Courtesy of Tumblr
Like any good deviant 10th grader, I spent most of my after-school time scrolling viciously through tumblr. Although I’ve tried to black out most of my these days from my memory, I do remember that having a blog automatically assumed your quirky’ music taste. Some of the artists that frequented my dashboard were Vampire Weekend, Arctic Monkeys, Lana Del Rey, Lorde, and Marina and the Diamonds. This week I’m diving into the discology of Marina Diamandis, one of my first feminist icons.
Marina and the Diamonds are known for their electro-pop music with kick-ass feminist lyrics. I most famously remember Marina for her “How To Be a Heartbreaker” music video, which flipped the male-gaze on its head. The video features Marina dancing in a shower fully clothed accompanied by shirtless men. It’s fair to say that Marina is still an icon of mine, and if she ever wants to do a re-creation of that video, she can feel free to reach out to a long time fan. Her music also focused on her own career, success, and control over the relationships in her life, which is something that many teenage girls can benefit from.
Compared to some of my other favorite female artists of the time, Marina and the Diamond’s creativity and thoughtfulness stood out the most. Stacked up against the likes of Lana Del Rey, Lorde, and Florence + The Machine, I was most drawn back to Marina. Her most popular work was the concept album, Electra Heart that included hits like “Primadonna” and “How To Be A Heartbreaker.” I definitely didn’t spend my Friday nights idolizing Marina while I re-coding my tumblr theme and “Teen Idle” played in the background. Electra Heartespecially had the ability of capturing my teen angst and desire to destroy all male life forms.
Joking aside, Electra Heart was the first concept album I had listened to and watched. Marina embodies four different archetypes The Homewrecker, Primadonna, Teen Idle, and Su-Barbie-A through the music and visual aspects. In a veil of blonde wigs, fake eyelashes and hair ribbons, Marina embodied everything I wanted to be as a 14-year-old. One of my favorite lyrics being “Don’t love, don’t friends/ I’m only after success” which I can still be heard whispering to myself on the silent floor of the library.
In the end of her concept album, Marina kills her alter ego officially known as Electra Heart. She smears the famous heart she wears on her cheek and haphazardly cuts of her hair in more glamorous rendition of Britney circa 2007. This really resonated with me being that I would love to figuratively murder 14-year-old me; she was the worst.
