SO Mika, how does it feel to be No1 with Grace Kelly? “Slightly surreal!”
How has your life changed? “It's all gone Willy Wonka!”
How would you sum up your sound and style?"Psychobabble, schizophrenic, hyper-pop!”
To say that Mika is excited about the success of his all-conquering new single is putting it mildy.
But, as SFTW discovered this week, the tousle-haired dandy has also got his feet firmly on the ground.
“I would be lying if I didn't say it feels equally scary and amazing,” he says. “Although it looks like things have happened quite quickly, they've been in the works a long time.
“I've got a lot of music to deliver over the coming months and that's what I am looking forward to. Playing the album live through the rest of the year hopefully means there'll be a few more people along for the ride.”
“It was weird when I found out I was No 1. It was like an unreal dream.”
Grace Kelly is an insanely infectious song that fits into a grand glam-pop tradition, a little bit Freddie (Mercury), a little bit Scissors, a little bit Elton.
Mika ... life has gone 'Willy Wonka'
“It's funny because it's a song I wrote on my piano at home in about 15 minutes and its still so weird and exciting to hear it on the radio let alone having other people buy it! It's all got quite silly so I'm just going with it and having fun.”
Ultimately, the song the work of a singular, refreshing new talent, justifying “saviour of pop” claims. Furthermore, his debut album Life In Cartoon Motion (out Monday) is loaded with future hits.
There's been much talk of the 23-year-old's upbringing, first in Lebanon, then Paris, then London, but SFTW set out to get to the heart of his music.
What, I wondered, did he make of the comparisons with those greats of popular music?
“Actually, Harry Nilsson is my musical hero. I'm completely obsessed with his early work. Its often overlooked but its absolutely amazing, whimsical, funny, dark, childish yet fully grown up. He's definitely an inspiration.”
As for being mentioned in the same breath as icons like Mercury, he says: “When you come from nowhere, people have to compare you to something and I'm just glad I'm being compared to people I really like.
“I aspire to the musicianship of a band like Queen, to be compared to Freddie Mercury in any way is a huge compliment. I've seen some similarities but I think its still early to make definitive comparisons.”
It all seems light years from the day Mika was rejected by Simon Cowell who even told him to stop writing. He has few regrets though:
“You really have to give him proper respect for what he's been able to achieve. He's a pop marketing genius.
“But would he have been the right person to make the record with me? Absolutely not! And I'm thankful I never had the opportunity.”
Another key aspect of the Mika package is the stunning visuals on his singles and album and on the official website.
Album ... Life in Cartoon Motion
He says: “I developed it very early on with my sister, pen name DaWack. I was inspired by artists who create their own visual world like Bowie and Prince. Back then album artwork was so important.
“These days you pick out albums and you can tell the artwork was designed to a formula — nothing to do with the musicians, just a means of packaging.
“I didn't want it to be about packaging. I wanted it to be very much part of a whole visual world completely linked to the music.”
So was it Mika's mission to shake the pop world up a bit? “My only mission is to have the freedom to make the records – I have no mission in terms of what other people are doing.
"The only thing I didn't want to be when I started was another singer-songwriter looking at his shoes making nice music for dinner parties.”
