The meaning of Mika’s “Grace Kelly”
Posted by admin on 13 Jun 2007 at 5:21 pm | Tagged as: meanings
- Cover of Grace Kelly
I had been hoping this one would eventually die out, but no. At least twice a week, someone still asks, “What’s the meaning of Mika’s ‘Grace Kelly’?” On the face of it, it’s simply another song about being whatever the other person wants you to be (an idea I find creepy in itself, but this is pop music not psychoanalysis). But when I read the lyrics again carefully, I wasn’t so sure
Why the doubt about something that seems so obvious? Well take the opening lines:
“I wanna talk to you.
The last time we talked Mr. Smith
you reduced me to tears.
I promise you it won’t happen again!”
Mr Smith? Who’s that? Why the reference to tears? Is this going to be a revenge song, à la “I Will Survive” or what? But no, Mika continues:
“Why don’t you like me?
Why don’t you like me without making me try?I try to be like Grace Kelly
Mmm Mmm
But all her looks were too sad
Ahh Ahh
So I tried a little Freddie
Mmm Mmm
I’ve gone identity mad!”
So this is someone, you don’t have to excuse me the expression as he uses it himself later, that is bending over backwards to please the other person.
Later,
“Why don’t you like me?
Why don’t you like me?
Why don’t you walk out the door!”
You know what? I’m beginning to wonder why too. As for,
“Humphrey we’re leaving!”
I can only guess what he’s referring to.
Am I being too hard on a pop song? Most likely yes. But I have to admit that the lyrics are confusing. With a little more work, they could have been better. For a while, for example, I didn’t make the connection between the song everyone was talking about and the song that I was hearing non-stop on the radio as the reference to Grace Kelly is buried.
Apart from that, I think it’s a fun, campy song and look forward to more from Mika.
“Grace Kelly” was written by Dan Warner, Jodi Marr, John Merchant and Michael Penniman.
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At the beginning
“The last time we talked Mr. smith…”
That is the singer’s name: Paul Smith
isn’t this a gay song?
I had assumed it was a bit homosexual as well. Maybe he was trying to be like Grace Kelly, the actress, which might be where the beginning line comes from (Grace Kelly movie perhaps? If you’ve never heard of her, she was popular in 50′s and 60′s, she was in Hitchcock’s “Dial M for Murder”).
Then instead of Grace he tried a little Freddy (Freddy Mercury from Queen? Lets face it, Mika does sound an awful lot like him).
I have no clue, those were just my initial connections when I first heard the song.
I’ve actually heard Mika give the real meaning of Grace Kelly. It’s actually an angry song, and was written to be so. It was written by Mika after being rejected by a record company and he went home and just wrote what was going through his head at the time.
The line about bending over etc. was to refer to him conforming to what they wanted from an ‘artist’ in order to be marketable. Hence the line “Should I bend over. Should I look older just to be put on your shelf”.
Go back and read the lyrics again, and you’ll see what it means.
Thanks for that. One of the big dangers of lyrics is that we read things into them without always having the full background.
I was told the song is about a Pedophile, Who wasn’t able to express his feelings (Explaining why he was talking to a child in his video).
IT IS NOT A HOMOSEXUAL SONG!!!
Sheesh, give Mika some credit!!!!
He says in an interview what inspired it-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS8w5FgsjUU
Loooooooooove this song!!!
i dont think that mika is gay but he has a voice kind of like adam lambert and adam is gay sooooo? and i have never heard a voice like that, that isnt gay for example queen
!!!!!!!!!!
love the sog soooooooooooooooooo much though
He’s very likely gay. And your point is…?
He’s definitely talented. That’s the point.
I have to admit that I have always been a bit uninterested in whether performers are gay or not. I just don’t have that particular curiosity gene. As Riand says, the talent is the issue. It’s a bit like the skin colour of footballers. At the end of the day, can they score goals (or stop them, depending on the position they play)?
Micheal
I wonder what’s the last phrase the boyish voice says after the woman like announces “Humphrey, we’re leaving”
I can’t understand it.
Sry for commenting offtopic but what wordpress template are you using? It’s looking cool!
It’s NigaRila, from the renowned Sadish. Last time I checked, he was available through http://wprocks.com/
Michael
the man’s voice at the end of the song, after the woman says “Humphrey, we’re leaving!!” …he says, “KA-CHINNNNNG!”
The lines spoken by Grace Kelly are from her films that’s why they’re in there hence the title ‘Grace Kelly’. So the first line is spoken which indicates that he wants to ask Grace Kelly (The Record Labels) why she doesn’t like him. He lists colours and emotions in the chorus to infer what he can be like, but shows he can be himself and will be himself by writing this song. The lines ‘Should I bend over? Should I look older just to be put on your shelf?’depict that he is being sarcastic by implying that Grace Kelly likes older men, in other words the record company is trying to say that people only by music sung by older people. ‘Bend over’ refers to the record label asking him to be more like the pop music as he sarcastically says this to show he will not bend over backwards to make music the record company likes and the reference to the ‘shelf’ describes the shelves in shops where his music will be placed
Thanks for the explanation. It’s interesting to read the various interpretations. This is one of the most popular threads on the site.
Michael
i think it means something like this:
okay, so Mr.Smith, or Mika, and the woman had a relationship and she wanted him to change himself for her well being in the relationship.
“I could be brown
I could be blue
I could be violet sky
I could be hurtful
I could be purple
I could be anything you like
Gotta be green
Gotta be mean
Gotta be everything more
Why dont you like me?
Why dont you like me?
Why dont you walk out the door!”
I think hes saying he can change to be anything in the world, but she still doesnt like him. He gets fed up and asks her to leave him, or in other words, hes dumping her because he realizes he doesnt want to change.