIKA GIGS

Mika on television

Due to massive structural changes in the music industry during the past 10-15 years the work description for any artist has drastically changed and become wider and these days it - in addition to making and selling music and doing tours - includes more collaborations, partnerships and private performing than before and - if the artist is qualified enough - sometimes also television work. Mika started his television career already in 2013 as a judge in X Factor Italia, maybe because he already felt the change, maybe because he could anticipate the scale of it and for sure because of his skills, hardworking mind and charismatic character that are all extremely suitable for television. His jump from purely making music to being also a television star seemed astonishingly easy even though I have never particularly felt he aims to be a star but that the television is another way to use his personal and professional skills in a versatile way getting more possibilities as an artist at the same time. 

With exceptional language skills and learning quickly more Mika has done television in several countries and several different languages. I rarely watch television but have always enjoyed watching Mika at his work, whatever the nature of it, and tried to find possibilities to somehow follow his television projects in real life and be in the audience for different auditions, bootcamps and battles and, if in any way possible to find tickets, also for live shows. Being able to follow Casa Mika in the studio meant also seeing Mika performing his own music and for The Piano UK it has been possible to see each final concert in festive concert hall circumstances, and for those reasons I have felt very committed to watch each episode of those two concepts online as well. Television has for sure made his life hectic, sometimes it's hectic just to watch him. I can still remember my busy travelling back and forth between Milan (for Casa Mika), Paris (for the Voice) and Helsinki (my home) and can't even imagine how busy it has been for Mika during years always in the middle of several ongoing television projects in different countries. 

Being genuinely international is one of Mika's biggest strengths so I summarised his television work in different countries below and added some links here and there as examples. I talk about the big countries Italy, France and the UK separately and the video links are from different official channels hopefully available to everyone. I have followed Mika's television work in all these countries from close distance yet it still astonishes me to think how fluently he's able to jump from one country and language to another with an extremely tight schedule which I have witnessed myself. Quite often French material is aimed only for the French audience and Italian to use only in Italy but personally I like it when Mika is more open about his work in different countries and talks about it and occasionally in concerts performs a song or two in a foreign language because he's one of those people who can and because the world should be more united over borders and it's possible for him to show that path. Having a deep knowledge of different countries and cultures is an asset for anyone, not something to hide.

X factor Italia, Stasera Casa Mika and hosting ESC in Italy

Mika's television career started on Sky Uno in Italy in 2013 with Season 7 of X Factor Italia together with Elio, Morgan and Simona Ventura and continued by Season 8 with  Victoria Cabello, Morgan and Fedez and Season 9 with Elio, Skin and Fedez as his co-judges. After several years of break Mika joined the X Factor Italia team again during the pandemic in 2020-21 for Seasons 14 and 15 together with Hell Raton, Manuel Agnelli and Emma Marrone. Mika has later collaborated with several people familiar from X Factor Italia and for example released Stardust with Chiara Galiazzo who won the competition before Mika joined, Beautiful Disaster with Fedez and Bella D'Estate with Michele Bravi who won the competition Season 7 in Morgan's team. 

The successful television work in Italy led Mika to host a television show under his own name called Stasera Casa Mika on Rai 2 for two seasons in 2016-17 which was an important and in every way an extraordinary achievement and something wonderful for us all to watch. I still often think about the show and what a unique opportunity it was for him and I'm still happy I could see most episodes filmed in real life. During 8 episodes of Stasera Casa Mika we saw Mika performing his own music, travelling through Italy visiting different cities and hosting, interviewing and performing together with many Italian and international artists and actors like Monica Bellucci, Elisa, Giorgia, Rita Pavone, Massimo Ranieri, Sting, Kylie Minoque, Rossy de Palma and many many more. We also saw artists he had or has afterwards collaborated with like Eros Ramazzotti to whom Mika has written music or Jack Savoretti who we later heard on My Name Is Michael Holbrook in Ready To Call This Love. Stasera Casa Mika was nominated for the Rose d'Or Award and the show won the entertainment category in Berlin in 2017 (my photos above and below from the award ceremony). 

A beautiful example of Stasera Casa Mika performances is One of us / Uno di noi which was one of my personal favourite performances both in the studio and later watched again and again at home. I still love the performance and think watching it creates a special moment in any day. In the clip you can also see stage elements by Studio Job that are familiar from the Heaven Tour and a custom-made Valentino suit typical for the era. After years of doing television in Italy Mika was chosen to be one of the three hosts of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in Turin, Italy, together with Alessandro Cattelan and Laura Pausini in May 2022. His legendary interval act medley from the Eurovision 2022 final was broadcast to more than 160 million people and can be watched here and the performance with Laura Pausini from the second semi-final is here. I love it how the latter one is somehow beautifully intimate even though the performance was aimed at a giant television audience. Mika's official YouTube channel has lovely Eurovision behind the scenes videos:  The Road To Eurovision, Eurovision Rehearsals, Eurovision Semi-Finals and Eurovision Grand Final.

The Voice France and Téléthon in France

Soon after starting X Factor Italia in 2013 Mika joined the Voice France on TF1 being a part of the coach team of Season 3 in 2014 with Florent Pagny, Jenifer and Garou and then continuing in different coach combination also with artists like Zazie, Matt Pokora, Pascal Obispo, Julien Clerc and Soprano during six seasons in 2014-19 and one more in 2024 that time with Zazie, Vianney and Big Flo & Oli and also being a part of the Voice All-Stars in 2021. His talents Kendji Girac and Whitney Marin won the competition Season 3 (2014) and Season 8 (2019). Again, Mika has later collaborated with some of his fellow coaches and released songs like Le Coeur Holiday with Soprano and Keep It Simple with Vianney. 

After following the Voice France every year since the beginning and after spending numerous hours and days in the audience the studio spaces, other people sitting in the audience, the whole organisation and Mika's long time fellow coaches and also the host Nikos Aliagas have all started to look familiar and I have always enjoyed the atmosphere even though of course the coach dynamics has changed during years Mika first being one of the youngest and later kind of a "senior" compared to several coaches younger than him. As an interesting detail one of Mika's talents from Season 8 Gjon's Tears represented Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2021 achieving the third place and the Eurovision 2024 winner Nemo, also from Switzerland, performed at the Voice France final together with Mika's Season 13 talent Gabriel Lobao, their pink performance of The Code being one of my favourite moments during the 2024 final. 

My favourite ever The Voice France performance must be Mika and his young talent Whitney performing Birdy's Skinny Love in the 2019 Final. Delicate, careful and absolutely stunning at the same time, an incredible moment already that time seen from the audience and still now watched at home. It's moments like that one that make the work on television seem worthwhile and makes me happy that Mika has had possibilities to show on television what an incredible artist, person and mentor he is. If you haven't seen that special moment, watch it here. During each season the Voice coach team performs together several times and we have seen many cheerful performances and if any of the coaches has new music coming they usually have a possibility to promote it and Mika has performed his own songs several times as well. 

After The Voice France Season 13 Mika told in French interviews about his decision to reduce his television work in France making me immediately excited and hopeful for his new music. That time he had already announced his big role as the sponsor of the Téléthon France which is annually broadcast during a weekend television marathon on France 2 and France 3. As a part of this big, established charity organisation he helped to raise over 80 million euros for research to help children with rare genetic diseases. Being able to watch his work during those couple of days of the Téléthon recordings was an extraordinarily moving experience. The families and children we saw in the studio had a remarkable, very special energy and just seeing him interacting with the families was incredibly moving. The combination of being totally professional and still totally open to different emotions is what we usually see when Mika is on stage as an artist. Occasionally it can be seen on television as well and it felt equally moving I have to say. Mika's Happy Ending Téléthon performance with the families and the kids in the background is here. During two days of recordings we saw many familiar French artists on stage, for example Kendji Girac who won the Voice in 2014 as Mika's talent, and Vianney who was the sponsor of the project year before and this time performed Keep It Simple together with Mika. 

The Piano in the UK

Even with helpful translations I often miss tones and details in Italian and French so being able to listen to Mika in English is always a dream come true for me. Before starting his television career in the UK Mika did The Art of Song radio shows for BBC radio 2 in 2016-19 hosting lovely and long, one or two hour shows often on Christmas Days, New Year's Days or Easter Sundays. He talked about music and details around classic radio songs and played a few piano covers and I absolutely loved the concept, it felt amazing to listen to his voice and his endless knowledge. A small The Art of Song playlist is here, one of my favourite covers still being You've Got A Friend by Carole King. 

As his first UK television project and as a totally new concept in 2022 Mika started The Piano UK on Channel 4 mentoring a totally new kind of show with Lang Lang as his co-mentor and Claudia Winkleman as the host. Each episode of the new series showed amateur pianists playing at train stations in different UK cities and from each city one pianist was chosen to perform in the final concert organised at Royal Festival Hall in London in November 2022. The concept was fresh, non-competitive and touching and became a huge audience favourite and Series 1 was continued by Series 2 and 3 Lang Lang continuing in the second and Jon Batiste replacing him in the third one. The final concert for the Series 2 was organised in Manchester and the final concert for Series 3 in Newcastle. I was able to travel to see the final concerts each time, the photos of different stages below, and also the Christmas episode for Series 2 that was recorded in a shopping centre in London and have happily watched every single episode broadcast on Channel 4. 

Those who live in the UK or have a suitable connection can still watch Series 1 & 2 on Channel 4. For everyone there are numerous official videos helping to learn to know the show. A special mention after Series 1 was given to 13 year old blind and neurodivergent Lucy who has a special talent for expressing herself through music and after Series 2 to an extremely talented young man called Brad who performed his original composition in the final concert. The main thought in the concept is to offer a platform for amateur pianists and to show the power of music in expressing oneself and even as a way to cope with difficult situations in life. Each personal story brings tears to my eyes but the charm of the show has also come from the chemistry and funny moments between the mentors/hosts and during each final concert it's been possible to also see the mentors perform which has obviously always been a highlight as well and Mika's performance in October 2024 was definitely among my all time favourite ones. 

In Canada and Spain

Mika has done some television projects also outside the three big (from his point of view) television countries. During the pandemic in 2021 he joined the Canadian version of Star Académie as an artistic director creating and designing performances and doing workshops with the contestants. This happened during the pandemic and in Canada but I tried to follow the show on social media as much as I could because the totally new role brought him a new kind of experience. Also, The Piano UK and its success has led Mika to do the Spanish version of the show called El Piano in language he learnt fluently during the spring 2024. Again, it wasn't possible to follow the filming of El Piano, it was recorded before the series was officially announced and there was no final concert like in the UK version but the awarded young pianist Marcos Castilla performed on stage with Mika in Vilacarcía de Arousa in Spain in July and that made me feel it was possible to follow a tiny part of the project in real life. After working with the other El Piano mentor Pablo López Mika was also a visitor in the Spanish version of The Voice, La Voz.