Marina and the Diamonds' Electra Heart at 10: How a sarcastic, underrated opus deconstructed the modern-day pop star
27.04.2022 - 09:09
/ officialcharts.com
Electra Heart was never meant to be taken seriously. Not by anyone, certainly not Marina Diamandis herself.
10 years ago today (April 27), Marina released her second album under Marina and the Diamonds; it was sarcastic and opulent, bold and brash. It sounded nothing like anything she'd made before, or anything she's made since. It was a big project, with even bigger ambitions; to make Marina the biggest pop star in the world.
The album itself was viewed very much as an experiment. Marina had made her name with her quirky debut album The Family Jewels, a kitschy collection of alt-pop tracks heavily inspired by the likes of Kate Bush. But Electra Heart's MO was different. Like others before her (Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Lana Del Rey), Marina donned an elusive alter-ego to help peddle the project; the bratty, self-obsessed Electra Heart, with tight blonde curls and a heart upon her cheek.
And Marina did prove to have the courage of her convictions. Electra debuted atop the Official Albums Chart - giving Marina her first (and so far only) UK Number 1 album. To date, Electra Heart has shifted over 164,000 chart sales and is BRIT-certified Gold.
Critics at the time certainly seemed to enjoy ribbing Marina for 'selling out' and abandoning her indie convictions with glee. Of course, that that was the entire point. Electra Heart is a concept record; one that sought to deconstruct the meaning behind pop stardom in the 2010s by subsuming the very thing it parodied in the first place. The only reason people may have struggled is because, well, Marina sold it very straight. It was hard to separate the character from reality.
Take Primadonna - Electra Heart's gloriously melodramatic lead single that lavishes in its excesses. "Going
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