Marina Diamandis
NeTi II--
Demographics
Gender Female
Birth Name Marina Lambrini Diamandis
Birthplace Blaenau Gwent, Monmouthshire, Wales, U.K.
Birth Date October 10, 1985
Ethnicity Hellenic/Northwestern European
Father Greek
Mother Welsh
Nationality British
Career Singer, songwriter
Color Season Dark Winter
Notes and Motifs
Pe popstar
Ji idiosyncratic
Also known as Marina Diamandis and Marina
NeTi II-- Adaptive
NeTi II-- Adaptive
NeTi II-- Adaptive
NeTi II-- Adaptive
Diamandis: "People are complex, and I think it's a huge element of what I do, because you have to balance out the fact that you talk about quite serious things with a sense of irony and tongue-in-cheek humor. That's my personality as well."
Diamandis: "I want to provoke people with thoughts, not by taking my clothes off. It's time to move on from Stripperville."
Diamandis: "Love is really my nemesis. I never really allowed myself to indulge in such basic things because I was so motivated and thought that if I did I wouldn't succeed."
Diamandis: “Even with songs like ‘Hollywood’ and ‘Oh No!’, those were socio-political, but they were wrapped in a nice bow so people didn’t realize it.”
Diamandis: "I think the biggest misconception is this comment that always has come up, which is, 'Oh, she’s not recognized enough,' or, 'She’s underrated.' And I think what people have misunderstood is that I just haven’t matched people’s, like, cultural values of what it is to be commercial or successful."
Diamandis: "I'm masquerading as an innocent pop star."
Diamandis: "I just needed to have a break because I was worried that I didn't feel as passionate anymore, and I thought, if I'm not led or driven by ego, maybe it means that I'm not gonna be a good artist anymore. I couldn't see how I could write good music without needing praise from other people."
Diamandis: "So from the start I was very clear about the fact that I was being strategic in using pop music as a medium to express my own views and that involved a lot of social commentary in the beginning."
Diamandis: "If you don't want to have your private life splashed everywhere, why go to the restaurants and the places you know you're going to be photographed?"
Diamandis: "I was dissecting the female character in a way."
Diamandis: "I am very curvy, so the vintage stores suit me better than most designers. I just can't seem to give up crisps, or make my boobs shrink for that matter. Alas, I will never fit a size zero."
Diamandis: "That kind of connection isn't something you can synthesize, it was something that I cultivated from day one."
Diamandis: "I'm not really part of that 'L.A. thing' or that celebrity culture. I'm more like someone who observes it, and I can't ever imagine being like that."
Diamandis: "Blonde symbolizes sexuality and power - it holds very different connotations. The archetypal star has always been blonde."
[Her thoughts on the USA's perception of itself]
Diamandis: “I think what’s happened culturally has been healthy because all the walls feel like they’ve been ripped down and these really uncomfortable, dark truths have been revealed.”
[On preforming at bigger venues]
Diamandis: "It’s gonna go into a completely different world. Physically, I think it’s going to be more like theater. The stage will be like a scene—I want a living room setting: a chaise lounge, a flickering, old, disgusting motel TV, a hat stand with various clothing I can switch into with each song. For me, it’s like about being able to be resourceful and adapt to each venue. If I’m in a 500-capacity or 5000, it’s going to be the same. But I like the idea of turning it into a play as opposed to a 'music show'—it’s not like, jazz-hands theatricality. You become involved with the character."
Diamandis: "I love pop music because you can really see what's currently happening in society."
Diamandis: "I think I'm just confident as an artist now whereas before very much needed praise and approval from public or whoever I was working with, whereas now it's much more focused on the idea that you write to express something, and that's where it ends."
Diamandis: "I thought for a long time that I was going to be a pop artist. It was around 18-19 that I started to make that a reality. I just knew that this was my destiny."
Diamandis: "When you are in the studio, you don't have anybody to feed off of; meanwhile, when you are playing live, you interact with people and you feel the energy in the room. When the crowd is going crazy, that definitely impacts your vocal performance. I prefer to sing live."
Diamandis: "I'm a very, very disciplined person."
Diamandis: "We have this image of Hollywood being very glamorous and perfect as it, you know, is in the movies, and I wanted to talk about how that wasn't the case for me, that's not how i saw things; I don't see things in a fantasy way, I want to see things for how they really are."
Diamandis: "I'm just waiting for the moment where it's accepted that women are just as sexual as men without women having to be overtly sexy just to prove how 'liberated' they are."
Diamandis: "Even when I see a beautiful woman, I think, 'Aw, her life must be amazing.' Everyone does it. That's human nature to believe that beauty is everything."
Diamandis: "I desperately need space and time on my own. So I think I don’t relate to [the song] at this moment in my life, in that my life just has a different structure and flow to it now. And now I don’t know if I’m that introverted, I think I’m more in the middle, but maybe that’s circumstantial."
Diamandis: "Success, I've come to realise, is fleeting so you shouldn't value it too much."
Diamandis: "I’ve needed a lot of alone time in order to do the kind of job that I do because it’s very much a people person’s job. And also performing means you have to live life in a way in which you can inject these big bursts of energy in certain situations, and I think unless you’re a very extroverted person, you need more alone time than most people. So, I think in the pandemic, I’ve fared quite well in that regard, cause I’ve been quite good at [being alone] my whole life."
[On her critiques of capitalism in music]
Diamandis: “I like seeing comments like, ‘She used capitalism to get where she is,’ because it does make me think about my own place, but we’re all allowed to challenge the system that we’re in.”
Diamandis: “I don’t know if I want this [music] to be the focus of my life anymore. I badly need to be stimulated by other things now. I’d way prefer going to schools and doing talks and engaging people in debates than touring for the rest of my life.”
[On the central message of her album, Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land]
Diamandis: "It’s all tied to a degrading of femininity."
Diamandis: "I feel weird without lipstick. Even after the first time I wore a really neon pink or a really bright red, I felt really strange without it there. My lips are a main feature, so I feel naked without them."
Diamandis: "Rejection is a universally embarrassing topic and 'Electra Heart' is my response to that. It is a frank album."
Diamandis: "Obviously when you're a teen you have no money, so you make, like, three outfits out of one dress. You're like, 'OK cut the arms here. Alright: New party, cut them to here.'"
Diamandis: "I've read every Madonna biography. I've also looked up every pop star to see how they first made it. The biggest thing I learnt was that you have to be pro-active. You can't be scared."
Diamandis: "I am absolutely not a roll-on-stage kind of girl! I would be totally freaked out if I didn't warm up, and I don't know how other singers do it."
Diamandis: "What I hate is that not many people admit to having a big ego, but you have to - and there's nothing wrong with it."
Diamandis: "I criticized the whole American songwriting industry and the pop side of it and I was bitter about it. And I stepped back and thought 'Why are you bitter? You can't just stand there like every other indie musician and criticize this so-called 'generic' music when you're not doing anything to challenge that.'"
Diamandis: "I've always been interested in how fast-moving our identity is and that I've never been able to pin down who I truly am. That inspires me to write, because I feel like that cements me a bit, in that I find my identity in being an artist."
Diamandis: "Hollywood infected my brain and I really valued the wrong things in life, but I changed dramatically."
Diamandis: "This obsession with celebrity culture is really unhealthy. I don't want to live my life like that, and I don't want to be a typical pop star."
Diamandis: "I could draw up a list of about 30 artists who I apparently sound like. From Lady Gaga, to Katy Perry to Lana Del Rey. I don't know if it's because I'm versatile or because production affects how people judge music. I can't wait for a time I can just be classed as myself."
Diamandis: "I didn't even listen to any music until I was 19, really. I just wanted to be famous. But I didn't say it to anyone because I was really embarrassed at the thought."
Diamandis: "My dad's quite a conservative person, and he brought me up to be very questioning of the commercial world. He looked down on pop culture. I definitely got the impression that pop was evil and that Britney Spears was evil."
Diamandis: "Lots of narcissistic people have helped lots of other people with their music. That's such a narcissistic thing to say!"
Diamandis: "I love natural beauty, and I think it's your best look, but I think makeup as an artist is so transformative."
Diamandis: "If you don't want to have your private life splashed everywhere, why go to the restaurants and the places you know you're going to be photographed?"
Diamandis: “I couldn’t think about writing music without needing praise from other people”
Diamandis: "I really do want people to listen to the music more than watch what I wear. There's time for that later. I've got the rest of my life to dress up and look nice."
Diamandis: “The way that we treat people is linked to our connection to the planet..”
Diamandis: "Everyone gets dumped and everyone gets hurt and there's karma to love in regards to what you've done to other people."
Diamandis: “I recognized in myself this desire to slow down and build a bit more of a healthy lifestyle, but walking away from music meant my anchor was gone. My sense of purpose suddenly evaporated.”
Diamandis: "I like painting images; I love setting the scene for someone."
[On why she formed an interest around witchcraft]
Diamandis: “Because it’s so deeply embedded in our perception of the feminine and what that has meant through the ages.”
Diamandis: "[Being in the States] is almost like being on a holiday. It's kind of annoying because everyone's like "Oh, you're so obsessed with America," but it's not really that. I just really enjoy being here - I'm not the first British artist to make music here and be inspired by the country."
Diamandis: "I feel so happy with the path that I’ve created for myself."
Diamandis: "Britney Spears is a big influence. Huge. I think people thought I was joking about that for a long time. But when I was a teenager, there was a genuine connection with this sweet girl who also had this very sexual side that people didn't really want to accept."
[On her hit single, Primadonna]
Diamandis: "I think it’s one of the most important songs I’ve written in a long time, but that’s the beauty of pop—it’s much harder to write a simple song."