Why You Should Stan: Marina/Marina and the Diamonds
Marina Lambrini Diamandis, known as Marina and the Diamonds (now just Marina), is a Welsh singer; describing herself as an “indie artist with pop goals”. Born in Brynmawr, 10 October 1985, Marina was raised mostly by her mother as her parents got divorced when Marina was 4. At 17, Marina moved to Greece with her father and her grandmother; filling her days with singing Greece folk songs. After that, Marina found out that singing is one of her talents and started uploading her musics through MySpace, which later on found by some labels. Her family matters and past experiences became a huge impact on her songs. She thrived by writing her songs bold and full of silver linings, especially on her first albums.
The first song I listened to her music was ‘Hollywood’, which was my friend’s recommendation. The song was so catchy and I liked the lyrics, which tells us about how non-americans see the America. The second song I listened to from YouTube is ‘Oh No!’. Again, besides the superb music production, the moral stories filling the lyrics is what makes it even more enticing. Then I began to explore more and more songs of her; understanding the lyrics and story behind the music.
To this day, I still think that Marina is such an underrated artist. She deserves more recognition. If you ever liked ‘New Rules’ by Dua Lipa, you should also like the original rules, and that’s ‘How to Be a Heartbreaker’ by Marina. Marina, loved by her diamonds (her fans, which is why the ‘And The Diamonds’), is such a humble artist and yet very brave in expressing her thoughts through writing her musics. Hence, I’m going to go through each albums, picking up 5 songs that I like, my favorite lines, and the story of the songs. Here we go.
The Family Jewels
This album is quite intimate with her personalities and family. It talks about her problems and how she came up with the solutions. The matter about her parents’ divorce is also the fruit of some of her songs. There are so many quotable lyrics in this album. With interesting voice, smooth at high and more rough at low, she fills up this album with catchy yet simple tunes, such as where the piano goes 4/4 with playing merely the chords triad.
- Oh No!
“Cause I feel like I’m the worst, so I always act like I’m the best”
Marina encompasses her fears and aspirations for the future. She answers the question who she wanted to be from her other song ‘Mowgli’s Road’ with saying that she’s becoming her own self-fulfilled prophecy. This song is perfect describing your life when you are unsure and anxious of what you’re gonna be; especially when you’re on your golden age and people start to frequently meddle with your life. At this point of being a star, Marina acknowledges that she’ll have a temporary glorious life but eventually simmer down and die like everyone else.
- Shampain
“Drinking shampain made of an angle’s tears and pain, but I feel celestial”
The second track of the album. This song is rather 80’s upbeat song. This song is about drinking champagne (or other alcoholic substances) to drink away you shampain; shame and pain. It was a clever idea of her to play the word ‘shampain’. When we feel wrecked, we need to subdue our hurt mind by drinking. But at the end the day, we still need to solve those problems sober.
- Hollywood
“He said ‘Oh my God! You look just like Shakira. No, no, you’re Catherine Zeta.’ ‘Actually my name’s Marina.’”
The iconic song about America from the perspective of non-americans. The quoted line is the most iconic line of this album to me, or maybe of her music. Hustlin’ to be the prom queen, kissing in the rain, living your life like on the silver screen. The life of the America that everybody adores, yet it’s just too much, dramatic, and just ‘obsessed with the mess’ at the same time. That’s America. That is America indeed.
- Hermit The Frog
“They call him Hermit the Frog. He’s looking for a dog. Did you find a bitch in me?”
With a very interesting into, she serves a song about a heart-broken by false expectation of her crush. The person she likes also feels the same way about her. The other party thinks that Marina is a kind and soft as how a woman should be, yet she isn’t that way when you get to know her. I also think that this song tells about how she lost her innocence after the experience at some points. The intro and the verses sound like a egyptian flows accompanied with the plucking strings as the instrumental and the same piano flows as the rest. The chorus is presented in such a very magnificent way, where a choir-like of Marinas sing majestically. If you like this type of songs, you might also like ‘Mowgli’s Road’ and ‘Girls’.
- Numb
“Stars that burn the brightest. Fall so fast and pass you by. Cough like empty lighters”
The thought of to be ‘positive’ is a ‘negative’ experience and the to accept being ‘negative’ is a ‘positive’ experience, as quoted from ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck’ by Mark Manson. Marina tells a story about being successful, she sacrifices herself, resulting in finding herself in the dark. She became a robotic shell of herself, lacking of happiness; all in order to, ironically, gaining happiness. Then Marina says that stars that burn the brightest only last for awhile. The concise success and happiness soon will go away and be forgotten. Is it really worth torturing yourself for a brief pleasure?
Electra Heart
This album shows the 4 archetypes of women according to Marina; beauty queen, housewife, teen idle, and homewrecker. I believe that the songs in this album are mere scenarios of each archetypes. The nobody-alter-ego picking up free personalities when she feels like nobody — known with putting heart on the cheek, Electra Heart, replaces Marina with electro pop musics. However, some of her songs in Electra Heart still resemble with the ones in The Family Jewels, such as ‘Buy The Stars’ to ‘Numb’.
- Valley Of The Dolls
“Pick a personality for free. When you feel like nobody”
This is the song that tells about the birth of Electra Heart. The purpose in this life is to be fluid of identities. Inspired by the 60’s book and film “The Valley of the Dolls”, Marina acts peculiarly and plays many roles. To fit in this social life, we hide our true selves and act what people want to see, while all the people do the same eventually.
- Primadonna
“I know I’ve got a big ego. I really don’t know why it’s such a big deal though”
Along with ‘Bubblegum Bitch’, ‘Primadonna’ describes the life of a Beauty Queen. Convincing herself that her life is the best of everyone could ever have, she pushes people so that she can dance freely. If people think that she’s a mess, it all doesn’t matter since she’s a beauty queen anyway. However, she truly understands that her life is going down hill, and it’s a public secret. With such reputation, she’ll keep on dancing as long as she believes that she is the beauty queen. By the video, you can also see that she’s living the ‘Instagram life’. The light only focuses on her, yet all around her are dark. Also, what’s amazing about this song is the chorus sounds like a verse yet the verse sounds like a chorus.
- Lies
“I just want it to be perfect to believe it’s all been worth the fight”
Along with ‘Starring Role’, ‘Lies’ describes the story of a heart-broken suburban housewife. The betrayed woman knows that she deserves better than being loved merely for a show. Electra Heart tells the listener that it’s time to break free if she doesn’t get what she deserved. Although both song are about a sad struggle of a woman, the beat are still quite uplifting for a sad song.
- Teen Idle
“Wish I’d been a prom queen, fighting for the title. Instead of being sixteen and burning up a bible. Feeling super super super suicidal”
Marina said to an interview that this story of her suicidal cheerleader youth, that this song was like her last hurrah of adolescence. Depicting the ‘ideal’ life of a teenager, teen idol shows the ‘cool’ way filling up your teenagers day. Being depressed is cool. It’s aesthetically pleasing. The way social media fetishizing and romanticizing mental illness becomes the notion of a successful teenage life.
- How to Be a Heartbreaker
“Singing I lo-lo-love you. At least I think I do”
Along with ‘Homewrecker’, ‘How to Be a Heartbreaker’ describes the scheme of a homewrecker. Electra Heart creates a role where love is something to avoid. Luring boys into her sweet deceit, she kisses and leaves them wanting more. ‘How to Be a Heartbreaker’ is a revenge for how women have always been treated. She turned the table, making a music video with men as the ‘sexy’ objects now; making Charli XCX inspired for ‘Boys’ music video. Before ‘New Rules’ by Dua Lipa, Marina had already told the rules to be a better woman in the verses of ‘How to Be a Heartbreaker’.
Froot
Froot is her third album where she fully wrote all of the songs by herself. She chose the word ‘froot’ because the ‘fruit’ itself just seems plain and boring. This album is declared to be her reflective way on her past, especially Electra Heart. Froot consists of electronic, funky, and indie rock songs — except for Happy. Marina shows her growth and maturity through this album. It is really good to listen to this album when you feel like dancing to yourself — again, except for Happy.
- Happy
“I found what I’d been looking for in myself. Found a life worth living for someone else”
First track of the album. Even though both the title and the lyrics are ‘happy’, the song sounds really sad. Starting with Marina singing tremendously calm and warm at the beginning of the song, the instruments slowly follow with a climax at the bridge. I personally like to think that this song is about finding a higher power that will always watch you, in which you will always feel warm with His ghostly embrace. However, Marina denied when asked if this song is about finding God. She said that this song is more about spiritual topics than religious ones.
- Froot
“I’m your deadly nightshade, I’m your cherry tree. You’re my one true love, I’m your destiny”
The most happy-go-lucky song in the album to me. As the title of the album, this song talks about being ready to be loved by some one. In spite of the electric vibe, Marina serves some sensuality through this song and its music video; like a fruit waiting to be juiced. She released this as a single to celebrate her 29th birthday. The music video shows the eleganza of the froot — fun yet sexy.
- Blue
“I’m bored of everything we do, but I just keep coming back to you”
In contrast to ‘Happy’, ‘Blue’ is a sad song with happy tunes. This song makes you want to just dance away your sadness and embrace all of your problems. The music video somehow brings nostalgic feeling. With the gloomy colors on amusement park, this coincides with the feeling that the lyrics trying to express. Even though Marina regretted and feeling blue after the break up, she decided to just laugh it out. All the happy tunes are just a smokescreen of her sadness.
- Gold
“From El Dorado, your gold, to Colorado, can’t be bought or sold”
This song talks about how Marina craves that ‘gold’, not the real one. Similar meaning to ‘Buy the Stars’, Marina wants the love her partner has instead of feeding her with materialistic things. This song is also the continuation of ‘Oh No!’, where she said that she didn’t need friends or love. However, now she really needs them; the thing that can’t just be bought or sold. ‘Gold’ has a fun and chill tunes, suitable for when you are trying to enjoy the sunshine.
- Weeds
“Could have filled the garden with all the flowers that you gave me but none of the were ours”
Even after finding a new loved one, Marina seems to cannot forget her past lover. The feels that they gives are growing like weeds; it’s unwanted and she keeps removing it. She becomes distraught since this may ruin her current relationship. She also wants her current lover to stop pretending like he doesn’t see the baggage from the last relationship.
And those are why you should stan Marina. Even if you still decide not to, at least give her some credits and recognition she deserves. If not then at least you know more about her now. I hope her career will rise even more. She’ll always have a spot in my ‘good artists’ list since some of her songs still accompany me at night. And I hope you’ll find some reasons to love her too.
“Success, I’ve come to realise, is fleeting so you shouldn’t value it too much” — Marina
