Glimmer Takes it All.

Shortly before meeting Marina Diamandis – one of the most hotly tipped pop singers of 2010 – in her room at the Morgan Hotel, we catch a glimpse of her schedule for the day. It offers some insight into the sort of promotional push required to launch a new major label debut album: Hot Press is merely the second in a full day of interviews and photo shoots. One assumes Diamandis will be completely talked out come the evening.

“It’s more like an embarrassment, talking about myself so much,” laughs Marina, settling into the sofa in her room. “It’s hard because it’s my first record, and you do want to promote it. And for you guys it’s probably not a barrel of laughs either; I’d imagine sometimes you have to do stuff where the artist bores you or whatever. So it’s not all fun and games, but as long as it’s in moderation I don’t mind doing it.”
The album itself, The Family Jewels, is a musically eclectic record that finds Diamandis examining a lot of different aspects of youth culture. She has previously said that among the subjects explored on the album are “the seduction of commercialism, modern social values and family.” It certainly seems as if there was plenty she wanted to get off her chest.
“I just naturally love observing and analysing,” she shrugs. “I really hope that people understand that it’s not me criticising others, as such. On any of the songs – like ‘Girls’ or ‘Hollywood’ – if I’m criticising anyone, it’s myself. It’s about me trying to change my own aspirations. I love psychology and trying to understand why people are drawn to certain things.
“Artifice is very attractive. It’s not a particularly original thing to sing about, but ‘Hollywood’ was written two years ago, when I was in a very different place and celebrity culture was at its peak. I feel now it’s kind of levelled off a little bit, but the UK and America handle celebrity culture very different to other countries.”
Do you think that’s a negative thing?
“Yeah, I do,” nods Marina. “I don’t want to spend my money on shitty gossip magazines, saying that someone has a roll of flab, and then on the next page saying that she’s dying of starvation. That’s sick. I stopped buying those magazines a long time ago, but recently I’ve thought, ‘Well, why do they thrive?’ We’re painted this picture of beauty and glamour, and told this is what will make us happy. That’s why everyone wants to look at pictures of celebrities who aren’t perfect, because we feel – or certainly I have felt – so inferior to that.”
Is Marina concerned that if she becomes a huge pop star herself, that she’s feeding into that same culture?
“It’s very hard, because I can’t do this without being known,” she replies. “I did feel very torn. I feel like a hypocrite sometimes. Half of me is analysing this, and half of me is dealing with the fact that I’ve wanted to be famous since I was 15. That’s a very strange thing to battle with, especially now that things are turning into reality. I can probably only comment on it when I’ve had a little more experience of that world, but it is weird, and I’m very aware of it.”
Marina has also said that “female sexuality” is one of the subjects addressed on the album. Where does that come into the equation?
“It’s relevant to me, and it’s an analysis of pop culture,” responds Marina. “A: what makes a person successful? B: what makes the ten top superstars in the world successful? C: Are they women? And D: how am I going to do it?! (laughs) It was done to try and figure out who I wanted to be, because I could easily go two very different routes. Sonically, some of the tracks are quite mature. However, it’s also quite a youthful album in that I’m still figuring out who I am.”
The variety of sounds of The Family Jewels – as well as pop, there are touches of everything from soulful balladry and punk to dance and even cabaret on the album – is perhaps partially explainable by Marina’s exotic background. The 24-is-old is of Greek and Welsh extraction, and has spent time in both of those countries, as well as in London, where she currently lives. It may be that Marina’s worldliness gives her the edge when it comes to joining Florence, Lady GaGa, Amy Winehouse, La Roux et al in the pop big league.
Certainly, edgy female pop singers are very much in vogue at the moment.
“Well, in vogue, in schmogue,” says Marina dismissively. “I would be here doing it anyway, regardless. However, I understand your position as a journalist; you have to ask about it because it’s part of the culture at the moment. I just think if they’re good, who cares? And they are good – most of them are real artists.”
What do you think separates you from them?
“Stylistically, I don’t sing about love,” answers Marina. “That’s one thing other people do a lot. I just think there are more interesting things to sing about. It’s not that I haven’t written about love – I did a lot in the early days. The more I work, the less time I have for wasting time on those things. Actually, it’s not wasting time, but when it comes to relationships, I’m too driven to give my time to someone else. I’ll sacrifice anything for this, except my family.”
Is the no-relationship rule something you have to impose on yourself?
“I’m very picky and I don’t really go for people a lot. Maybe it would be a different story if I really liked someone, but I feel like there are so many subjects you can talk about that will help people. There are enough love records out there to help people. I’m more concerned about feminism than love.”
Where do you think feminism is in 2010?
“People have a very dated, stereotypical view of it,” reckons Marina. “It harks back to the ’70s. As a reaction to that, women have swung in the opposite direction, which is totally sexed up. I think that’s good, because it’s a natural thing, as opposed to the completely unshaven and unkempt style. Hopefully it’ll swing into balance at some point.”
When you say feminism, it seems almost like a militant statement.
“Yeah, absolutely, but at the end of the day, all it is, is that you want to be equal. Maybe I haven’t expressed myself in the right way... feminism relates only to equality, and I suppose I’m directing myself at how women treat themselves.”
Do you feel unequal?
“No, but I used to,” admits Marina. “And I’m still very frustrated and angry, and I don’t know where that’s coming from.”
Moving on to less taxing subjects, when did Marina first feel she wanted to a pop singer?
“To be honest, I felt that Madonna had that kind of influence, when I first saw her on TV,” she enthuses. “I was in a tiny, isolated village in South Wales – there wasn’t even a shop there. Anything that reached us was either really mainstream, or really good and pop. I was inspired by that, in that I didn’t just want to be some band in London entertaining their mates. I wanted to reach out to people on a broader scale. I wanted to be that kind of artist eventually.
“I was about 13 or 14 at the time, and the song I really loved was ’Frozen’, and I was really into the album Ray Of Light, which I thought was brilliant.”
Is Marina worried about having to deal with press intrusion into her personal life if The Family Jewels becomes a huge album?
“Yeah, definitely,” she confesses. “But then there are people who’ve had number ones who don’t partake in that kind of thing. I mean, has Paolo Nutini ever been photographed by the paparrazi? Bless his heart! I love him. His second album has sold a million copies now. It just depends on you. It is hard, because I do like fashion and looking nice, but what I lust for is the golden day of fame for being talented. That’s what I want to be known for, really.”