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So as you can all tell it has been a while since I last posted, apologies once again but I have been extremely busy with uni assignments and projects. However over the course of the past few months I have been keeping up with one of my all time favourite artists, Welsh songstress Marina and the Diamonds, who had been teasing new material from her new album "Froot", which was officially released earlier this month.
I have always been a fan of Marina since her first release "The Family Jewels" which showcased Marina's eccentric personality and often cartoonish lyrics. The album was full of soaring vocals and despite the often upbeat music there was dark questioning themes that Marina has made her specialty after three albums. For me, Marina was something that the pop music industry had been missing for sometime. Her lyrics were often sarcastic and a cynical take on pop culture and the American dream which was evidenced in the songs "Hollywood" and also "Oh no!". Marina was not afraid to show to the world that she was not the perfect polished pop star. However her follow up record "Electra Heart" would go on to be a completely different album, and Marina for that fact.
Ok I am just going to state a very unpopular opinion right now. I absolutely loved "Electra Heart", maybe more than I did her debut album. I will admit it took me a while to like this album. It was nothing like her debut and in a way it was kind of hypocritical to everything that I admired about her on her first album. Gone was the kooky synth inspired pop and in it's place was a record that was pure bubblegum pop that was heavily loaded with collaborations and productions that made "Electra Heart" come across as, to put it lightly and bluntly, fake. This is what pissed me off a bit when I first heard the album, not to mention this record saw the introduction of Marina's alter ego, the character itself Electra Heart. Forgive me if I sound pretentious but I have never seen the need to create an alter ego to promote your album, unless your Eminem, but this time I had to bite my words and admit that despite it's first impressions, the alter ego worked in this case.
Yet despite my initial reaction towards "Electra Heart" over time I would come to genuinely appreciate this record and I feel as though not many people took the time to properly listen to the lyrics, because for all it's bubblegum pop, it's actually quite a haunting and sarcastic album much like the "The Family Jewels", and at times it could be quite depressing. It was a semi concept album about female identity focusing on the various character types of the title character, Electra Heart, who was created as an archetype of how females are portrayed within the media and was the all American dream girl who is ultimately ruined by fame. Listening back to it, it's actually quite an ironic album overall and most people will still tell you to this day that Marina and the diamonds sold out with the second album but I will always tell them again to take the time to listen to the album. This was an album that was created to be an absolute satirical look at fame, love and the all American dream, unfortunately for Diamondis her character Electra Heart got out of her control and Marina killed the blonde primadonna of with sleeping pills for good.
The death of Electra Heart was certainly a fitting move to make room for Marina's newest album "Froot". Gone is the corrupted heartbreaking prima donna and it's place is a very self reflective and very bold album especially considering the title track Happy is a bold honest statement itself to open the album with and rightly so. The piano ballad sees lays the welsh songstress bare and emotionally vulnerable as she sings "I found what I've been looking for in myself, found a life worth living for someone else never thought that I could be, that I could be happy". This title track itself signals a major shift from her sophomore album.
The lead single and title track "Froot" was the first single to be released and it's easy to understand why as it's a highly infectious upbeat song. It's fast paced, energetic and filled with Marina's signature playful lyrics such as "I'm your carnal flower, I'm your bloody rose, pick my petals off and make my heart explode" which plays over deep bass line that propels the song into a futuristic 80's disco themed song. It's an absolutely bonkers song, that's why it's brilliant. Not to mention it is understated sass at it's finest.
As I have said, "Froot" is an incredibly personal and reflective album. Marina herself has admitted that half of the album is about a relationship that she felt "needed to end" and unlike most pop stars who make records about a break up, Marina doesn't act like the victim of heartbreak, she is the one who is hurting someone else because she isn't actually in love with the other person. For the first time it's refreshing to hear a pop album that isn't focused on being heartbroken but what it feels like to be the guilty one within the relationship. In all honesty it's a ballsy move for a pop star and I take my hat off to Marina creating a record that is painfully and emotionally honest. In "I'm a ruin" which is arguably one of the highlights of the album she sings "It doesn't feel right and it doesn't feel fair when I'm planning to move on and your still standing there" in those signature soaring vocals over the regret tinged catchy beat. Also in the tragically upbeat "Blue" where she sings "No I don't love you, no I don't care. I just want to be held when I'm scared and all I want is one night with you".
One of Marina's strengths has always lay in her ability to create a juxtaposition within her music with incredibly upbeat music and intriguing yet satirical lyrics that often give a dark outlook of the world and this is demonstrated pretty much throughout "Froot". That's not to say that the album is filled with darker songs than Marina has ever done, as evidenced within the title song "Froot" the record has it's moments of fun and sarcasm that we have all come to know Marina for and this leads leads me to another favourite on the record "Can't pin me down" she sings "Do you really want me to write a feminist anthem? I'm happy cooking dinner for my husband in the kitchen.......I am never gonna give you anything that you expect you think I'm like the others, boy you need to get your eyes checked" it's this satirical and sarcastic response to how others view her and want her to be, except Marina has never been one to be be tamed by one specific thing and her behavior through her lyrics can be viewed as erratic. It's one hell of a fun song and it's nice to see a pop star defy others ideals of themselves.
Despite how good this record is right from the start the best was definitely saved for the last. The final 2 tracks on "Savages" and "Immortal" highlight why Marina is one of the best pop artists in the industry right now. "Savages" is the ultimate start track on the record and emphasizes Marina's lyrical genius as an artist. The song itself is already quite well known for it's subject matter as it delves into her views on "Rape Culture" which is all to prevalent within society today. Overall this is a song that deals with humanity, what makes us human and what are we made up of? why do we commit such horrendous acts. "Were we born to abuse, shoot a gun and run? or has something deep inside of us come undone? is it a human trait or is it learned behavior? are you killing for yourself or killing for your savior.......underneath it all we're just savages, hidden behind shirts, ties and marriages". Again it's another bold move for a pop star to create such an honest yet daunting song. Despite the catchy tune the song itself is basically social criticism and bears huge relevance to what we have to deal with in society today such as rape, murder and misogyny.
After the politically humanity questioning savages, Diamondis ends the album with the moody and atmospheric "Immortal" and after the journey she has taken with all her three albums it's quite a fitting song to end the album with as her vocals tear through the chorus, "I'm forever chasing after time, but everybody dies, dies. If I could buy forever at a price I would buy it twice". It's an interesting note to end the album on, especially considering the album began on a much more lighter tone as she admits that she has finally found herself, yet at the end of this record Marina admits to herself that she still needs to leave an impact on the world and like the rest of us, she worries what will be left of her when she is gone. It's quite a frightening question if you ask yourself the same thing.
As a fan of Marina and the Diamonds since the beginning it's exciting to see her come into her own as an artist on her third record, a record that is completely untamed by it's own pop genre and probably the greatest record that Marina has created thus far in her career. It's an album filled with raw and painful emotion but also full of fun at the same time and that is a difficult thing to achieve, especially as well as Marina seems to have done. It's also the first album that I feel that we finally get to see a little bit of who the real Marina is as well as a record that is a breath of fresh air for the pop industry, overall it might just be the best pop album released this year, but I am biased considering I am a massive fan.
Overall Rating: 8/10
Loved Tracks: Froot, I'm a ruin, Better than that, Savages and Immortal.
P.S I did spend an awful long time also talking about the "Electra Heart" album and that's because I genuinely believe more people need to give this album another chance, so if you have the time check it out also!
xoxo
