Photography by M. Sharkey

When Life in Cartoon Motion, Mika's retro-flavored cotton candy explosion of a debut album, came out in 2007, it prompted as much speculation about the Lebanese-born British singer's sexuality as it did about the future of pop music. But after spending the past five years dodging labels, Mika announced this August that, yes, he is in fact gay, and that the songs on his new LP, The Origin of Love, are about his relationship with a man. The record's first single, the clubby Pharrell Williams collaboration "Celebrate," suddenly took on a whole new meaning.

Photographed at Mother at the Trampery in London on September 26, 2012