Relax, Take It Easy
| "Relax, Take It Easy" | ||||||||
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| Single by Mika | ||||||||
| from the album Life in Cartoon Motion | ||||||||
| B-side | "Lollipop" | |||||||
| Released | June 2006 (original) December 2007 (re-release) |
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| Recorded | 2006 | |||||||
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| Length | 4:30 (album version) 3:42 (radio edit) 3:38 (new radio edit) |
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| Label | Casablanca | |||||||
| Writer(s) | ||||||||
| Producer(s) | Greg Wells | |||||||
| Mika singles chronology | ||||||||
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"Relax, Take It Easy" is the debut single by British singer-songwriter Mika, from his debut album Life in Cartoon Motion. In the UK, it failed to chart upon its original release, but after "Grace Kelly" topped the charts in January 2007, it managed to peak at number 67 on the UK Downloads Chart because of download sales.
The song makes use of a melody line from the Cutting Crew hit single "(I Just) Died in Your Arms". In North America, it was released as the third single from the album. The song was released as Mika's sixth single in the UK in stores on 31 December 2007, and for digital download on 24 December 2007 as a double A-side with "Lollipop". This single peaked at number 18 in the UK Singles Chart. The song was also featured prominently in the movie Were the World Mine. It is also in the 2011 film Monte Carlo.
Mika described the story behind the song in an interview with the Sun Newspaper, on 2 February 2007:
"I always wanted to write a dance song that wasn't a really full dance track, that felt organic. So when I came into producing 'Relax' I made sure that most of the sounds we used were actually made by real instruments. We used some great session musicians who had worked with Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson. And we picked up the strangest pedal combinations to get all these weird sounds. It's really effective - you can't tell if it's a full dance track or really laid-back. It feels a bit weird electronically. The organic-ness gives a more classic field to it. So it was one of the harder tracks for me to produce, but also the most rewarding."
It uses the melody from "(I Just) Died in Your Arms Tonight" by the Cutting Crew. The song is an upbeat pop track with a disco-like bassline and a funky guitar riff in the background on the choruses, where he sings: "It's as if I'm scared/It's as if I'm terrified/It's as if I scared/It's as if I'm playing with fire". It is set in the key of F# minor.
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