A message in an iPod

An American Idol contestant Josiah Leming performed last week a song called "Grace Kelly,” prompting notorious Simon Cowell to utter words one rarely hears from the mouth of the blunt Brit.

"I think out of all the auditions, that this was the one that I'm gonna remember."

The song by the Lebanese-born British singer Mika seems appropriate for the American Idol, a contest based on popularity.

It carries a message.

Mika's messages and style ranges make his music so appealing. As a relative unknown, Mika stormed onto the world music stage at the end of 2006. He has developed a significant following in his home country and throughout Europe since then. His repertoire reaches beyond superficiality of “Oops, I did it again” or “I want it that way.” And that's just his first album. The 24-year-old singer – whose voice is rumored to range three and a half octaves – joins a stale pop music scene, breathes in a new life and carries it beyond a catchy tune with often-repeated lyrics.



This song serves as an anthem for life's relationships – dating, marriage, or friendship. Awkwardly, a young not-yet-couple go out to a restaurant or a movie theater, making a careful chit-chat so not to frighten the representative of the opposite sex with too much of your real self. They crave each other's approval. To quote Shawn Spencer, a character from the USA Network series Psych, "This is my friend's card. His name is Gus. He is a good listener and is willing to change everything about himself for a girl."

Just listen to the lyrics:

Do I attract you? / Do I repulse you with my queasy smile? / Am I too dirty? / Am I too flirty? / Do I like what you like? / I could be wholesome, / I could be loathsome, / I guess I'm a little bit shy / Why don't you like me? / Why don't you like me / Without making me try?

“Grace Kelly” is a song about the pressures of compromising who you are to get where you ultimately want to be. Ironically, people gravitate to those with genuine personality. Very few can fake genuineness.

But the message in “Grace Kelly” isn't accidental. Messages are strapped on almost every song in Mika's first album “Life in Cartoon Motion.”

Another song, “Big Girl (You're Beautiful),” hasn't yet been released in the U.S., but it's been playing on radios all across Europe.



With media portraying women as thin, slim, attractive, smokin' hot, it's hard to find a song video with a dozen of buxomly thick-thighed women jump about in a London neighborhood, an image that seemingly promotes a healthy self-image for those who do not meet the beauty standards spilled from advertisement, movies, or magazine covers.

Big-breasted women with healthy level of self-worth are extraordinary in the media-saturated world that dictates what's beautiful and what is not. In fact, the message is so vivid and un-worldly that it often gets lost. A friend of mine – after watching the video – said, “It was interesting, but I didn't know if I should laugh.”