''The Boy Who Knew Too Much'' is the second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by singer

Mika Mika is a given name, a nickname and a surname. Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People known just as Mika * Mika (singer) (born 1983), Lebanese-born British singer-songwriter Michael Penniman, Jr. * Mika (footbal ...

. It was released on 21 September 2009, under

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

Universal Republic Republic Records is a New York City–based American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). It was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially an ...

in the United States and

Island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

in the United Kingdom.

Background

Mika worked with producer

Greg Wells Greg Wells is a Canadian musician, record producer, songwriter and audio engineer. Wells has songs on over 130 million albums sold. He has worked with John Legend, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ariana Grande, Jazmine Sullivan, Kid Cudi, Adele, Rufus Wai ...

, who also produced his debut album ''

Life in Cartoon Motion ''Life in Cartoon Motion'' is the debut album released by British recording artist Mika. The album was produced by Greg Wells, mixed by Wells, with co-production on two songs by Jodi Marr and John Merchant. The album was released via Casablanca ...

''. The album was written in

Olympic Studios Olympic Studios was a renowned British independent commercial recording studio based in Barnes, London. It is best known for its recordings of many artists throughout the late 1960s to the first decade of the 21st century, including Jimi Hendr ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, which began in June 2008. In September 2008 he moved to Rocket Carousel Studios,

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, where the album was recorded.Allen, Matt (1 June 2009).
Exclusive: Mika's Second Coming
",

Q Magazine ''Q'' was a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1986 by broadcast journalists Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who were presenters of the BBC television music series ''The Old Grey Whistle Test''. '' ...

. Retrieved 2009-07-12. Mika has described the album's themes as dealing with his teenage years, and "in a sense is kind of part two" of his first album.Mazumdar, Tulip (9 June 2009).
Mika pens 'teenage' second album
,

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

. Retrieved on 2009-07-08. In contrast to his first album, which "contained innocent fairytales", Mika pitches the new album's songs as "gothic

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), ''Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ...

-esque fantasies." The album was originally titled ''We Are Golden'' after the first single from the album, " We Are Golden". On 20 July 2009 in an on-air interview with DJ

Jo Whiley Johanne Whiley-Morton (born 4 July 1965), better known by her professional name Jo Whiley, is an English radio DJ and television presenter. She was the host of the long-running weekday later weekend '' Jo Whiley Show'' on BBC Radio 1. She curre ...

, Mika revealed he was considering renaming the album, because he wanted "something a little more ridiculous." On 6 August 2009 it was confirmed that the album's title would change to ''The Boy Who Knew Too Much''. As with Mika's debut album ''Life in Cartoon Motion'', the album artwork has been designed by Mika's sister (who works under the ''

nom de plume A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

'' DaWack), the Australian illustrator

Sophie Blackall Sophie Jocasta Blackall is an Australian artist, author, and illustrator of children's books based in Brooklyn, New York. Early life and education Blackall was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1970. In 1992, Blackall earned a Bachelor of Des ...

Airside An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

collaborator Richard Hogg and Mika himself. The artwork has been inspired by children's picture books from the 1940s to 1970s.

Critical response

The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, based on an aggregate score of 70/100 from Metacritic.

Singles

* " We Are Golden" was the first single from the album. It received its UK radio debut on BBC Radio 2 on 20 July 2009. It peaked at number 4 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. *"

Rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...

" was the second UK and German single, released on 23 November 2009 in both digital and physical format. It peaked at number 72 on the UK Singles Chart, making it Mika's first UK single to miss the top 40. In Germany it peaked at number 56. It was released as the third UK single, on 15 February 2010. *"

Blame It on the Girls "Blame It on the Girls" is the third and final single released from singer-songwriter Mika's second studio album, '' The Boy Who Knew Too Much''. The single was released on 15 February 2010. The song was produced and mixed by Greg Wells. It is a ...

" was the second American and Japanese single from the album. It peaked at number one in Japan but failed to make any impact in the United States. It was released as the third UK single, on 15 February 2010. It peaked at number 72. *The song "Good Gone Girl" charted within the

Romanian Top 100 Multiple record charts have been inaugurated in Romania since the 1990s. The Romanian Top 100 was the country's national chart until 2012. Founded in 1995, it was a ranking based on the compilation of charts submitted by local Romanian radio stat ...

on airplay only, without being released as a single.

Track listing

Personnel

– vocals, piano, keyboards, background vocals, background violin ;Additional musicians *

Walter Afanasieff Walter Afanasieff (born Vladimir Nikitich Afanasyev; February 10, 1958), formerly nicknamed Baby Love in the 1980s, is an American record producer and songwriter of Russian-Chinese descent. He was a collaborator with Mariah Carey on her first ...

– percussion, keyboards * The Andrae Crouch Choir – background vocals *Lorna Bridge – background vocals *

Paul Buckmaster Paul John Buckmaster (13 June 1946 – 7 November 2017) was a Grammy Award-winning British cellist, arranger, conductor and composer, with a career spanning five decades. He is best known for his orchestral collaborations with David Bowie, Sha ...

– strings *

Matt Chamberlain Matthew Chamberlain (born April 17, 1967) is an American session musician, drummer, producer and songwriter. Biography Life and career Chamberlain was born in San Pedro, California on April 17, 1967. He began learning how to play the drums ...

– drums, percussion *Andrew Dermanis – additional vocals *Gary Grant – horns *

Jerry Hey Jerry Hey (born 1950) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Michael Jackson's '' Thriller'', ''Rock with You'', ...

– horns *

Imogen Heap Imogen Jennifer Heap (born 9 December 1977) is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Her work has been considered pioneering in pop and electropop music. Heap classically trained in piano, cello and clarinet starting at ...

– drums, background vocals, keyboard *Dan Higgins – horns *Alex Millar – background vocals *Audrey Moukataff – background vocals *Chris Nicolaides – background vocals *

Cherisse Osei Cherisse Osei (born 23 December 1986) is an English drummer. Best known for her work with the band Simple Minds, Osei has also played with a number of acts, including Mantas, The Faders, Paloma Faith, Bryan Ferry, Kelly Jones, and Mika. In 20 ...

– drums *

Owen Pallett Michael James Owen Pallett (born September 7, 1979) is a Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist. Under their erstwhile moniker of Final Fantasy, Pallett won the 2006 Polaris Music Prize for the album ''He Poos Clouds''. Pallet ...

– violin *

Tim Pierce Tim Pierce (born 1959 in Albuquerque) is an American session guitarist. He has worked for artists such as Joe Cocker, Crowded House, Goo Goo Dolls, Michael Jackson, Beth Hart, Roger Waters, Alice Cooper, Johnny Hallyday, Phil Collins, and the C ...

– guitar *Fortune Penniman – background vocals *Paloma Penniman – background vocals, additional vocals *Zuleika Penniman – background vocals *

Bill Reichenbach Jr. William Frank Reichenbach Jr. (born November 30, 1949) is an American jazz trombonist and composer. He is the son of Bill Reichenbach, who was the drummer for Charlie Byrd from 1962 to 1973. He is best known as a session musician for television, ...

– horns *Dan Rothchild – bass guitar, background vocals *Fabien Waltmann – keyboards *Martin Waugh – guitar, background vocals *

– keyboards, drums, bass, percussion, guitar *Ida Falk Winland – background vocals *

Lyle Workman Lyle Dean Workman is an American guitarist, composer, session and touring musician, and music producer. His music has been widely distributed since his debut on the eponymous '' Bourgeois Tagg'' album in 1986, and is known for his work as compos ...

– guitar

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

MikaSounds.com
– Mika's official website
Mika
on

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Boy Who Knew Too Much, The 2009 albums Casablanca Records albums Mika (singer) albums Albums produced by Greg Wells