#image lyrics: starring role - marina | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

a-cure-for-writers-block · 4 years

Text

#100 Song Lyric Prompts

No one specifically requested, but I wanted to do this so bad! Here we go...

“Will nature make a man of me yet?”- The Smiths, This Charming Man

“If I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me?”- Lynyrd Skynyrd, Free Bird

“When my time comes around, lay me gently in the cold dark earth. No grave can hold my body down, I'll crawl home to her.”- Hozier, Work Song

“I don’t think that we should be alone together, when we’re in a room you get my eyes, you open your mouth I’m hypnotised”- The Neighbourhood, Single

“She looks as if she’s blowing a kiss at me and suddenly the sky is a scissor”- Arctic Monkeys, That’s where you’re wrong

“You think you want to be alone, just wait until you’re crying on the shower floor” “They’ve got a pretty face, but they’ve got a pretty empty head.” “But how the hell do you fall in love, the last time I checked you can’t fall in slow mo”- LANY- The Breakup *There were too many good ones in this song, I couldn’t help myself*

“I know it’s mad, but if I go to hell will you go with me or just leave?” - Panic! At The Disco, Do you know what I'm seeing?

“I don’t know who’s protecting me, but we hit it off”- Drake, Sandra’s Rose

“Do me a favour and break my nose, do me a favour and tell me to go away?”- Arctic monkeys, Do me a favour

“Baby just came back around, said she needs time to explore, said I can’t love her no more”- The Neighbourhood, Baby came home

“Just one mistake, you say you’re not in love no more, but was it really love if you can leave me for something so innocent is this the end?”- LANY, Thick and thin

“You can have Manhattan, I know it’s for the best, I’ll gather up the avenues and leave them on your doorstep. I’ll tiptoe away so you won’t have to say you heard me leave.” “You can have Manhattan, the one we used to share, the one where we were laughing and drunk on just being there. Hang onto the reverie, could you do that for me?”- Sara Bareilles, Manhattan

“You don’t love me, big fucking deal, I’ll never tell you how I feel.” “I'll send my best regards from Hell”- Marina and the Diamonds, Starring Role

“I been writing these songs ‘bout how I can’t be with you. I don’t want to be a monster, but I’ve been here for days, drinking too much now I want you, can’t get you off my brain.”- Henry, Monster, Eng. version

“Change lives, get better, yeah that be the plan” “That’s why you see me winning, yeah, even after I lose”- Jay Park, Ask bout me

“Love is not looking over shoulders, Love is you should trust what I told you” “Love is not struggling to say I love you”- 6LACK, Disconnect

“All these people taking miles when you give them an inch, all these followers but who's gonna follow me until the end?”- Drake, Emotionless

“She’s in the rain, you wanna hurt yourself I’ll stay with you, you wanna make yourself go through that pain, It’s better to be held than holding on,”- The Rose, She’s In The Rain *Absolutely love this one, don’t @ me, I will die for the The Rose**

“Sex by the fire at night”- Bruno Mars, That’s What I Like

“I’ve got the good side of you, sent it out into the blue.”- Troye Sivan, Good Side

“Standing by the window, rain falling, I want to have you full in my embrace and tell you, even when I’m born again and love you, even then, will you be with me?”- KREAM, 선물 Gift *Translated*

“It all passes, Someday, For sure, Certainly”- RM, ft. NELL, everythingoes *Translated*

“Please stay as long as you need, can't promise that things won't be broken, but I swear that I will never leave. Please stay forever with me”- Sleeping With Sirens, Scene One- James Dean & Audrey Hepburn

“When you move, I'm put to mind of all that I wanna be, when you move I could never define all that you are to me”- Hozier, Movement

“Wake up and smell the coffee, is your cup half full or empty?”- Billie Eilish, come out and play

“Am I a bad person? Or am I just in pain?”- DEAN, Sulli, Rad Museum, Dayfly *Translated*

“Kiss me on the lips, a secret just between the two of us, deeply poisoned by the jail of you, I cannot worship anyone but you and I knew the grail was poisoned but I drank it anyway”- BTS, Blood Sweat & Tears *Translated*

“When the sun sets and darkness comes, I only remember your warmth, where the stars wrap around us. I’m going there, I’ll be there”- SEVENTEEN, Highlight *Translated*

“I don't ever wanna feel like anything I do ever had a fucking resonance or meant a thing to you.”- Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, I Hate You

“You can’t take this away from me, the way I hit the melody, the waves bring clarity, running through me”- Tom Misch, Del La Soul, It Runs Through Me

“It was a lie when they smiled and said you won’t feel a thing”- My Chemical Romance, Disenchanted

“The fog has lifted and things get clear, all the lies pass by like a reel of film. I hate you”- EXO, 내가 미쳐 (Going Crazy) *Translated*

“I’m sorry- no, I’m not sorry, I’m just getting started and my life’s a party”- DEAN, Eric Bellinger, I’m Not Sorry

“Ain’t it fun, living in the real world?”- Paramore, Ain’t It Fun

“Ready or not, we are coming back- yeah, we’re over, we can tell you ‘bout what you need. You can look it up when you’re older”- Evergreen, Cargo Cult

“You, you got so much potential, every moment spent with you I bet was always eventful”- Aminé, Kehlani, Heebiejeebies- Bonus

“Could you imagine the taste of your lips if we never tried to kiss on the drive to Queens? 'Cause I imagine the weight of your ribs if you lied between my hips in the backseat”- Halsey, Roman Holiday

“Forever isn’t for everyone, is forever for you?”- Arctic Monkeys, Snap Out Of It

“Wish you good luck being lonely, I’mma push red every time you phone me. You vow to be a memory”- Ella Mai, ft. Ty Dolla $ign, She Don’t

“I’ve been dazed and confused from the day I met you, yeah I lost my head and I’d do it again”- Ruel, Dazed & Confused

“I just want you closer, is that alright? Baby let's get closer tonight”- Paolo Nutini, Last request

“You have no idea how pretty you are when you wake from sleep, you have no idea how beautiful you look as you get ready for bed”- Zion.T, No Makeup *Translated*

“I was thinking I could fly to your hotel tonight, baby, ‘cos I can’t get you off my mind”- Shawn Mendes, Lost In Japan

“She's soothing like the ocean rushing on the sand, she takes care of me, baby, she helps me be a better man. She's so beautiful, sometimes I stop to close my eyes, she's exactly what I need”- Jeremy Passion, Lemonade

“And her lips are like the galaxy's edge and her kiss the colour of a constellation falling into place”- Arctic Monkeys, Arabella

“It's how you look, not how you feel. A city of glass with no heart”- Queens of the Stone Age, If I Had a Tail

“I’ll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife”- Hozier, Take Me To Church

“Bitter and hardened heart, Oh, aching- waiting for life to start”- Keane, Bend & Break

“When you move I'm put to mind of all that I wanna be, when you move I could never define all that you are to me”- Hozier, Movement

“She said, ‘Baby, I'm afraid to fall in love, 'cause what if it's not reciprocated?’ I told her, ‘Don't rush girl, don’t you rush, guess it's all a game of patience.’”- Pink Sweat$, Honesty

“Share a casket with you, we’ll be buried alive, me and her playing truth ‘til the day we die.”- Granata Ft. Phoniks, You Dont Need Me

“And hope that I had survived yesterday, and today is jealous of tomorrow.”- Emeli Sandé, Breathing Underwater

“Heaven if you sent us down so we could build a playground for the sinners to play as saints, you'd be so proud of what we've made.” Stephen, Crossfire

“Tell me how do you cope with it? How do you sleep with yourself at night? How do you cope with it? How do you sleep with yourself at night?”- blackbear, make daddy proud

“If anyone looks perfect, you look perfect next to me.”- Nick Wilson, Obsolete

“When I meet you after time passes, I’ll know (you were my future), I’ll know (I was your yesterday). When I meet you after time passes, I’ll know (you protected me), I’ll know (I desired you).”- SEVENTEEN (Wen Junhui & Xu Minghao), My I *Translated*

“I need my sex n’ drugs, I need my money first, bless me with all my sins.”- Abhi The Nomad, Ft. Harrison Sands & Copper King, Sex ‘n Drugs

“Naked and fallin' in love, look here I got you. Safe where there's no one to judge, keep it insightful.”- Keiynan Lonsdale, Preach

“All alone, all we know is haunting me, making it harder to breathe, harder to breathe.”- The Neighbourhood, Leaving Tonight

“Now I see you get off of the subway, haven't seen you in months but it's okay. I'd forgotten but I feel the same, hate that I still wish you were...”- Claud, Wish You Were Gay

“A perfect stranger lying next to me, he's playing God with broken figurines. He keeps calling me his little queen and I believe.”- Jake Wesley Rogers, Little Queen (This song deserves way more recognition, make sure to give it a listen!)

“Hell is so close to Heaven, hell is so close to Heaven. Hold on don't look back, you know we're better- we’re better than that. Lost and thrown away, you know we're better- we’re better than that.”- Sleeping With Sirens, The Strays

“Alone tonight, I’m drawing my dreams across the sky farther than I can imagine- She wants it.”- CIX, Movie Star *Translated*

“Yeah I mixed words and some whiskey on the flight just to make sure I landed on time and I wrote me a song I could sing just in case I forgot everything.”- Marc E. Bassy, Last One I Love

“Don't ask questions you don't wanna know, learned my lesson way too long ago.” “Deadly fever, please don't ever break, be my reliever 'cause I don't self medicate”- Billie Eilish, my strange addiction

“And it's worth it, it's divine, I have this some of the time.”- Hozier, Cherry Wine

“And I realize you're mine, Indeed, a fool am I.”- Queens of the Stone Age, No One Knows

“Look in the mirror ‘til I forget everything I know, everything I did was just a way to make the time feel faster.”- Miya Folick, Stock Image

“Do you feel how I feel? Are you numb? Do you tread crystal waters, bound to be stung? Are you scared? If I see you, we're upon, will you dye your hair dark so you're no longer blonde?”- Isaac Dunbar, Cologne

“Tell me; To you I’m bad & hurtful. Because I’ve been busy, you’re hurting. Bad, bad, bad, I’m bad, bad.”- Crush, NAPPA (나빠) *Translated*

“Just for the record, the weather today is slightly sarcastic with a good chance of: A. Indifference or B. disinterest to what the critics say.”- Panic! At The Disco, London Beckoned Songs About Money Written By Machines

“‘Cause you don’t say what you feel, I'm the one driving but you take the wheel. You wanna wait, 'til we're older, I'm the one who started this, but now I just want closure.”- Ieuan, Closure

“Our names carved in the pavement, sealed by what's left of our handprints, now. I told my mom, she'd love to meet you, but it's too bad she won't get the chance to.”- COIN, Malibu 1992

“I'm running outta time to hold you close, running outta time to be your man. I'm just lost in this moment, I've been zoning.”- blackbear, 4u

“Standing on your mama's porch, you told me that you'd wait forever. Oh and when you held my hand, I knew that it was now or never”- Bryan Adams, Summer Of ‘69

“I'll go out, grow my hair too long, sing your least favourite songs at the top of my lungs. I'll go out, kiss all of your friends, make a story and pretend it was me who made this end.”- The Vamps, Hair Too Long

“Getting my mind right, I'll wait 'til the time's right. I'm meaning to tell you why it's hard to sleep at night. There's nothing to fear now, girl, we should be here now. So why don't you hear me out?”- Jeremy Zucker, Ft. blackbear, talk is overrated

“We haven't spoke since you went away, comfortable silence is so overrated. Why won't you ever be the first one to break? Even my phone misses your call, by the way.”- Harry Styles, From the Dining Table

“Look overhead at the stars and the ocean, foggy emotions, moments, erosion. This supernova could cause a commotion, my minds of the notion, you'll still be my motive”- Ansel Elgort, Supernova

“I love that new dress you bought, yeah, you sure look nice. Heard you liked that new restaurant, you know, I've been there twice. And the way that you switch up your hair, all of the moments we've shared, strolling the streets back in Rome, oh, how I wish I was there. It ain't fair.”- Ruel, Face To Face

“Welcome to your life, there's no turning back. Even while we sleep we will find you acting on your best behaviour, turn your back on mother nature.”- Tear For Fears, Everybody Wants to Rule the World

“I'm wide awake, not losing any sleep, I picked up every piece and landed on my feet. I'm wide awake, need nothing to complete myself, no.” Katy Perry, Wide Awake

“If you don't realize, all of the things your life can do you will be left behind, swept up by the storm of those you knew.”- Meltycanon, thankful

“I always knew that we'd be by each other's side forever, now our time has come and I'd be satisfied if we died together. Yeah, our climate's fucked, we might as well enjoy the weather, our time is up and I'd be satisfied if we died together.”- Samsa, Anthropocene

“There's still so much to say, I'm faded, broken, pretending you're on the line, wasting my time. Sinking deeper, watching you spend your night, like I'll be fine and I'll be over this.”- NYK, Faded

“I’d rather go to hell, than be in purgatory, cut my hair, gag and bore me, pull this pin, let this world explode.”- My Chemical Romance, Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)

“I reached for a shooting star, it burned a hole through my hand Made its way through my heart, had fun in the promised land.”- blink-182, Wishing Well

“Let go of your baggage, but don’t think I don’t understand it’s probably a challenge,”- Isaac Lewis, Fly

“It's been a long night in New York city, it's been a long night in Baton Rouge. I don't remember you looking any better, but then again, I don't remember you.”- John Mayer, Who Says

“They say that love kills, it ain't quite what it seems, don't be shocked when you lost what you called ‘meant to be’.”- StayLoose, Bryce Fox, Sociopath

“When they come for You, I will shield Your name, I will field their questions, I will feel Your pain.”- Kanye West, Ultralight Beam

“Two steps forward, one step back and it won’t be long til my heart attack, yup! And common sense falls second place to the way it feels when you kiss my face, yup!”- The Band CAMINO, 2 / 14

“Leaving empty souls when he avenged, evil spirits flowed, he drank the blood like lemonade.”- Morcheeba, Blood Like Lemonade

“Your smile will become a classic; the brilliance of sunlight, the haziness of the moonlight exist for the sake of promises.”- WayV, Moonwalk

Dear God, I hope you got the letter and I pray you can make it better down here. I don't need a big reduction in the price of beer, but all the people that you made in your image- see them starving on their feet.”- Lawless, Sydney Wayser, Dear God

“Down below, sandy, like the ocean floor, quiet, like I like it; here I'll never be alone.”- slenderbodies, anemone

“I love everything, fire spreading all around my room, my world's so bright, it's hard to breathe but that's alright- hush.”- Sub Urban, Cradles

“I'm telling myself, I'm telling myself, ‘I don't need you anymore’.”- Lia Marie Johnson, Cold Heart Killer

“So I moved to California, but it's just a state of mind, it turns out everywhere you go, you take yourself, that's not a lie. Wish that you would hold me or just say that you were mine- it's killing me slowly.” Lana Del Rey, Fuck it I love you

“See, she knows that I love her, but I don't think she'll stay and she knows that I need her, but my love's lost its weight. Spend my days longing for something real, spend my days stuck in the way I feel.”- JOBA, Sad Saturdays

3K notes · View notes

dykerightsmp3 · 5 years

Text

like it’s funny, MARINA’s Electra Heart is used as an aesthetic constantly but I almost never hear anything about its actual content so here are the best things about one of the best albums of all time

Got a figure like a pin-up, got a figure like a doll / Don't care if you think I'm dumb, I don't care at all

Bubblegum Bitch is an absolute bop to start off but it plays super well with this superficial ideal – it’s an introduction to the album as something just slightly satirical and also as a medium used to explore the roles women are placed within, and it establishes the idea of the songwriter playing a character

my favorite thing said about Primadonna is actually something Marina says: “It’s about not needing anybody when it comes to love—your raison d'être is to live for adoration. Girls usually feel like this when they are not appreciated in a relationship.” like, it’s her owning this thing that her ex-boyfriend used to throw at her. metal

the sort of rising howling oooooh right before the final chorus of Lies

also the way she sings you only ever touch me in the dark

Homewrecker is this same reclaiming as Primadonna but also a statement on Why we express ourselves in that type of deceptive romanticism

But deep down all you want is love / the pure kind we all dream of / but we cannot escape the past / so you and I will never last

this idea of there being no real point to trying to make it last because you’re projecting this image so hard

you don’t love me / big fucking deal / I’ll never tell / you how I feel

I have sooooo much to say about Starring Role that can’t fit here but some underrated elements include: the notes in the background of the chorus that start over “when you are not the starring role”; how the music starts out pretty simple and sad and builds up in this almost desperate way; how it uses Primadonna imagery as a demand to simply be loved back

you’re like my dad / you’d get on well / i’ll send my best / regards from hell is absolutely one of the most Oh-Shit lyrics ever written it still makes me gasp every time I listen to it

Ending State of Dreaming on the simple line “my life is a play”

the transition from the stark abrupt realism of Starring Role to the dreamy music of State of Dreaming, and then going from this dreamy song to a song about being in control

yeah you may be good looking but you’re not a piece of art

the all-over-the-place bridge of Power & Control and how she goes from saying “doesn’t mean that I am weak” and just continues repeating “I am weak” over much more haunting music

I can’t decide which one of these is the best rhyme ever: I wanna be a bottle blond / I don’t know why but I feel conned vs I want back my virginity / so I can feel infinity

some cool shit said about Valley of the Dolls: “This song is like breaking point – it’s poising on the edge, and listener doesn’t know if Electra will manage to fight or she’s gonna be defeated to the point of suicide.”

how after that song about alienation, we move back into Hypocrates, a song that’s so much a breakdown and a statement of lack of ownership

the fact that Hypocrates is used both as a reference to being a hypocrite and doctor – like someone who wants to diagnose her problems

I know you only want to own me.

also like I know Buy the Stars isn’t on the US version but since the lyric is similar please just know that the delivery of the line “you know only how to own me” in that song is fucking Gorgeous

this might be known by others but in looking through the lyrics for this album I discovered that the reason Living Dead, Lonely Hearts Club, and Buy the Stars aren’t on the US deluxe (and probably the reason Sex Yeah is in a different place too) is because they were written for a different conception of this album.

which is actually interesting in terms of thematic coherency -- this album is focused on the Four Archetypes, yes, but it’s essentially about 1) the relationship between love and control, 2) owning the insults that are thrown at women, and 3) emptiness. and I’d guess Hypocrates and Sex Yeah were both originally on the first album.

with That being said, How to Be a Heartbreaker changed me as a person at age 11 and still remains one of the most iconic beats I’ve ever heard.

AT LEAST I THINK I DO

Girls don't want / We don't want our hearts to break, in two / So it's better to be fake / Can't risk losing in love again, ba-abe and also how her voice GOES UP on that note

honestly dude the bridges on this album are all very confessional and also all honestly slap way too hard

'Cause the night is your woman, and she'll set you free vs. In the night your heart is full and by the morning empty

Radioactive is such a bop but also hurts? this song, to me, is about the conflict between desire for control and the way you feel around someone else; it’s about attempting to close off emotion in an attempt

the entire decision to end on Fear and Loathing

this track... fucks. like it begins with this really sad statement about filling your heart with emptiness and then transitions into this statement on deciding to let go, and also the high notes oh my god, and the way she sings the chorus repeat, and also the damn ending.

And when the time comes along / And the lights run out / I know a light will burn on / When they blow me out

I think on a story level you can think of this song as the character letting go or maybe dying, but you can also think of it as the songwriter letting go -- this is an album about performance, of stereotypes or of control or of emptiness, and this song is letting go of all those things, letting go of trying to have it all and trying to divide yourself into archetypes and just being. which is wonderful

anyway I love Marina happy pride month to everything she’s ever done

#marina #electra heart #album reviews #elle.txt #please i wrote this so quickly i just have FeelingsTM #100

153 notes · View notes

musiccosmosru · 6 years

Link

We’ll start with the most obvious thing: there is no Kokomo. Not off the Florida Keys, anyway. Sure, a couple places staked claims, but only after the occurence of the least obvious thing: a has-been pop act, minus their lead singer and creative engine, scoring a #1 hit off the soundtrack to a forgettable film about bartending. “Kokomo” — released 30 years ago this month — was the Beach Boys’ first original Top 20 single in 20 years, and their first chart-topper in 22.

With or without their erstwhile captain Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys never came close to replicating their early success, but no matter: Every time a quizmaster asks what the seven locations are in the song’s chorus, every Gen-X hand in the bar lunges for the pen. “Kokomo” was a peculiar last cultural gasp for everyone involved: not just the performers, but also their collaborators. Together, they formed a coastal coterie, an assemblage of connections both fortuitous and tragic.

The state of the Beach Boys in 1988 was, in a word, shitty. Their last record, 1985’s digitally crispy The Beach Boys, performed middlingly despite contributions from Culture Club, Ringo Starr, and Stevie Wonder. A couple clues to their malaise appear within the record. On the back, there’s a dedication “to the memory of our beloved brother, cousin and friend”; Dennis Wilson, the band’s drummer and only true surfer, had drowned in the water off Marina Del Rey in December of 1983. And on the label, there are three songwriting credits for E. E. Landy.

That would be Dr. Eugene Landy, Brian’s personal therapist, business manager, and professional ghoul. At one point, Wilson’s family had to sell some of his publishing rights in order to afford Landy’s $430,000-a-year fee. Landy’s role as confidant, coupled with Brian’s reluctance to tour, kept him largely away from his bandmates, though they had the right to perform and record as the Beach Boys. And so, when director Roger Donaldson sought the band to pad out the soundtrack to his film Cocktail, they turned the assignment over to their producer, Terry Melcher.

CREDIT: ABC Photo Archives/ABC via Getty Images

Though Melcher had only been been producing the group for a few years, his relationship with the band was a couple decades old at that point. In the mid-’60s, he and future Beach Boy Bruce Johnston made surf-pop as Bruce & Terry, and then as the Rip Chords. Melcher moved behind the boards, becoming a major architect of the West Coast folk-rock sound. At one of his house parties, he re-introduced Brian Wilson to Van Dyke Parks, who tried to help Wilson through the aborted Smile sessions. Parks continued to provide lyrical and instrumental daubs to Beach Boys tracks in the years afterward. In a twisted return of favor, Dennis introduced Melcher to a guy he first met trashing his house: Charlie Manson.

The aspiring megalomaniac also aspired to be a songwriter, and both Dennis and Melcher were impressed with his embryonic sketches. But Manson’s psychotic behavior scotched his chance at a record deal; incensed, he dispatched some of his followers to Melcher’s old house, where they murdered five people, including the actress Sharon Tate. The Manson Family’s spree killings blew a hole in the psyche of America’s counterculture, and sent Melcher into something of a tailspin. He took on fewer projects, eventually signing on to produce a couple television shows for his mother, the actress and singer Doris Day. By the mid-’80s, he was back in the Beach Boys’ orbit. When he was tabbed to find a song for Cocktail, he reached out to an old friend: John Phillips of the Mamas And The Papas, whose hit “California Dreamin’” the Beach Boys had recently covered.

Phillips had spent the decade juggling different Mamas And Papas lineups. He and Denny Doherty were the only returning members; Cass Elliot died in 1974, and Michelle Phillips divorced John in 1970. Their roles were filled by former Spanky & Our Gang leader Elaine McFarlane and Phillips’ daughter Mackenzie, respectively. The group toured and did the requisite casino residencies, but legit success was hard to come by. (The entire time, according to Mackenzie Phillips, she and her father were involved in what was termed an “incestuous relationship.” She made the accusation in her 2009 memoir, as well as on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Immediately afterward, various relatives and family friends issued statements attesting to their belief or disbelief in her account.) By 1986, John was demoing tracks with Scott McKenzie, best known for his Phillips-written 1967 smash “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair).” One of those tracks was “Kokomo.”

You can hear Phillips’ version on the 2010 collection Many Mamas, Many Papas. (The set also contains the racist ditty “Chinaman,” as well as a song called, simply, “Yachts.”) His “Kokomo” is stately and wistful. Other than Florida, Kokomo is the only place mentioned, making the composition a sort of paean to a lost paradise of the mind. It’s been suggested that he was thinking of Mustique, an island in the Grenadines purchased in the ‘50s by Phillips’ friend, the British aristocrat Colin Tennant, 3rd Baron Glenconner. Tennant nearly went broke maintaining the damn thing, eventually transferring ownership to the islands’ wealthy homeowners (a group which has, at one time or another, included Bryan Adams, David Bowie, and Mick Jagger). Regardless of origin, the “Kokomo” demo was missing a chorus. And that’s where Mike Love enters.

If Brian Wilson was like Paul McCartney, pushing his bandmates to precisely render his sonic fancies, Mike Love was like … well, Paul McCartney, desperately trying to keep all the stakeholders happy and productive. He’s rarely given his due as a songwriter: He sued Brian in 1992 more or less for this reason, eventually winning co-writing credit for 35 Beach Boys tunes. The occasional “Good Vibrations” aside (a lyric written with McKenzie’s “San Francisco” in mind), his gift is punch-ups: tweaking phrases and adding earworms. He scrapped Phillips’ past tense. It sounded like regret, which is not Love’s bag. All he’s ever wanted to do is provide escape. So when it came time to write the chorus, Love sang Melcher a map.

The result was ruthlessly catchy: a combination of dreaminess and insistence, like a tank disguised as a cloud. The “Aruba, Jamaica” bit was bumped to the beginning for maximum effect; Love managed to work in a reference to cocktails, and possibly (in the line “that Montserrat mystique”) a reference to Baron Tennant’s island folly. Van Dyke Parks parachuted in to arrange the steel pans and play accordion, despite (allegedly) being stiffed by Love on plane fare. Studio saxophonist Joel Peskin (whose professional relationship with the Boys stretched back to 1979’s L.A.) contributed the oddly poignant solo. One name was notably absent: Brian was unable to attend the sessions, possibly due to his doctor’s interference. When he first heard the song on the radio, he didn’t even recognize it as a Beach Boys tune. His solo record had just dropped — deliciously, the opening lines are “I was sittin’ in a crummy movie/With my hands on my chin.”

Released 7/18/88 in advance of Cocktail — with Little Richard’s soundtrack closer “Tutti Frutti” as the B-side — “Kokomo” didn’t get any traction. It was only after moviegoers heard the tune scoring Tom Cruise’s move from New York to Jamaica that it caught on. Despite critical indifference (the movie is Cruise’s worst film Rotten Tomatoes) both Cocktail and “Kokomo” became #1 hits: the former for two weeks, the latter for one. In November, “Kokomo” supplanted Phil Collins’ “Groovy Kind Of Love” at the summit. (Collins, however, got the last laugh when “Two Hearts” beat “Kokomo” for Best Original Song at the 46th annual Golden Globes.)

A couple weeks after “Kokomo” hit #1, the Beach Boys (with Brian) guest-starred in an episode of the sitcom Full House. The climax of “Beach Boys Bingo” features the Tanner clan rockin’ out to a stadium performance of “Kokomo,” then climbing onstage to do “Barbara Ann.” The whole thing was old hat for Full House star John Stamos, who had been the Beach Boys’ ancillary percussionist for a few years by then. (He played steel drums in the “Kokomo” video, but not on the record.) If you watch the scene carefully, you’ll see Brian sporting a “Californians For Dukakis” shirt; Mike, infamously, is a Trump supporter and a contributor to Tipper Gore’s pro-censorship Parent’s Music Resource Center.

Having scored an improbable hit, the Beach Boys pivoted to movie soundtracks for a time. They landed “Still Cruisin’” in Lethal Weapon 2 and the Melcher-written title track for Problem Child; neither went anywhere, and the band returned to the state-fair circuit. “Kokomo” was, it turns out, irreplicable. Its lightweight arrangement and hermetic vibe have proven resistant to imitators: You won’t find many notable covers beyond, say, the Muppets. Its real legacy was in lending its name to a host of bars and resorts across the Caribbean Sea. The Orlando Sentinel found a few in a December ’88 investigation, with Key Largo’s Chamber of Commerce noting that “[w]e are flooded with calls, absolutely flooded. We had six calls on the answering machine this morning and several calls during the day.” Sandals renamed their Montego Bay resort “Kokomo Island” for a while, which must have been a nice two-for-one for the song’s fans.

In time, though, “Kokomo” fever faded, and the men responsible for it are starting to pass on. Carl Wilson died in 1998, John Phillips in 2001, Terry Melcher in 2004, Scott McKenzie in 2012. Mike Love, who has long enjoyed the exclusive rights to tour under the Beach Boys name, is the sole living writer. Last fall, he released a double album, with the second half devoted to re-recordings of Beach Boys classics. “Kokomo” is nowhere to be found. Presumably, he decided not to mess with perfection.

CREDIT: Ron Galella/WireImage

<a style="display:none" rel="follow" href="http://megatheme.ir/" title="قالب وردپرس">قالب وردپرس</a>

The post “Kokomo” Is 30: The Strange Backstory To The Beach Boys’ Last Cultural Gasp appeared first on MusicCosmoS.

#beauty #healths #kids #royal espanol

0 notes

sengoku1 · 6 years

Text

William Kerns’ Movie Marquee — 5 films open in Lubbock movie theaters

MOVIES OPENING FRIDAY

7 Days In Entebbe

Israeli soldiers embark on a mission to rescue more than 240 hostages from an airport in Entebbe, Uganda, in the summer of 1976.

PG-13: Violence, thematic material, drug use, smoking and language — Premiere Cinemas.

A Fantastic Woman

Sebastian Lelio’s “A Fantastic Woman” made history twice when it won the Academy Award on March 4 for Best Foreign Language Film. It was the first Oscar win for a film from Chile, and the first Oscar win for a movie with a transgender character in the leadThe movie focuses on waitress and singer Marina, portrayed by transgender actress Daniela Vega, fighting for her dignity while grieving after her boyfriend Orlando (Francisco Reyes) dies, apparently from a brain aneurysm. Marina is viewed with suspicion by a detective, doctors and even Orlando’s family, the latter forbidding her from attending the wake or funeral.

R: Language, sexual content, nudity and disturbing assault — Alamo Drafthouse.

I Can Only Imagine

Based on the incredible true-life story that inspired the beloved, chart-topping song, “I Can Only Imagine” is a song that brings ultimate hope to so many. Amazingly, the song was written in mere minutes by MercyMe lead singer Bart Millard. In reality, those lyrics took a lifetime to craft.

PG: Thematic elements including violence — Tinseltown 17, Movies 16 and Stars & Stripes Drive-In.

Love, Simon

Everyone deserves a great love story, but for 17-year-old Simon Spier, it’s a little more complicated. He hasn’t told his family or friends that he’s gay, and he doesn’t know the identity of the anonymous classmate that he’s fallen for online. Resolving both issues proves hilarious, terrifying and life-changing.

PG-13: Thematic elements, sexual references, language and teen partying — Premiere Cinemas, Alamo Drafthouse, Tinseltown 17 and Movies 16.

Tomb Raider (3-D/2-D)

Still based on the 2013 video game of the same name. Alicia Vikander now stars as Lara Croft, the fiercely independent daughter of an eccentric adventurer who vanished years earlier. Hoping to solve the mystery of her father’s disappearance, Croft embarks on a perilous journey to his last-known destination: a fabled tomb on a mythical island off the coast of Japan. The stakes couldn’t be higher as Lara must rely on her sharp mind, blind faith and stubborn spirit to venture into the unknown.

PG-13: Thematic elements and violent images — Premiere Cinemas (includes IMAX), Alamo Drafthouse, Tinseltown 17 (includes XD) and Stars & Stripes Drive-In.

MOVIES CONTINUING

12 Strong

Kerns rating: Three and one-half stars

Danish director Nicolai Guglsig’s movie is an entertaining tale about little-known horse soldiers, the first American military allowed to take the fight to the Taliban and al-Qaida allies in Afghanistan weeks after the 9/11/2001 attack. The story captures Americans’ reaction. Based on declassified accounts and Doug Stanton’s 2009 book “The Horse Soldiers,” the film focuses on the Fifth Special Forces Group and Captain Nelson (Chris Hemsworth) who, though inexperienced in war, pledged to bring everyone home alive. Guglsig focuses on Hemsworth, his initial lack of “killer eyes” and uneasy relationship with the Northern Alliance general (Abdul Rashid Dostum) whom he must befriend. Matters are helped by Nelson having been raised on a ranch and thus comfortable on horseback — because many battles must be waged while riding into battle, automatic weapons blazing.

R: War violence and language — Movies 16.

Annihilation

Kerns rating: Four stars

Alex Garland’s sci-fi drama “Annihilation” — admittedly not for everyone, and inspired by Jeff VanderMeer’s “Southern Reach Trilogy” — is helped mightily by an eerie original score and wildly innovative visual effects. Phrased in nostalgic terms, this film will blow a lot of minds. Audiences learn the military tried repeatedly to cross a colorful barrier within the United States, aptly called the Shimmer, in an attempt to discover how Area X beyond has been affected. Only one soldier, Kane, returned alive, if not mentally whole, from a possible environmental disaster zone. The military has five female scientists try next. Biologist and former soldier Lena, (Natalie Portman) wisely tells no one that Kane is her husband. Joining her: an anthropologist, psychologist, surveyor and linguist (Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez and Tuva Novotny). Not all will return. What they discover defies laws of nature. Don’t give too much away, although the film at times seems like one big spoiler. Can there be an alien, not necessarily extraterrestrial, wielding molecular change — and intruders possibly internally consumed? Time is an unspoken factor; the Shimmer is approaching cities as Area X expands daily. Good luck grasping it all. Garland’s “Ex Machina” may be the better film, but I can’t wait to see what he does next.

R: Violence, bloody images, language and sexuality — Premiere Cinemas and Tinseltown 17.

Black Panther (3-D/2-D)

Kerns rating: Four and one-half stars

The intelligent script conjures thought and questions. Directing only his third film, Ryan Coogler makes stunning decisions. Viewers will be awed when introduced to the apparent Third World African country of Wakanda, which resisted being colonized by all who might discover its source of Vibranium, which has been used used to secretly transform Wakanda into the world’s most advanced culture and civilization. Art direction, costumes and music are perfectly realized, as is the manner in which the nation’s women play vital roles. As Chadwick Boseman returns home for his own inauguration, he reunites with Lupita Nyong’o, one of Wakanda’s many spies, and soon is advised by Danai Gurira, who leads the country’s security forces. Stealing scenes is charismatic and funny newcomer Letitia Wright as T’Challa’s half sister. She also is Wakanda’s James Bond-ish Q,CQ a courageous technical genius providing equal numbers of gadgets and one-liners.

PG-13: Action violence, and rude gesture — Premiere Cinemas, Alamo Drafthouse, Tinseltown 17 and the Stars & Stripes Drive-In.

Death Wish

Kerns rating: Two stars

The first “Death Wish” iturned around Charles Bronson’s career, to the point that he was still making “Death Wish” sequels in his 70s. There was no call for a remake, even with a better performance from Bruce Willis as pacifist turned modern day vigilante Paul Kersey. His wife and college-age daughter (Camila Morrone) are attacked in their home in a robbery gone bad. His wife is killed; his daughter survives, and Kersey happens upon an unregistered gun and walks the streets, looking for hoodlums to shoot.

R: Vloody violence, and language — Premiere Cinemas, Alamo Drafthouse, Tinseltown 17 and Movies 16.

Every Day

Angourie Rice stars as a shy, 16-year-old girl named Rhiannon, who falls in love with a traveling soul named “A,” who wakes up every morning in a different body, living a different life each day.

PG-13: Thematic content, language, teem drinking and suggestive material — Premiere Cinemas.

Ferdinand (3-D/2-D)

Kerns rating: Three stars

Hardly Pixar-level storytelling. Director Carlos Saldanha could not resist placing a bull in a china shop, with predictable results. Yet it remains an amusing tale, a loyal adaptation of 1936 children’s book “The Story of Ferdinand,” written by Munro Leaf and illustrated by Robert Lawson, a story not seen on screen since the Disney cartoon in 1938. Ferdinand — ironically voiced by wrestler-turned-actor John Cena — is bullied as a youngster for preferring to smell flowers. He finds true happiness when he escapes and is rescued by the owner of a flower plantation and his daughter. Naturally, Ferdinand grows (and grows) and is mistaken for a prime opponent by an undefeated matador.

PG: Rude humor, action and thematic elements — Tinseltown 17.

Fifty Shades Freed

The final installment of a film trilogy adapted from novels by British author E.L. James. Billionaire entrepreneur Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) and Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) are a couple finding happiness with a BDSM sexual relationship.

R: Erotic sexual content, graphic nudity and language — Premiere Cinemas.

Forever My Girl

Liam Page (played by Alex Roe) left sweetheart Josie Preston (Jessica Rothe) at the altar. He ran away for a shot at fame. Josie tries her best to keep Liam at a distance, but life has one more surprise awaiting him.

PG: Thematic elements including drinking, and language — Tinseltown 17.

Game Night

Kerns rating: Two and one-half stars

Comedy is still, as they say, hard. Happily, co-stars Rachel McAdams and Jason Bateman shine as married and mutually competitive game nerds who share legitimate charisma and inspire smiles. They play Annie and Max, whose couples game night is one-upped when Max’s richer, more popular brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler) calls on a local company called Murder We Wrote to host a party in which guests try to win by solving a realistic murder mystery. Naturally, for the few who missed the trailer, fake thugs and federal agents are replaced by dangerously real crooks.

R: Language, sexual references and violence — Alamo Drafthouse, Tinseltown 17 and Movies 16.

The Greatest Showman

Kerns rating: Three stars

Hugh Jackman impresses in his dream role of P.T. Barnum, but the storytelling is shallow. A few songs are memorable (such as “This Is Me”), yet there is precious little story exposition between them. Deserving applause is choreography by Ashley Wallen, revealing fantastic rapport with director Michael Gracey. Jackman and Efron are musical veterans, and it shows. Michelle Williams is tragically underused as Charity Barnum, who is aware when her husband is captivated by Swedish performer Jenny Lind. Social statements blend into entertainment and, by the end, good gosh, even elephants seem to appear out of nowhere.

PG: Thematic elements, including brawl — Premiere Cinemas and Movies 16.

Gringo

Harold Soyinka (David Oyelowo) is an average businessman who works for a company that has developed a “Weed Pill,” medical marijuana that has been simplified to pill form. His bosses, Elaine (Charlize Theron) and Richard (Joel Edgerton), send him to Mexico to handle the marketing of the product. However, while out partying, he is kidnapped by a cartel — specifically one that holds a grudge against Harold’s bosses and their company. Richard hires a professional named Mitch (Sharlto Copley) to safely remove Harold from harm’s way, but Mitch and Harold end up having to survive one outrageous situation after another.

R: Language, violence and sexual content — Premiere Cinemas and Tinseltown 17.

Hostiles

Kerns rating: Five stars

This 2017 drama from writer-director Scott Cooper, like Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven” in 1990, proves the western is not dead — while taking a darker approach examining characters on the edge, affected by lives of brutal violence. The main characters, U.S. Cavalry Capt. Joseph Blocker (Christian Bale) and Northern Cheyenne war chief Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi), developed bitter hatred for one another over years of bloody battles, until the latter was captured and incarcerated. The story opens in 1892. Blocker, nearing retirement, has finished a campaign against the Apache; yet Comanches continue to murder homesteaders for horses, recently a father and three children in merciless fashion. The mother (Rosamund Pike) survived by hiding, and emerges emotionally broken. Blocker is ordered to escort Yellow Hawk, who contracted cancer during seven years of confinement, and his family from a New Mexico fort to ancestral grasslands in Montana, by order of President Benjamin Harrison. Crossing paths with marauding Comanche, dangerous fur trappers and racist whites, their survival odds are slim. “Hostiles” is special, however, because of character arc and change; this western also deals openly with post traumatic stress. Bale is incredible as he questions his own humanity; he is heartbreaking during his “I had a friend” monologue, and dodges a racist tag when he calls black Buffalo Soldier Henry the best soldier he’s ever known … and may also mean best friend. Bale learned to speak Northern Cheyenne, which grants enhanced authenticity to conversations with the brilliantly subtle Studi. Pike is outstanding, as is Jonathan Majors as Henry and so many others in a drama working on varied levels.

R: Violence and language — Movies 16.

The Hurricane Heist

A rural Alabama town faces two problems. There’s a hurricane bearing down on the Gulf coastline, and there’s a team of 30 well-armed mercenaries intent on looting the local treasury facility.

PG-13: Gun violence, action, destruction, language and suggestive material — Premiere Cinemas, Tinseltown 17, Movies 16 and Stars & Stripes Drive-In.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (3-D/2-D)

Kerns rating: Three and one-half stars

Kudos to the writing, casting and performances — even considering CGI improvements since Robin Williams introduced “Jumanji” in 1995. The story opens a la “The Breakfast Club,” with high school detention again populated by types: skinny nerd Spencer (Alex Wolf); football jock Fridge (Ser’Darius Blain), pretty-turned-vain selfie-taker Bethany (Madison Iseman), and shy bookworm Martha (Morgan Turner). They find a game console (Jumanji), and barely hear African drums before being sucked into the game and transformed into adult avatars. The nerd becomes a smoldering, muscular adventurer (Dwayne Johnson), the jock is now a small whiner (Kevin Hart), a shy bookworm gives way to a Lara Croft-type (Karen Gillan), and sexy Bethany trades her body for that of middle-aged cartographer Jack Black. Adult avatars, however, maintain teenage personalities and fears. Kudos to director Jake Kasdan, who introduces CGI hippos, snakes and jaguars, but also one message about overcoming insecurities and another involving the four opposites working together if they are to survive. The ensemble work shines, despite Black stealing several scenes as he channels his much-too-believable inner Bethany. Still, one wishes the game’s villains were something more African than greedy explorer Bobby Cannavale and dozens of goons on motorcycles. Motorcycles? In the jungle? Really?

PG-13: Adventure action, suggestive content and language — Tinseltown 17, Movies 16 (through Monday) and Stars & Stripes Drive-In.

Maze Runner: The Death Cure

The final chapter of a trilogy. In director Wes Ball’s finale, Thomas (played by Dylan O’Brien) again leads his group of escaped Gladers. To save their friends, they break into the last city, a WCKD-controlled labyrinth that may turn out to be the deadliest maze of all. They must makes it out alive to find answers to questions they have been asking since they first arrived in the maze.

PG-13: Sci-fi violence and action, language, and some thematic elements — Movies 16.

Peter Rabbit (3-D/2-D)

Peter Rabbit, the mischievous and adventurous hero who captivated generations of readers, now stars in his own irreverent film comedy with attitude. Peter’s feud with farmer Thomas McGregor (Domhnall Gleeson) escalates to greater heights as they rival for the affection of Bea (Rose Byrne), a sweet animal lover living next door. James Corden provides the voice of Peter. Margot Robbie, Elizabeth Debicki and Daisy Ridley provide the voices of Peter’s triplet sisters: Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail. Inspired by author Beatrix Potter’s stories about the same characters.

PG: Rude humor and action — Premiere Cinemas and Tinseltown 17.

Red Sparrow

Francis Lawrence, who directed the last three “Hunger Games” films, reunites with Jennifer Lawrence, introduced as Bolshoi prima ballerina Dominika Egorova, who faces a bleak future after suffering a career-ending injury. She has no choice but to become a Russian spy and train at Sparrow School, a secret intelligence service training candidates to use their minds and bodies as weapons. Egorova emerges a dangerous Sparrow after completing sadistic training. Matthew Schoenaerts portrays her uncle Ivan, who knows the former dancer will do anything to help her emotionally vital but infirm mother Nina (Joely Richardson). Charlotte Rampling is the icy headmistress running the training school, and Jeremy Irons is Russian General Vladimir Korchnoi, who knows just how far a Sparrow like Dominika can be trusted. It appears that Lawrence’s Sparrow is being convinced by CIA agent Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton) to become a double agent.

R: Violence, torture, sexual content, language, and graphic nudity — Premiere Cinemas, Alamo Drafthouse, Tinseltown 17 and Movies 16.

The Shape of Water

Kerns rating: Five stars

Academy Award winner: Best Picture. Sally Hawkins is incredible as mute, lonely Eliza Esposito, who forges a relationship with an amphibian male imprisoned in the government lab that she helps clean each night. Bookend narration by Giles, This fairy tale blooms into a tragic romance influenced by the director’s affection for 1954′s “Creature from the Black Lagoon.” A Cold War rages against the Russians, inspiring sadistic Col. Strickland (Michael Shannon) to drag the amphibian (Doug Jones) from a South American river. Upon attacking his captor, the amphibian is kept in chains and tortured. Yet this becomes a story about love and language, as Eliza secretly uses eggs, sign language and music to communicate. Del Toro reveals his affection for horror films, government conspiracies and, surprise, dreamy 1930s musicals — all within an original romance where everyone colors outside the lines. Cinematographer Dan Lausten creates amazing images in a flooded apartment, and composer Alexandre Desplat delivers a romantic score that also earned an Oscar. Wonderful support arrives from Jenkins; Octavia Spencer as Eliza’s friend and interpreter; and even Michael Stuhlbarg as a Russian spy.

R: Sexual content, graphic nudity, violence and language — Movies 16.

The Strangers, Prey at Night

Kerns rating: Two stars

In 2008, writer-director Bryan Bertino explored apathetic violence via “The Strangers.” A decade later, more near-mute, masked home invaders are in a sequel, this time written by Bertino and directed by Johannes Roberts. At times, the story is a super low budget salute to John Carpenter’s early work, at least “Halloween” and “Christine,” except now there are three Michael Myers pursuing a terrified family through a deserted trailer park. The other option is a bored generation for whom murder is just a Friday night option. Why kill? Why not? But moviegoers are too familiar with killers handling a knife, ice pick or axe. This time, three sociopaths — call them Dollface, Pin-Up and Man in a Mask — butcher two seniors and learn from an answering machine that relatives are on the way. Mom (Christina Hendricks) and Dad (Martin Henderson) arrive with son Luke (Lewis Pullman) while on their way to deliver troubled daughter Kinsey (Bailee Madison) to boarding school. Soon, all are separated, cell phones destroyed. Roberts juggles ’80s music and tense silence to enhance a few jump-scares. In an effort to avoid predictability, he ventures into silly boogie-man territory. Gore levels are inconsistent but, to the filmmaker’s credit, his stars at least seem to enjoy the chase as much as the kills.

R: Horror violence and terror , and language — Premiere Cinemas, Tinseltown 17 and Movies 16.

Thoroughbreds

Two upper-class teenage girls in suburban Connecticut rekindle an unlikely friendship after years of growing apart. Together, they hatch a plan to solve both of their problems by killing the stepfather of one.

R: Disturbing behavior, bloody images, language, sexual references, and some drug content — Alamo Drafthouse.

A Wrinkle in Time (3-D/2-D)

Kerns rating: Two stars

This is just a bump in director Ava DuVernay’s career. She already proved her chops. “Selma” was Oscar-nominated for Best Picture, and DuVernay’s amazing documentary “13th” (on Netflix) emerged educational, challenging and important. The next step for anyone in her place was to say yes when Disney came calling with a bucket of cash and a challenging story, dominated by a visual effects budget and bad dialogue. Major filmmakers had shied away from popular book “A Wrinkle in Time” since the 1960s. Now we know why. The script finds young girl Meg (Storm Reid) and little brother Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe) grieving for their dad (Chris Pine, scientist), who disappeared four years ago. The children are encouraged to save their dad and the world by Reese Witherspoon as Mrs. Whatsit, Mindy Kaling as Mrs. Who and Oprah Winfrey as Mrs. Which. Skipping ahead (spoilers), Meg finds self-confidence and we were bound to be reminded about the power of love. Special effects and pop songs both border on lame. Adventures never becomes fun. I look forward to DuVernay being given another great script, or maybe an opportunity to write one. I guarantee, she will survive this wrinkle.

PG: Thematic elements and peril — Alamo Drafthouse, Tinseltown 17, Movies 16 (includes XD) and Stars & Stripes Drive-In.

Ratings, from one to five stars, and reviews are by A-J Media film critic William Kerns.

Source Article

Learn More: http://www.sengokubusyou.com/william-kerns-movie-marquee-5-films-open-in-lubbock-movie-theaters/

1 note · View note

boywonder-reviews-blog · 7 years

Text

‘Love is all that I fear’: Marina and the Diamonds - ‘Electra Heart’ review.

Diamandis’ second studio album tries to bring an old concept –the corrupted, Hollywood diva wannabe- to new life, balancing the irony with the heartfelt, the ‘fake’ with the ‘real’, but getting a bit lost in her many explanations.

When first heard, Marina and the Diamonds’ second album might come as a ‘shocker’, or at least not the evolution one might expect coming from her debut album, The Family Jewels (2010). Her first album was a compound of self-written songs, characterised by an aesthetic that some have described as ‘mature’ and ‘self-conscious’, traits that usually describe second albums, where the singer’s innocence is lost after seeing how people reacted to their first work. For her second record, Marina gets back some of this ‘innocent’ feeling that was never present in her first album, and this is showcased in some of her new songs, but at the same time she keeps a ‘ruthless bitch’ façade that characterises the whole album. Electra Heart (2012) is the name of her new work, but also the name of the ‘persona’ that she presents the album with. As explained by her in an interview for Popjustice, Electra Heart is “kind of basically a vehicle to portray part of the American dream, with elements of Greek tragedy […] all coming out through the visuals”; which basically means she is using her Electra Heart persona as a means to an end, presenting songs that some might catalogue as generic pop music, but with a clever twist that separates the songs from other pop songs, and separates her from others. The way she presents these songs is in a visual way, through videos that follow up the story of Electra Heart, from her symbolic birth when Marina cuts her hair (in ‘Part 1: Fear & Loathing’, 2011) to her death, when Marina smudges the painted heart on her left cheek that characterises Electra Heart at the end of ‘Part 11: Electra Heart’ (2013).

In her album, Marina presents us with an avatar that has multiple traits to her personality; she calls this traits ‘the archetypes’, which she bases off of typical women roles from old films and old television shows from the 50s-60s-70s, and so we find the ‘housewife’, the ‘beauty queen’, the ‘homewrecker’ and the ‘idle teen’, archetypes that are explored in every song of the album. This was hinted already in the song ‘Fear & Loathing’, which she released as the first part of her story, in the line “got different people inside my head/I wonder which one that they like best”, but then it was explained in the video ‘Part 3: The Archetypes’, where a bunch of computer-altered voices describe Electra Heart as “a study in identity and illusion/an ode to Cindy/a living film/a real fake”. This ‘ode to Cindy’ that she presents is viewed by some as a reference to Cindy Sherman, an American photographer who rose to fame in the 80s for her feminist self-portraits where she also posed as various female archetypes. This feminist approach is relevant to the concept of the album too because Marina declares herself a feminist, so she keeps in her lyrics and her videos a feminist point of view that helps present all of these different personas. The ‘ode to Cindy’ line may also refer to the poem by the same name, written by Tim Labbe, in which the author tells the sad story of a girl named Cindy who moves to Texas in dreams of becoming a model and meets her terrible fate.

The most annoying thing about Electra Heart is, perhaps, the concept in itself, and how twisted and complicated it is to explain, even to Marina herself. In the six months that she began to promote her album, she did several interviews (like the one for Popjustice quoted before, or this other one for Interview Magazine) that seemed to get more and more confusing, as she seemed to get lost in her own concept. Everything became even more confusing and complicated as 2012 brought to light another amazing artist, Lana del Rey, who, as a critique for Pitchfork remark, “came along and executed precisely what Marina was aiming for, hardly having to open her much-discussed mouth in order to explain herself while Marina tied herself in conceptual knots”: Marina was overcomplicating her whole new concept while also looking like someone else’s past identity (Lana del Rey when she identified as Lana del Ray/Lizzie Grant). Some critics even received the whole ‘Electra Heart’ concept as a market strategy to just mask the fact that she’s putting out a mainstream record (Alexis Petridis wrote exactly that in his critique of Electra Heart for The Guardian). I do think Marina created the character and recycled the old concept of the “corrupted Hollywood diva” by giving it a bit of her own personal style not just for the sales, but because the material that she was writing and producing with people that are really big in the music industry, like Diplo, required it: every song was just so different to what she had written before that she needed a concept to back everything up in order to be logical for her fans and the industry in general. Funny enough, she ended up writing and producing with Dr. Luke, famous for raping and abusing Ke$ha, another pop singer, and being supported by his record label, Sony Music Entertainment, in detriment of the singer – how ironic is that a declared feminist like Marina would work with a producer like that one? But then again, was it really her choice, or was she forced by her record label to work with him in order to sell more albums?

Another rather confusing move made by Marina is the fact that she premiered her song ‘Radioactive’ as part of her album visuals (‘Part 2: Radioactive’). This song was a high-energy and powerful song in which she accepts her final fate and renews her faith in her superior self against her inferior lover/ex-lover. Her vocals shine through since the beginning of the song where she sings “Lying on a fake beach/you’ll never get a tan”. The confusing part: she released the song before she even released her album, leading everyone to believe that it was going to be released as her first new single, but then she released ‘Primadonna’ as her first single and then proceeded to release her album without ‘Radioactive’ in it. The song was relegated to the special deluxe re-edition of Electra Heart, together with other really good songs like ‘Sex Yeah’ (an upbeat song about women empowerment through sex, history and society), ‘Lonely Hearts Club’ (a really simple and somehow cynical song about love and being single) and ‘Buy The Stars’ (a heartfelt ballad about how she cannot be owned). So I find myself asking, where is the logic in that move?

But anyway, in Electra Heart, as much as in every album ever released, we find songs that work particularly well within the context of the album, and other songs that just don’t work specially well or that seem to be there just to “fill the album up” because they don’t seem to tell something new or to add to the story. Funny enough, those “filler songs” are mostly the ones co-produced with the big names in the industry: from ‘Living Dead’, which sounds like the backing song and the sombre tone of the lyrics do not match (because singing “I am living dead” and singing about depression just doesn’t really seem to match with a high energy backing track and a loud bass) to ‘Homewrecker’, a track that could be described as plain weird, where Marina does a kind of spoken word piece about being what could be described as a “side hoe” and then bursts into really high vocals for the chorus when she says “they call me Homewrecker”, just to then deliver the most ironic sentences of the song (“I guess you could say that my life is a mess/but I’m still looking pretty in this dress/I’m the image of deception”) and admit in the last bridge that “deep down all you (she) want(s) is love/the pure kind we all dream of”: plain confusing and weird, somehow effective but not quite there. Special mention to ‘Primadonna’, which as I mentioned before was the first single of the album, and it was composed by Marina and the before mentioned Dr. Luke: ‘Primadonna’ works as a pop song with maybe a more ironic and deep message that what one understands at first listen, and it adds to the story of Electra Heart, being centred around the ‘Beauty Queen’ character, but it still feels like just a very elaborated but fairly empty pop song.

However, there are a few really brilliant moments that one can find in the album. These are usually the ones where Marina was the only songwriter involved in the creation of the song, and Liam Howe was the only producer. Howe has a history with Diamandis, because he also produced Marina’s first record The Family Jewels, so it feels as if they both have already some “professional chemistry”, which makes recording songs easier, and perhaps that is part of why their songs are the best in the record. In these few songs, the production seems to be more relaxed and Marina’s voice just seems to shine over not too overcomplicated instrumentals with more of a ‘laid back’ feeling to them. An example of this is the track ‘Fear & Loathing’, which would eventually become the first part of the story of ‘Electra Heart’, being released before the album. In the song, Marina’s voice really shines through, especially when she hits the higher notes with that ethereal voice that sometimes characterises her, and she does this while singing about how she has been living “a lot of different lives” and she has “been different people many times” and she is tired of doing that and hating herself, so she decides to stop loathing herself that much and start living. In this track we also find in the lyrics and the way she sings them some of that ‘innocent feeling’ and some vulnerability that wasn’t present in Marina’s first album, like when she sings “Now I see, I see it for the first time/there is no crime in being kind/not everyone is out to screw you over/maybe, yeah just maybe/they just wanna get to know you”. In the line that says “I’m done with trynna have it all/and ending up with not much at all”, she also showcases how vulnerable she felt after her first record was considered pretty much a sales failure.

Other shining moments in the album include the songs ‘Teen Idle’ and ‘The State of Dreaming’. In ‘Teen Idle’, Marina showcases her songwriting skills with lyrics that are as ironic and twisted as it gets but also truthful in some ways. In the chorus she sings about being a “teen idle”, a “prom queen fighting for the title […] feeling super suicidal”. She sings about “the wasted years, the wasted youth/the pretty lies, the ugly truth” referring to puberty and that age where many teenagers feel lost and have ‘angsty’ feelings, and most of them live in a lie with themselves, trying to be fake in order to appeal to more people. The lyrics are full of contradictions within verses, like when she sings “I wanna be a virgin pure/a 21st century whore” or when she sings “I want blood, guts and angel cake/I’m gonna puke it anyway” as a reference to suffering bulimia. There is also a feeling of regret present during the whole song, which becomes clear when Marina sings “I wish I wasn’t such a narcissist […]” and then finishes those verses with the phrase “oh God, I’m gonna die alone”, which pretty much encapsulates that ‘teen angst aesthetic’ that the song wants to showcase, because the fear of not fitting in with society and not finding anyone to love and dying alone is real for many teenagers. The other highlight, ‘The State of Dreaming’, is a complete opposite to ‘Teen Idle’: where the song just analysed is twisted and borders in nasty, ‘The State of Dreaming’ plays with the opposite of this and showcases the character of a dreamer that wants to be happy and isolates herself in her own dreamland, told in a happy, kind of sweet and even ‘campy’ way (with some cheesy bells ringing in the instrumental track). Again, we find that recurring image of the ‘innocent’ character but still driven by ambition (she sings “I lived my life inside a dream/only waking when I’m sleep/I would sell my sorry soul/if I could have it all”). Marina’s vocals shine through with melodies that move between her higher register and sometimes also her lower.

Overall, Electra Heart works as a pop album because, despite the confusion regarding the character/alter ego/personification of the concept, despite the songs that do not work or are just plain confusing and despite the fact that it can be seen as just a commercial album dressed as a critique to commercial music in order to sell even more, Electra Heart still counts with brilliant moments of sincerity under all the ‘fakeness’ of Electra, and with songs that make it shine, and it also counts with Marina’s vocals, sometimes electrifying but sometimes ethereal, which makes her one hell of a singer. Electra Heart is an important album in Marina’s career because it worked as expected and it made her more famous, opening the doors for a whole new public for her, giving her the opportunity to give better and bigger shows and the opportunity to grow. Despite of its commercial and ‘simple pop’ edge, the album works as a sophomore album, and it is also important because thanks to Electra Heart Diamandis grew, and when she ‘killed’ her character, Marina gave us (her fans) what is her ‘masterpiece’, her best album yet: FROOT, her most personal record yet, totally written and co-produced by her. And funny enough, even herself looks down at Electra Heart in one of her new songs and sings “yeah, I know, but I need the gold”, referring to the fact that she needed the money and needed the sales, so she consciously created Electra Heart, a generic pop album, as a ways to be better known and to sell more.

0 notes