You are so magnetic, you pick up all the pins

We’ve done female singer-songwriters...

We’ve done female singer-songwriters I’ve seen at Glastonbury...

We've done female singer-songwriters I’ve seen at the Royal Albert Hall...

So, it’s time to move on to the incredibly niche group of female singer-songwriters I’ve seen at both Glastonbury and the Royal Albert Hall - which would be Marina!

I imagine “Hollywood” was the song that first introduced me to Marina (back in the day when she still had her Diamonds) because I remember heading out specifically to buy The Family Jewels – and what a fantastically quirky little treasure it is.  Highlights for me are “Are You Satisfied?”, “I Am Not A Robot” and “Obsessions”, although “Mowgli’s Road” deserves a shout-out for its obsession with cutlery (“Ten silver spoons coming after me - one life with one dream on repeat”).  Later that year, I saw her at Glastonbury (wearing the previously mentioned revolting orange dungarees) and she played a fantastic set  - although there was a slight suspicion that maybe she wasn’t entirely happy with the state of things.

And cut to two years later, Electra Heart was released.  Which for some reason (on first listen at least) ditches all the stuff people loved - the quirks and the strong vocals - for a very poppy, over-produced sound which was presented as sung by an alter-ego.  Which was not what I was expecting in the slightest – and I hated it.  And so my (and many others) love affair with Marina appeared to be over before it had barely begun.

However, I continued to revisit The Family Jewels on a regular basis and in 2016, Froot was released which I obviously consciously avoided, still shaken by the experience of Electra Heart.  Until I actually heard the title track and I was instantly hooked – the quirks and the vocals were back with a vengeance!  “Froot”, “Happy” and “Savages” are the highlights for me but there’s a lot to love about it all.  And how did she celebrate this return to public consciousness, if not exactly adoration?  Announcing that basically she’d had enough of all this – see ya, kids!

And it wouldn’t have surprised me at all if that had been it, but it seems like maybe Clean Bandit (who don’t exactly have a terrible record in picking guest vocalists) might have given her a bit of a push and so last year brought us Love + Fear, which whilst possibly featuring a little too much filler for my liking, has some great tracks like “Handmade Heaven”, “To Be Human” and “Soft to be Strong” with stunning vocals.   

I was also lucky enough to see her live twice last year (it’s fair to say I’m not an average member of the Marina audience) - and they were both great shows with amazing vocals but the best thing of all was that she appeared to be happy!  She’s taken her time, but seems to have found her space and her joy washed over the audience and was repaid with interest.  And the songs from “Electra Heart” sounded great as well – so just give everything time, it all works out in the end. 

Oh my god, you look just like Shakira

No no, you're Catherine Zeta

ACTUALLY, MY NAME’S MARINA!