It's perhaps hard to imagine now, but back in 2007, Mika was one of the biggest pop stars on the planet. His debut album, Life in Cartoon Motion, sold over 5m copies worldwide, with 1.5m of that total in the UK alone. But, as has happened in the past with James Blunt and David Gray, by the time the followup arrived, it was as if a collective shrug had descended on the record-buying public and 2009's The Boy Who Knew Too Much passed without fanfare (the album's third single, Rain, peaked at No 72).
It's in this context that Mika will release his third album, The Origin of Love, which he says is full of "crazy love songs and tolerance", and features collaborations with 22-year-old London producer Fryars and Pnau/Empire of the Sun's Nick Littlemore. Oh, and a certain Pharrell Williams. In fact, the four of them combine to create the album's first proper single, Celebrate (which follows last month's teaser track Make You Happy), a slinky, Daft Punk-esque ode to getting over yourself and having a bit of a laugh. "Once I get up I feel better and I pull myself together, I remember those two letters, it will be OK," sings Mika, a sentiment that's summed up in the video, as it cuts between a bad case of writer's block to a big rave-up at one of those New York loft parties that only seem to exist in music videos.
• Celebrate is out on 30 September.
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