Too much boy, too little knowing

Lebanon-born, London-based singer-songwriter Mika took the world by storm in 2007 with his debut album, “Life in Cartoon Motion,” and rightly so – he struck gold in finding the balance between Freddie Mercury theatrics and pure pop hooks.

For all its bubblegum goodness, that album maintained a level of sophistication that set him apart from his contemporaries.

Unfortunately, his follow-up disc, “The Boy Who Knew Too Much,” comes off as a bizarrely backward-thinking pop record that thinks its maker is far younger than he is. The presence of the word “boy” in the album’s title as well as two song titles hint at this misplaced juvenility.

The balance of styles that was so successful on the debut is gone; Mika now sounds afraid to embrace either, and the album is generally underwhelming considering the perfection he is capable of making.

This isn’t to say the album is without merit. There are great songs, namely “I See You,” “Good Gone Girl” and “Toy Boy.” It’s that the moments of mediocrity far outweigh those of greatness.