Cover Feature Marina and the Diamonds: Can’t pin her down

‘Froot’ may be Marina and the Diamonds’ third album, but as she takes control, it’s the first that’s truly her.

Words: Sarah Jamieson
Photos: Mike Massaro
27th March 2015

Artistic transformations come in all shapes and sizes. From the grandiose alter ego of David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust, to the constantly-shifting style of Lady Gaga, pop stars channelling different personalities is nothing new. Yet, when Marina and the Diamonds introduced Electra Heart to the world with her last album, it caused quite a stir.

For those not up to speed, Electra Heart was both the title of Marina’s last album, and the name of the character she inhabited. Originally conceived as a side project and described at the time as “the antithesis of everything that I stand for,” Madonna, Marilyn Monroe, Britney Spears and Marie Antoinette were all namechecked as influences. Though it may have been the second Marina and the Diamonds album, it was far from personal.

“Looking back, I used Electra as a big lesson.” Three years on, Marina Diamandis couldn’t appear further away from her previous on-stage incarnation. That infamous blonde wig has been abandoned in favour of her natural dark locks and gone is the tiny black heart that once sat proudly on her cheek.

“It taught me a lot of things about songwriting,” she readily admits, “and a lot of things about what I didn’t want to be as an artist that were completely independent of the album.” She pauses slightly to reflect. “I think people expect me to maybe say negative things [about the album] because it’s so pop and it’s so different to what I’m doing now. It’s not that at all. It was actually how I felt treated, as a ‘fake pop star’, which turned me off completely. It wasn’t much to do with the music but all about the perception.”

In the end ‘Electra Heart’ was a gamble, but it paid off. Not only did it win Diamandis an even larger fanbase and earn her a place at the height of mainstream consciousness, but it topped the charts for good measure. “It’s what I wanted to do. It was an extreme position,” she confirms, “therefore, you get an extreme effect!”

More than anything, though, it opened the door for what was to come next.