Songfacts®:

• This is the lead single by pop singer Mika from his third studio album The Origin of Love. The song features Pharrell Williams and was written by the pair along with the little known FrYars, whom Mika found online. It was produced by Nick Littlemore from Empire Of The Sun. Speaking about the recording of the song, Mika explained: "This kind of collaboration is only possible when everyone throws themselves into it wanting to have fun and without any ego."
  
  He added: "This collective and open attitude was at the heart of The Origin of Love. It's an album about crazy love songs and tolerance. It was recorded in Miami and London but mostly in frYars' north London bedroom studio."
• Mika explained on the album's track-by-track video breakdown that this started off with him and Pharrell Williams working in Miami on a song that was called "China Boy''. He added that the chorus 'When I wake up, I feel better, and I pull myself together, I remember those two letters, It will be OK' was "very Pharrell," alluding to the "be OK" at the end.
  
  Mika referred to the song's breakdown as having "this silly moment," when he sings about, "no matter how miserable I am, it doesn't matter cause, I get the whole world to celebrate, and, that was the heart of almost everything."
  
  He concluded that, "it's not supposed to hit over your head," adding that it "can sit nicely next to 'Origin Of Love' and next to 'Lola,' even knowing it clearly has a more, you know, dancing intention."
• Mika explained how he came to collaborate with Pharrell Williams on this song during an interview with Blunt Talking. ''I think Pharrell had heard what I was doing and was quite intrigued," he said. ''He contacted me through a mutual friend and we met up and wrote this sad song called 'China Boy.' ''Then I took it to Nick Littlemore from Empire, we reworked it and turned it into 'Celebrate.' It was just happy chaos theory.''
• The song finds Mika developing his sound with the help of his collaborators. He told The Daily Mail: "Celebrate is the kind of song that is only possible when everyone throws themselves into a session without any ego. And that open attitude is at the heart of the album. You might recognise my fingerprints but it's an evolution. You can't stay in the same place."
• Lyrically, the song finds Mika celebrating life following a difficult patch. He told Digital Spy: "This single was me realising that I was happy again. I was that feeling that, f---ing hell, I can make this strange music that no-one else is allowed to make! I can still envisage Nick [Littlemore] in the corner high as a kite and Ben Garrett who I found on the internet making beats in the corner. It was crazy."