As Marina and The Diamonds—real name Marina Diamandis— unknowingly played my unofficial “Welcome To New York” party last week at Webster Hall (check out my review here), it only felt right to be heading over to the Atlantic Records HQ to meet the Welsh/Greek singer. I head up to the office and am told to follow an employee. I then awkwardly stand by a door, waiting for Marina. Her publicist tells me that the interview will be conducted in a cab, something that’s more than fitting for Marina’s fast pace. She always seems to be putting out another video, playing another gig, or, in today’s case, having another photo shoot. As Marina walks out of Atlantic’s artist lounge and towards me, I can’t help but smile. She has a sweet, subtly commanding presence, smiling and saying goodbye to a few people before she shakes my hand. Marina is similar to Gaga in that her character is herself— she’s dressed almost as if she’s walked out of the set for her video “Hollywood”, an ode to the illusion of America. Donned in a polka-dotted skirt, a yellow and purple varsity jacket, aqua sunglasses, a bright red bag and flesh colored heels with white socks, Marina is a walking, talking visual aesthetic for her art. To put it simply, her music is who she is.
We jump in the cab, laugh about our interview’s strange conditions, and begin our conversation.
You’ve been putting out visually impressive videos despite not having a massive budget. Do you work consistently with one creative team?
No, it’s not consistent at all. Apart from “Oh No” and “Hollywood” I’ve had different directors for each one. I think it’s a combination of having a natural ability to envisage a song in a different way and having the ability to inspire a director, because that’s when they do a good job. When you talk about collaborating, in the beginning I wasn’t trusted with a lot of creativity because you don’t know if you’re going to be good with videos — But then I did “I Am Not A Robot” and that turned out really well, “Mowgli’s Song” was not my idea at all, and then “Hollywood”, “Oh No”, and “Shampain” I had a huge amount of input in. I am so glad that I was good at it because I thought I would be (laughs).
You also have a few alternate versions of your videos, like “I Am Not A Robot” and “Hollywood”. Why do those?
Those were kinda done just for the joy of it. We thought it would be very funny to pretend we were on an Estonian pop channel (With the alternate version of “Hollywood”). I mean, you can do videos with such small budgets these days, you don’t need to have loads of money. I think it adds to the fact that I’m a very visual artist.
Let’s talk more about that. How important is the visual aesthetic to you? When you performed at Webster Hall I felt you did a whole lot with a stage that could potentially have nothing going on due to its size.
And especially with the budget — I don’t have a lot of money but I want to make it into a show because I love performing. I think there are two types of artists: the ones who perform because they have to, and the ones who perform literally because they have to. It’s like half of the whole thing. And it just goes hand and hand with the theatrical element of the music as well.
Gossip blogger Perez Hilton is all about you. Do you want to be able to integrate yourself into a mainstream culture (the main chunk of Perez’s readership)? It seems like as of right now you have a really tight fan base that knows your music very well. Are you a bigger advocate of a smaller, dedicated fan base or are you interested in reaching everyone?
You shouldn’t be snobby about music, music is for everyone. I am for the public and by the public, as is every other artist out there, which is why I’m so against and don’t believe in the hierarchical nature of this industry — I hate it.
Have things been happening rather quickly for you? I feel recently you have been getting a lot more attention than in the past. Can you pick out anything that has happened recently that has made you feel like things are really starting to happen at a major level?
Well, things are very gradual and I haven’t gone to the top in an instant, and I’m very far from the top at the moment. It seems like I have so much work to do and that I can’t even stop and say “Oooo, look at how well I’m doing”—
You can’t marvel at it?
Right, none of that. Maybe in five years I’ll be able to do that.
Right. I know have you been around for a solid amount of time now, but I feel like as you pump out more stuff, the audience grows and it has become more noticeable recently.
Yeah absolutely, and you’re right, because in the UK now I suppose I am at a pop level in terms of recognition, even though the road in America is just beginning. But I have to say because of people like Perez Hilton, my fan base in America has been there since the start at a small level. That is probably why we have people at the shows in America who know every word.
Perez is good at that.
He is! And whatever opinion you have of him, its pop culture at the end of the day. I think it’s so silly to be marketing yourself to one audience. I obviously want everyone to hear my music, and that doesn’t mean I want everyone to love it.
But you want to give people the opportunity to listen.
Yeah, absolutely. But it’s not like a thing where I want any old person to hear it. I want a certain type of person in that — It doesn’t matter where they’re from or who they are — but they need to have an inquiring mind, and not be so sucked in by conforming.
My favorite part of your music is the words. Tell me about your writing.
Well, lyrics always come first. That’s the only reason I started writing
Did you start with music or poems?
I started with poems and that turned into songs when I was 19. All of it is based on real life. I think most of it is driven by fear quite a lot — anything that I am feeling very fearful of I write about to try to make it turn around (laughs).
I think that is why so many people are able to relate. Arguably, a lot of pop music comes from a very simple place.
Also, there are a lot of artists who write for radio, and I think that is the wrong reason to write. They write because they want to make a hit, and that kinda takes any soul out of it.
Where did the idea for the song “Hollywood” come from? It seems to have a very strong message towards America.
Well, I adore America, and I hold it up on pedestal. I grew up in a small village that was disconnected from modern life because we didn’t have Internet and had radio and four channels on our TV. America was like a neon window into a totally fantastical world that was all based on illusion really. And so from that, it lead me to question — after I came here a few times— what success actually is, and to question the values that the UK and US hold so dearly in their cultures, which is to prioritize youth and beauty and money over things that are more important. It’s not just American culture, it’s pop culture in general.
Where are you living right now?
London.
Do you have any plans to move to the neon window?
I would love to like second half of next year.
So what are your plans now?
Well, I don’t want to talk about new stuff too much, don’t wanna jinx it. I didn’t stop writing after I finished the first album. [My new writing] is a quite different direction then the first [record] just because my voice has developed quite a lot. I’m thinking artistically I want it to be a lot purer than the first album that was more focused on being pop because I wanted it to be. But obviously I have a huge yearning to have something that has substance as well.
And that’s the development of an artist. Speaking of which, when did you start singing?
I didn’t sing in front of anyone until I was 19. I started singing in the house at 18.
Who convinced you to sing publicly?
Oh, me. I just knew from 15 that I was going to be a singer.
Some people know that…but they’re wrong.
That is the thing! Some people are delusional, and that’s the scary thing, but I just knew that I wasn’t (laughs).
Well either way you do have to be a little delusional.
You do! And X-Factor and American Idol have proven that many people feel like that…
That’s true. So is there anyone you want to work with in the near future or anyone you’ve gotten to work with that was a dream for you?
No. I feel quite spiky about collaborations because it’s a dumb thing to do when you’re a new artist. The time will be right when I meet someone who I really admire and think, “This is going to be perfect.”
So many artists fall into that hole of just grabbing on to someone else.
Guesting on loads of songs. Then you just become anyone.
A space filler.
You are, literally you are.
Definitely. Keep doing that. Or not doing that, rather.
Also, then fans trust you, because everything you put out is quality.
this kid can do an interview!!!