MIKA on Being Tormented by His Teacher & Finding Safety in Music
Great Company with Jamie Laing
Jampot
4.6 • 951 Ratings
🗓️ 14 January 2026
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
MIKA’s music is full of colour. It’s bold, joyful and instantly recognisable. It’s the kind of music that lifts you up and meeting MIKA, that same energy radiates through.
He’s lived a fascinating life, shaped by bright moments and darker ones too. In this conversation, we talk about the years before his success, the awkwardness of putting yourself out there and how, at his treasured white piano, he found a place of freedom where creativity led, identity didn’t need explaining and he could be himself.
We cover:
- Fleeing Beirut with his family after civil war broke out
- The teacher who tormented him and why he was forced to leave school
- How music became a warm ‘hug’ when everything else fell apart
- Turning up at Warner Music aged 12 with his demo tracks
- Celebrating his sexuality through his music
- Why embarrassment can be a force of good
MIKA’s story is a reminder that the things that make us different are often the very things that save us.
MIKA is Great Company.
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THE CREDITS
Executive Producers: Ewan Newbigging-Lister & Jemima Rathbone
Producer: Helen Burke
Assistant Producer: Issy Weeks-Hankins
Video: Jake Ji & Ryley Kirby
Social Media: Laura Coughlan & Anthony Barter
Great Company is an original podcast from JamPot
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Coming up in this episode of Great Company. |
| 0:02.8 | You don't understand that this is wrong. You don't understand that it's not your fault. So I shut down. He's an idiot. He's stupid. It's wasted space. Public humiliation. Bullying. I would literally put my head in between the two speakers. Put music on and put it as loud as possible. What to escape the... Just to feel... Yeah, something. I mean, that's worse than bad. |
| 0:23.8 | I didn't realize that that was not known. Hi, I'm Mika, and I'm in great company. Platinum selling pop star, Mika. Mika. Mika! Mika! Every single thing that was important in my life is associated to embarrass me. |
| 0:38.5 | Get out of here. |
| 0:39.1 | My mother's obsession. |
| 0:40.1 | Just try and get someone to sign me. |
| 0:41.9 | She said, all right, now I'm going to drive you. |
| 0:43.8 | And we're going to go to Warner Music, and you're going to get someone to listen to it. |
| 0:49.2 | She made me gate crash Diana Ross's Christmas party. |
| 0:52.4 | And I sang to Shaka Khan. What did that teach you? |
| 0:57.8 | I shouldn't even be saying this. When you talk about your mom, your whole body opens up. |
| 1:01.7 | She was extraordinary. One thing that I'm so happy about is that I managed to take her on that journey that |
| 1:06.8 | she always dreamt of. You losing your mom must have been so tough. Oh, it was so tough. |
| 1:10.7 | You said. |
| 1:12.3 | When I lost my mother, it felt like losing my compass. |
| 1:15.3 | I think we all kind of feel that at one point in another one. |
| 1:18.0 | If I don't have that compass, what am I going to do now to make sure I'm going the right way? |
| 1:22.0 | You feel life changing in front of you, and it's quite a scary time. |
| 1:25.4 | How did you know things were falling apart? |
| 1:26.8 | I was... |
| 1:28.3 | I was... |
| 1:29.3 | Hello, everyone. |
... |
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