Mika - 'Life In Cartoon Motion' (Casablanca) Released 05/02/07

If there’s an unwritten rule in pop that every artists’ career begins an irreversible downward trajectory after playing Knebworth, then from the moment Robbie Williams walked off stage there after his third record-breaking night in 2003 record companies have been clamouring to find the “next” Robster, a pop star that can unite disparate musical factions into thinking he’s amazing.

Everyone from ex-Blue elephant-lover Lee Ryan to Celebrity-flop Matt Willis has undeservedly earned this tag, overweight suits all over London forgetting that Robbie was a true one-off, his cheeky/arrogant and exceptionally charismatic persona the like of which has not been seen since. Well, until now.

Because Mika is the pop star that the beleaguered mainstream has been waiting for, a Beck for the MySpace generation who will dominate 2007 like a particularly rampant giant chart-Godzilla. His back-story is worthy of star status in itself: Born in Beirut during the war (his father was once held hostage in a Kuwati embassy), before self-imposed exile took him to Paris and, eventually, London. It’s a dandy-like existence that has surely contributed to Mika’s restless, euphoric music.

Anyone within spitting distance of a radio will no doubt have heard ‘Grace Kelly’. Its mix of falsetto, self-referencing and the grand aura of Queen at Live Aid is clearly bonkers, but like half of Robbie’s back catalogue, it’s a song that will sell a lot of copies whilst sticking a middle finger up at the idiocy of the industry itself (“Shall I bend over? / Shall I look older? / Just To Be Put On Your Shelf?”). As with mostly everything else on the album, Mika sidesteps any accusations of ridiculousness by having a very acute sense of just what he can get away with. In short, he has star quality in spades.