Mika: 'Songs For Sorrow (EP)'

The last time we remember hearing from Mika was at the 2008 Brits, when he performed an OTT hits medley alongside Gossip frontwoman Beth Ditto. Rounding off a highly successful year for the Lebanon-born singer, he took home the British Breakthrough Act gong that night and has been squirrelling away ever since on the follow-up to his chart-topping debut Life In Cartoon Motion.

However, things have clearly changed over the last 12 months for poor Mika, because this EP showcases an entirely different artist from the one who came into our lives high-kicking and screaming in falsetto. 'Lady Jane' is a maudlin piano ballad that sees the wiry singer doing a pretty feeble Freddie Mercury impression. He tinkles the ivories again on 'Lonely Alcoholic', which is even more self-indulgent ("I'm a mediocre writer who sings all the time"), telling a ludicrously pompous tale of a single mother. The cod-Caribbean flavour of 'Blue Eyes' is probably the worst of the lot, all nagging cheeriness and gratingly jolly rhythms. Have the awards and fame gone to Mika's head? On this evidence, we reckon the answer might be yes.