It seems like ages has passed since Mika took the world by storm with his debut album Life In Cartoon Motion, and to be fair it has been two years since it was released. 2007 was a huge year for Mika, with success on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond, but then it all came to an abrupt end when the last single from the album, the double A-side of Relax, Take It Easy/Lollipop, was released in December of that year.

Since then, Mika has been very quiet. But now he’s back, and preparing to release his as-yet-untitled second album. He released an EP this week called Songs For Sorrow which is meant to act as a bridge between the two albums, with the full LP due out in September.

Unlike some artists who release albums almost willy-nilly with little or no connection between them, Mika has stated that his second album is going to be a direct follow up to the first. He recently spoke to BBC Newsbeat about the nature of his new album, and how if the first album was him dealing with his childhood, this one deals with his teenage years.

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The Ivor Novello Awards are an annual celebration of the best displays of song writing over the past twelve months. It’s British biased, but also highlights songs from abroad which sold particularly well.

This year’s nominations have been revealed, and there is one woman head and shoulders above the rest. Amy Winehouse has managed to secure three nominations, two of which are in one category. All despite Back To Black, the album that the songs come from, having been out for over two years.

Winehouse has Love is A Losing Game and You Know I’m No Good both up for best song of the year, where she will compete with Ben’s Brother for their top 40 hit Let Me Out.

Rehab, which actually won the award for best contemporary song last year, is up for best selling British song this time around. Winehouse will be competing with Beyonce and Shakira for Beautiful Liar, and Mika’s Grace Kelly.

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Some of the bloggers here on the b5 music channel decided to record our Soundtrack For A Day yesterday. This could take different forms, be it all the songs you listened to on that day, a selection from certain moments, or a particular album.

I decided to stick my media player on random and note down the first 50 songs it played, and here is the result.

As a full time blogger who works from home, music is very important to me as it can change the mood of my day. Pressing the random button is therefore a bit of a gamble but this time it didn’t let me down.

Notice the amount of British songs in the collection! That’s not engineered in any way, just proof that that is where my big love in music lies. There are also some brilliant American and Irish bands in there too, and of course, Abba…

Stereophonics - Mr Writer
The Feeling - Join With Us
Foo Fighters - Times Like These
Art Brut - Stand Down
The Killers - On Top
Coldplay - Spies
The Kooks - Got No Love
Radiohead - Videotape
The Hoosiers - Worried About Ray
Maximo Park - By The Monument
The Jam - All Around The World
Girls Aloud - Long Hot Summer
Snow Patrol - Gleaming Auction
Jimi Hendrix - House Burning Down
Therapy? - Knives
Tricky - Ponderosa
Lily Allen - Everything’s Just Wonderful
The Rolling Stones - Honky Tonk Woman
Linkin Park - Nobody’s Listening
Rage Against The Machine - People Of The Sun
Nina Simone - Feeling Good
REM - It’s The End Of The World As We Know It
The Young Knives - Another Hollow Line
Paul Simon - The Boy In The Bubble
The Specials - Too Much Too Young

See the second half of my 50 song list after the cut…

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8pm - Mika opens the show with his distinct brand of high pitched camp goodness. There’s no flashy backgrounds or staging, with the focus seeming to be on his actual singing, and stage presence instead. Which is a refreshing change.

Beth Ditto arrives on stage, and the two of them embark on a duet combining Love Today and Standing In The Way Of Control. Once she’s disappeared behind the curtain, Mika goes in to a bit of Grace Kelly.

Already I can see that the crowd is the combination of enthusiastic fans, and industry types who are just there to get drunk and nothing else.

8.05pm - The whole Osbourne clan come up out on to the stage, all dressed in black, and all looking fantastic… yes, even Kelly.

8.08pm - Chris Moyles takes the stage to present the award for Best Live Act. It’s a good job he’s on radio more than telly as he’s put more weight on, if that’s possible.

Nominations - Muse, Take That, Arctic Monkeys, Klaxons, Kaiser Chiefs. And the winner is…

Take That!

That’s a shocker, from boy band to man band, to winner of best live act. Muse have won for the past two years in a row, and I fully expected them to get it again, but there you go.

Gary Barlow does the speech, and is as down to earth/boring as ever.

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The Brit Awards are being held tonight at Earl’s Court in London between 8pm and 10pm GMT. They will be presented by Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, and while Brit Music Scene won’t actually be present at the event, we will be live blogging it all from the comfort of our armchair.

The nominations were announced back in January, and you can check them out in full here, and then decide who you think deserves to win an award for their efforts over the past year.

I personally hope Mark Ronson, Mika, Take That, Arctic Monkeys and Muse all walk away as winners, but unfortunately its not up to me alone.

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The nominations for this year’s Brit awards have been revealed, and the wealth of nominees prove conclusively what a great year for British music 2007 was.

The Brit awards ceremony will be held at Earl’s Court in London on February 20th, and be hosted by Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne.

The front runners for awards this year are Leona Lewis, Mika, and Take That, all of whom are up for four awards each.

Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, Kate Nash and Mark Ronson are all up for three awards each, while Mercury Music Prize winners Klaxons will be fighting for two.

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The Vodafone Live awards are one of those small awards ceremonies that is quickly getting bigger and getting more attention. They’re still not on the scale of The Brits or anything, but it ended up being a good show, and the list of winners ticks virtually every box for me. Here are the full list…

Best Live Male: Mika
Best Live Female: Amy Winehouse
Live Impact 2007: Gossip
Best Show Production: Kylie Minogue
Best Live Return: The Police
Best Live Music DVD: Oasis: ‘Morning Glory - A Classic Album’
Best Live Music Venue: Wembley Stadium
XFM Live Breakthrough Act: Klaxons
Channel 4 Festival of the Year: Glastonbury
Kerrang! Live Unsigned Act: The Flaming Monkeys
Best International Live Act: The Killers
Sony Ericsson Tour of the Year: Muse
Best Roadie: Geoff Buckley [roadie for James]
Freddie Mercury Lifetime Achievement Award in Live Music: Iggy Pop

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Mika has re-recorded his recent hit single ‘Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)‘ for the American television show Ugly Betty.

In the new version, Mika has changed the chorus lyrics from “Hey big girl, you are beautiful” to “Hey Betty, you are beautiful“. A subtle change I’m sure you’ll agree… hmm.

The song has been reworked to help promote the second series of the show starring America Ferrera. Mika recently told The Sun:-

“Betty is a real fashion icon and we should celebrate anyone like her - genuine individuals who stay true to their own identity.”

“That’s what ‘Big Girl’ is all about so it was the perfect fit to change the song for her. It was a huge honour to be asked to do it. I love the show.“

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The brilliant Kate Nash finally makes it to number one… but it’s her album which manages it rather than a single. Her debut album ‘Made of Bricks’ which was rush released due to the phenomenal success of ‘Foundations’ has newly entered the charts at number 1, and I’m as pleased as punch for Ms Nash.

The single ‘Foundations’ was kept from the top spot week after week, first by Rihanna and her stinking ‘Umbrella’ and then by Timbaland with his grammatical error laden hit ‘The Way I Are’. No such misfortune for her debut long player though as it sits at the top of the Official UK Album Chart where it belongs.

I’ll be reviewing the album this week, so be sure to check back for my verdict (although maybe you can already tell it’s going to be positive).

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Kleerup Featuring Robyn have entered the Official UK Charts this week, going straight in at number one. The song called ‘With Every Heartbeat’ is an electro dance inspired monologue which isn’t the kind of song I expect to see go number one these days. I don’t really like it, although it is catchy in an annoying ‘Crazy Frog’ kind of way.

It just never seems to get going for me, and I’m sat their bored while listening to it. A bit like Marmite, you either love it or hate it, and it seems the record buying public are in the former camp. I’ll stay in the adult, grown up, real music latter group if you don’t mind.

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