MARINA - Purge the Poison - Single [Review]

Following the release of the lead single "Man's World" (reviewed here) released late last year, "Purge the Poison" is Welsh indie pop musician MARINA (full name Marina Lambrini Diamandis)'s second single from her upcoming fifth studio album Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land, set to be released on June 11, 2021. After having heard "Man's World," I was reminded a great deal of MARINA's third studio album FROOT, released in 2015, especially since the very beginning of it sounds almost identical to the very beginning of "I'm a Ruin." I was excited by the prospect of maybe - at least sonically - getting FROOT 2.0 with this album, and "Purge the Poison" continues that trend in my opinion. While there are definitely echoes of her debut album The Family Jewels (as I have seen a lot of fans say), I am especially reminded of the indie rock sound heard on FROOT tracks such as "Can't Pin Me Down" and "Better than That." The song, as I said, definitely has an indie rock vibe to it, and it also has somewhat of a retro '80s sound to its production. (Even some of the camerawork of the music video has a retro vibe to it.) The verses remind me a bit of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" in how they fairly rapidly spit out critique of our current society: "Quarantined all alone, Mother Nature's on the phone. 'What have you been doing? Don't forget, I am your home. Virus come, fires burn, until human beings learn from every disaster, you are not my master.'" That is from the first verse of the song and chronicles epidemics such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the wildfires of California and Australia. I remember seeing MARINA tease the following lyrics prior to the song's release: "Need to purge the poison, show us our humanity - all the good and bad, racism and misogyny. Nothing's hidden anymore; capitalism's made us poor. God, forgive America for every single war." I remember reading that part and thinking, Damn, she is really going to SERVE on this album, isn't she?

I also love how she name drops Britney Spears in the second verse: "2007, when size zero was the rage. Britney shaved her head, and all we did was call her crazed." This is another one of my favorite lines of the song because it really packs a punch! There is so much truth behind it because I remember that era of Britney's life quite well and remember everyone talking about it. Very few people responded with empathy or with trying to evaluate the reasons behind her breakdown. They just shrugged her off as crazy. Like "Man's World," "Purge the Poison" is definitely calling attention to sexism and misogyny, and this is one such line in which it is doing exactly that. The chorus of the song is also so catchy. I love how the notes of the melody are delivered quickly and how they oscillate. "Need to purge the poison from our system until human beings listen," she asserts in the chorus. "Tell me, who'd you think you are? It's your own decision, but your home is now your prison. You forgot that without me, you won't go far." (I especially love when the chorus is repeated but at a much slower pace and softer tone.) According to Diamandis herself, this part is meant to be from the perspective of the Earth, reminding us that if we continue to treat her unkindly and take destructive actions against her, we will eventually die out because she is our home. Without her, we can't survive. There is also a possibility that MARINA is comparing this to motherhood in general. Misogyny is, of course, the institutionalized and systemic demeaning of, oppression of, and hatred towards women, but without women, we wouldn't be here. We literally emerge from women's bodies, and our lives begin within them. Although I do overall prefer "Man's World" to "Purge the Poison," I love this fun, catchy, indie rock tune as well and can't wait to see what else Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land has to offer. I also love the pop culture references in the aforementioned music video - references that include classic films such as The Wizard of Oz and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.