A Conversation with Marina Lambrini Diamandis of Marina & The Diamonds – HuffPost 8.6.12
Mike Ragogna: Hey, Marina. How are you today?
Marina Lambrini Diamandis: I’m pretty good.
MR: Can you go into what you’re up to these days? For instance, this Lonely Hearts tour where you’ve been performing “Teen Idle”?
MLD: I started my Lonely Hearts Club tour in the States about two weeks ago and actually, I’ve just come off it for some dates with Coldplay in the US, so that’s cool. I’m finishing up the Loney Hearts Tour on the East Coast. That’s basically what I’m doing. Touring, touring, touring!
MR: “The Diamonds” part of your moniker comes from your last name, which basically means “diamonds” in Greek, right?
MLD: Yeah, indeed.
MR: Can you go into some of your musical history?
MLD: I was never a singer or a songwriter when I was growing up. I knew I wanted to be an artist, a pop artist, but I didn’t really tell anyone until I was 19. It was quite a late start. I taught myself keyboard and by 22, I had kind of produced a few EPs, and gigged extensively in a lot of dive bars in London. I got signed when I was 22 with Atlantic Records.
MR: “Teen Idle,” from the new album, Electra Heart has an interesting topic, kid of what the title implies. And I believe I’ve read that you said something to the effect of that between 16 and 20, it’s a time of innocence and darkness.
MLD: Yeah. I think that kind of contrast, you know, that’s juxtaposition of things in that…people don’t really associate innocence with darkness ever. But really, that’s what youth is about ’cause as a teenager, you don’t know a lot about the world and you have some of your first experiences that will ultimately shape you in that time. You’re also trying to establish your own identity and personality against people who want to quell it. It’s an interesting time for anyone, and I don’t think the experiences are particularly obscure or different. I think maybe I’ve talked about them or I’ve talked about very specific things that people usually don’t admit to. I say that because, well, I don’t want to blow my own trumpet, but I have had so many people who’ve related to that song and say it’s their favorite song. (laughs) I never expect it because it’s not exactly a commercial song or anything. It’s kind of obscure.
MR: On the other hand, the topic’s right on. I know when I look back on my own youth–maybe 16 or 15 through about 21, 22–that’s a really wretched period. It is for a lot of kids.
MLD: Yeah, it kind of is. Whoever you are, I think, it is almost like, so many people have related to it. I almost wonder why…maybe we all don’t really…but maybe we all take our youth for granted in that. Until I wrote this song, I could get over the fact of being able to forgive myself for having treated myself in a certain way during that time and not really just being able to be a teenager, because those years never come back. If you don’t deal with it, I think that you will never grow up. I feel fine about “Teen Idle” now. But for a long time, I felt as if they were unlived years, like they didn’t even belong to my life.
MR: Maybe some of the awkwardness that comes from parents is because they didn’t understand themselves during that period, and here they go, reliving another shaky period through their kids this time. It’s like, “Yikes, here we go again.”
MLD: It’s so strange! There’s a great quote. I think Banksy wrote it somewhere on a wall and it said, “Parents will do anything for their kids except for letting them be themselves.” (laughs) I think that’s so true. Parents will do anything to protect you and love you, except for let you be you.
MR: Yeah, that’s so true. Okay, let’s move on to some other songs on Electra Heart, this being your second album on Atlantic. Lovin’ “Bubblegum Bitch.” There. I said it. Of course, overseas, they have no problem with that word, but in the States, it can still be little bit of a pinch for some people.
MLD: You (also) can’t say it on the radio in the UK. It’s only in Australia and in Europe, but in the UK, you can’t.
MR: Got any personal, fun story on “Bubblegum Bitch?”
MLD: Yeah. When I wrote “Bubblegum Bitch,” I had been collecting loads of sassy, but very coquettish–you know, innocent versus evil–lyrics for quite a long time. I went into the studio that day, thinking about what I wanted to write, and I was wearing this pink PVC mini dress, it was from the ’60s that I bought on Hollywood Boulevard. On the table was a book called The History of Bubblegum Pop. As my fans know, I’m obsessed with bubble gum pop and kind of subverting that. Yeah, that was the idea for “Bubblegum Bitch.”
MR: Marina, who are your influences?
MLD: Fionna Apple, Madonna, Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani…I like PJ Harvey a lot…
MR: Also, it seems when you’re performing, you have a “look” or fashion statement that you seem to be making.
MLD: I like to use clothes as props, for example, when I first come on…I like to have lacey gloves on with shimmer-y pipe and baby girl shoes, just to conjure up that sixties, seventies image. It’s just basically playing with the humor of the subjects on the album.
MR: You have a song called “Homewrecker.”
MLD: I think the message behind that song is because you’ve been someone who’s been hurt…it’s about someone who disregards other people’s feelings and doesn’t really need anybody, or at least that’s how they appear.
MR: In addition to being a vocalist and songwriter, you’re also a keyboardist, right?
MLD: Uh-huh!
MR: What’s your training like?
MLD: Don’t have any. I just taught myself.
MR: What do you think is the main difference between your first album, The Family Jewels, and your new one, Electra Heart?
MLD: I think the production is the main difference, it’s a lot more polished. Not darker, but electronic as well.
MR: What advice do you have for new artists?
MLD: I would say don’t spend a lot of time on the internet, don’t waste your time. I think the worst thing is to have so many different opinions, it’s crazy these days. Apart from that, I suppose you have to make music that you’re kind of directing and enjoying, because once you’re in a band, it almost always ends in a bad way from what I’ve seen, anyway. Yeah, there’s no one particular road that will lead you to success. I think everybody will find it differently.
MR: Marina, have a blast with the tour and the new album.
MLD: Thank you!
Transcribed by Joe Stahl