Get the latest gossip
Marina Reinvents Her Sound Into Sassy, Sexy Eurodisco With ‘Princess of Power’: Album Review
Marina (formerly Marina and the Diamonds) has revamped her sound into an arch, ABBA-esque take on Eurodisco with 'Princess of Power.'
She’s maintained a steady presence over the years, but her new album, “Princess of Power,” is something very different — a sound and image redefinition and revitalization that seems defined by a lyric from the title track that goes “I’ve been living life locked up in tower/ But now I’m blooming like a flower.” The album is filled with deliciously pulsating electronic rhythms and hilarious and risque lyrics — one of the album’s lead singles and arguably its best song is called “C—tissimo” — that contrast startlingly with her intentionally mannered, arch singing style, which can vault suddenly into a sky-scraping soprano. Yet the influences aren’t only dance-oriented: The sounds of ‘80s British pop are everywhere, along with flourishes of Queen in her vocals and especially blasts of late-period ABBA in the lush strings, synth arpeggios and European melodies; there’s also a big dollop of Madonna and Gaga in its DNA. But along with the revamped sound, the biggest shift here is in attitude, a comical, winking air of opulent ennui in the lyrics and tone.
Or read this on Variety