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 Capturing the number 2 spot in BBC’s Sounds of 2010, Britain’s latest singer-songwriter sensation MARINA & THE DIAMONDS tells TESS CURRAN why you can’t take cats on tour.
Despite her Welsh and Greek heritage, Marina Diamandis has one of those intoxicating British accents where the words ‘lovely’ and ‘brilliant’ pepper every sentence. She speaks with the kind of candour and excitement that makes me want to invite her to my house and drink loads of red wine and laugh about ‘bollocks’ ‘til 3am. Of course she’s probably too busy for that, thanks to a much-anticipated debut album having just dropped onto the charts (the wryly-named The Family Jewels) and the press already pegging her as the next big thing.
“Music’s something I always wanted to do,” she says. “I didn’t actually tell anyone, but I was just planning it in my mind. So I started writing and singing – pretty badly in the beginning, but I think I got better over time.”
Yes, she certainly did. Signed to Warner Music in 2008, it’s been up and up since there. But for this straight-talking girl who only wants to have a nice cup of tea and re-watch the entire Absolutely Fabulous series from the confines of her tour bus, there are some elements of the fast life that she still isn’t entirely comfortable with. “I can’t stand it at parties where people are all really pretentious or famous,” she says. “I just don’t fit in – and I don’t really feel like I want to fit in.”
Mainly she’s just glad to finally have her album out – a year and a half of work and many transitions later. “I guess you don’t really know what sort of identity you have as an artist or a songwriter until you start experimenting and producing,” she explains. “I started off quite pop I suppose, but now I like to create loads of layers and make it like – I know this sounds lame – but like a ‘feast’ for the ears. It’s like you have everything encompassed in one song – sights and sounds and smells – and you can just imagine it.”
And this ‘sensual feast’ approach isn’t one that just stops at the songwriting. Her video clips are colourful and slightly crazed, her voice a powerhouse, and her outfits, well ... fabulous, darling. But of course it’s Marina herself that brings the creativity and colour, with her live performances raved about for their energy and flair from this former trained dancer. “I really love being on stage” she says. “Even from the beginning, when I was just starting out, it just felt natural; like I was meant to be doing this.”
But when not commanding audiences at festivals like Glastonbury and Leeds, Marina is a humble girl at heart and, much to my delight, also a secret cat lady. (Just take a peek at the kitty-face top that takes centre stage in her Obsessions clip. A coincidence? I think not). “I just love cats!” she exclaims. “I’m so sad I can’t have one! I’m trying to persuade a woman in my building to do a cat share with me, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.”
And you can’t take a cat on tour? “No way,” she laughs. “It’d have a lot of fun, probably, but that’s like cruelty to animals.” Fair enough.
But while her album lingers at number two on the iTunes chart, tour dates amass and childhood dreams slowly become reality, when it comes down to it all Marina Diamandis really wants is a piece of pie. Blueberry, preferably.
THE FAMILY JEWELS is out now through Warner. Check out www.marinaandthediamonds.com for more information.
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