Marina and the Diamonds – Marina Lambrini Diamandis to cohorts – releases her hotly tipped follow-up to 2010’s debut LP Family Jewels today. Titled Electra Heart, we drill Diamandis about titles such as “Primadonna”, “Bubblegum Bitch” and “Homewrecker” – and ask her to list her five top pop prima donnas.
Name us your five favourite pop prima donnas?
(1) Madonna – she has to be number one…
(2) … though Grace Jones is the ultimate pop diva.
(3) Christina Aguilera.
(4) Whitney Houston.
(5) Britney Spears – even though she doesn’t really show it, she has to be a prima donna.
So, enjoying the April showers?
It’s fucking miserable isn’t it. I just went to the post office and got poured on.
What are you most proud of with the album? How do you think is it a progression of the first?
Well, I’m proud of the fact that it sounds like a much more coherent piece of work, because I really took the trouble to make sure that that was the case, especially with production and stuff. Much more I don’t want to say more involved than the first, I was just much more careful to make sure all the songs sounded either like they fitted phonically or the theme of each song was in time with the whole theme of the record. Whereas the family Jewel I didn’t really care, I was just putting anything on it, just as long as I liked it.
Name five of your keenest music influences.
(1) Shangri Las (2) Fiona Apple (3) Emily Haine (4) Madonna (5) Royksopp.
I basically wanted the whole album to sound like the middle eight of “Teenage Dirtbag”, you know that really starry magical bit, that really is one of my references for a lot of the album It goes into like a stoner like dream sequence on the dance floor.
It also gets really camp – doesn’t he put like a girl’s voice on?
I kind of based the song called Teen Idol around that middle eight.
That’s quite strange!
I love it so much! I love it so much!
What’s your favourite song on the album?
“Starring Role”.
Why?
Because, it’s a very love – inspired album, to the point of making it into a joke. So this is one of the few, maybe one out about three songs that were about a specific person, and its what inspired the album, and I think it’s a core song, its the most important lyrically and also it incorporated the theatrical element by using a metaphor, of the starring role in relation to that. So that’s why it’s my favourite song.
Is it based on a real person then?
Yeah.
Is it boyfriend that you’ve had or have now?
It’s a boyfriend that I’ve never had.
That you’ve never had? Oh wow, that’s quite poetic.
It’s really sad! I don’t want to say it because it makes me sound like a loser. I had a relationship with someone but I wouldn’t say that he was my boyfriend or anything.
Good luck with the release.
Electra Heart is out in the UK today on Atlantic records.
Words: Jack Mills