MARINA - Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land Tour - Live at Terminal 5 [Friday, 2/25/22] [Review]

Marina Diamandis (formerly known as Marina and the Diamonds and now mononymously as MARINA) is one of my favorite musicians/vocalists of all time, and seeing her on her Ancient Dreams of a Modern Land Tour (to promote the album of the same name) was such a memorable experience, a memory that I will forever cherish. I saw MARINA on her LOVE + FEAR Tour as well, and it's honestly really difficult for me to choose which show that I prefer because they were both such great experiences for different reasons. The show that I saw during the LOVE + FEAR tour was outdoors at the NYC Summerstage in Central Park, and that made for a magical, unique experience, especially since the show was in September and the weather was absolutely gorgeous - perfect, in fact. This, however, was in February and was consequently indoors, and the wait outside was brutal because of how cold that it was.  We got to the venue as early as possible because we wanted as close of a spot to the stage as possible, but much to our surprise, when we arrived, the line was very, very long, and like I said, it was unbearably cold outside, so waiting in that line was not fun (especially since I really hate winter as it is). MARINA is, of course, so worth it, however, and the concert was definitely worth it. Unlike the last time that I saw her (when she had two opening acts - LPX and Daya), MARINA only had one opener this time; opening for her was Swedish pop singer Tove Styrke, and although I was only marginally familiar with her prior to seeing her, she put on such a great show, and I absolutely loved her outfit. She had so much energy and also just seemed like a genuinely kind and caring person. Highlights from her show were her new single "Show Me Love" and her cover of ABBA's "Super Trouper." (See her set list below.)

1. Changed My Mind 
2. Mistakes 
3. Mood Swings 
4. Super Trouper 
5. Start Walking 
6. Say My Name 
7. Show Me Love 
8. Borderline 
9. Sway

Before the show started, my best friend and I went to the bar to order some drinks, and at the bar, there was a sign that said that Tove Styrke was on at 8 while MARINA would be on at 9, and I was pleasantly surprised by the punctuality. When it comes to most shows that I have attended, there is a rather long wait in between acts, and very rarely does the main act come on when they are supposed to, but MARINA started her set at right around 9:00 sharp. As previously stated, each of the two MARINA shows that I have thus far attended had its pros and cons, and while this show took place in midwinter (a definite con), it being indoors allowed for a bit more theatricality and color. MARINA was dressed in a billowing teal top with black leather skintight leggings. Her eyeshadow color matched the color of her top, and her hair was piled in a very high ponytail at the top of her head reminiscent of Ariana Grande's signature 'do. (See MARINA's outfit that night here.) When I saw MARINA on the LOVE + FEAR Tour, she was dressed much more casually in a sleeveless off-pink tee featuring an image of a dog, with a matching color mini-skirt. (Check that out here.) The stage also featured a lot more color, and unlike the LOVE + FEAR Tour, MARINA had a live band this time around, making the show feel more like a rock show. That, of course, came with pros and cons. I loved that rock show vibe, but the last time that I saw her, she had dancers doing ballet-like interpretive dance most memorably during "Believe in Love," and I did really love that. That kind of theatricality was largely missing this time around, but it was replaced by a more theatrical outfit and colors, as previously stated. As I expected would likely be the case, MARINA opened with "Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land," also the album's opening track, and the set list (shown below) also featured a lot of pleasant surprises.

1. Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land 
2. Venus Fly Trap 
3. Froot 
4. Man's World 
5. Are You Satisfied? 
6. I Am Not a Robot 
7. Oh No! 
8. Purge the Poison 
9. Handmade Heaven 
10. Hollywood 
11. Happy 
12. Forget 
13. Can't Pin Me Down 
14. Teen Idle 
15. Highly Emotional People 
16. I Love You but I Love Me More 
17. How to Be a Heartbreaker 
18. Bubblegum Bitch 
19. Goodbye
    

Something that really stood out to me during this show was the energy level of the crowd. Very rarely do I attend a show with a crowd that was this excited, and it wasn't just during the big hits or fan favorites either; it was pretty consistent throughout almost every single song. One thing that surprised me about the set list is that even though most of the songs (seven out of the total nineteen) were from Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land, a lot of attention was also placed on prior albums, especially The Family Jewels and FROOT. Very little attention was paid to her fourth album LOVE + FEAR, with only "Handmade Heaven" being performed from it. That was a minor disappointment because my favorite song from LOVE + FEAR is "To Be Human," the song from the album that I feel would have best fit the overall theme of ADIAML (although I do understand the inclusion of "Handmade Heaven" as well because of its focus on nature, which made sense coming after "Purge the Poison"). Another thing that came as a surprise was the fact that even though she recently re-released ADIAML as a deluxe version featuring three new songs ("Happy Loner," "Pink Convertible," and "Free Woman"), she did not perform any of those new songs, and another big surprise was that she didn't perform "Primadonna" (one of her biggest hits), although she apparently did the following night when she played a second show at the same venue. I was also a bit disappointed that she didn't perform "New America," which would have been a really fun and intense song live.  As I said, however, most of the surprises were pleasant, and amongst them was the fact that she played my favorite song from FROOT - "Forget." Its exclusion from the LOVE + FEAR Tour set list was its biggest disappointments for me, so the second that she began with "Sometimes I think I'm not that strong...," I screamed with excitement.

Other highlights were "I Am Not a Robot" (the song that made me a fan more than a decade ago), "Purge the Poison" (such an insanely fun song to hear live), "Hollywood" (which she will probably always include on every tour because of "Actually, my name's Marina"), "Teen Idle" (a fan favorite that will likely also always be included), "Bubblegum Bitch," and "Goodbye" (which functioned as the encore). When I saw Evanescence in January, I remarked in my review that it surprised me that they opened and closed with the same songs that open and close The Bitter Truth, and I was similarly surprised here because MARINA did the same thing (with ADIAML). This was overall such a phenomenal show, proving MARINA to be a memorable vocalist as well as stage performer, equally captivating dancing with a mic in her hand as she is sitting behind her piano. My only complaint, one that my best friend with whom I attended the concert would definitely agree, is problems that we had with the venue itself, Terminal 5. We ended up agreeing to hit the merch table after the show (mainly because the floor was GA and we wanted as good a spot as possible). The merch table was not easily accessible, however; it was sort of hidden, and there were no signs directing people to it. Therefore, after the show ended, we got in what we believed to be the line for the merch table, but when we finally got to the front, we realized that we were in a line exiting the building and that the merch line had been parallel to ours. We briefly (literally no more than ten seconds) paused to look at the table to see if there was anything worth getting in the merch line for when someone (presumably some kind of security guard) rudely accosted us and told us to move. It was incredibly rude and uncalled for, so we just left, and because of that, we agree that we would be hesitant to attend another show at Terminal 5.

MARINA - Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land (Deluxe Edition) [Review]

Last year,  Welsh/Greek alternative pop musician Marina Diamandis (who goes by merely her first name in all caps) released her fifth studio album Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land, a condensed album compared to her fourth album LOVE + FEAR (as it showcases only ten tracks compared to LOVE + FEAR's sixteen tracks) which I think worked to its benefit. Many fans were left disappointed, however, that previously teased songs such as "Happy Loner" and "Pink Convertible" did not make the cut, but MARINA did promise that we would at least hear "Pink Convertible" eventually. (A fan asked her on Instagram why "Pink Convertible" was not included on the album, and she said, "She's safe in a garage don't worry.") As much as I absolutely adore MARINA, however, I tried not to get my hopes up because she has said things in the past that didn't end up coming to fruition. (She once teased a FROOT repackage which would include a batch of new songs and then changed her mind about that, and she has also promised more than once that she would release the FROOT outtake "I'm Not Hungry Anymore" but still hasn't done so.) She then eventually said that a deluxe version of ADIAML would end up seeing a release, but I, again, accepted the possibility that she would end up changing her mind, but she fortunately did not, and the deluxe edition ended up seeing a January 7, 2022 release after "Happy Loner" was released as a single in late 2021. The first ten tracks on the deluxe edition are the exact same ten tracks on the standard edition of the album, and seeing as how I already reviewed the standard edition of the album, I will focus this review primarily on the five extra tracks that the deluxe edition offers.

I should start by saying that if, like me, you are a collector and enjoy collecting physical copies of albums, this deluxe edition of the album has not seen a physical release, only a digital one. It has yet to be seen whether or not there will be a physical release, but in this day and age when digital music seems to be most people's go-to, I honestly doubt it. (I did use Play Anywhere to create my own CD, however, especially since I enjoy listening to CDs in my car.) The first new track featured on the deluxe edition is "Happy Loner," a soft piano ballad in a similar vein as past songs such as "Numb," "Happy," and "Handmade Heaven." This one honestly took some time to grow on me. I like it a lot more than I did when I first heard it, although it's still honestly one of my lesser favorites from the album as a whole. I love how her vocals are a bit echoed and layered throughout the track, creating an atmospheric and ethereal effect. I especially love the chorus, especially when her vocals soar on the line "I'm sick of it all; I wanna give it up..." Somewhat similar to how she did on the FROOT track "Solitaire," MARINA addresses her appreciation for solitude, and the weird thing about this song is that I both vehemently relate to it and don't relate to it at all. In the bridge, for example, she sings that "I pick up on everybody's energy, always used to feel like there was something wrong with me." As an empath, I 100% understand and relate to that, but I handle my pain very differently than the speaker of this song seems to. I usually can't disconnect or else it gets worse. Even though I know that I run the risk of feeling like I am being a burden and am dragging others down, I usually feel incredibly hungry for companionship and comfort. The speaker of "Happy Loner" seems to feel the opposite, however: "When I'm alone, things are under control," she explains in the opening verse. "When I'm alone, I can turn off the world."

We then get the legendary "Pink Convertible," legendary because of how long it has been a part of fans' collective consciousness. Regarding the album as a whole, this song is definitely a huge standout for me. I absolutely loved the instrumental when that leaked (which I listened to for two reasons - (1) it was just an instrumental, and (2) I wasn't sure whether or not we were ever going to get a proper release, since, like I said, we still haven't of "I'm Not Hungry Anymore"), as it had this fantastical, otherworldly quality that reminded me a great deal of Diamandis' 2012 album Electra Heart. I still very much feel like the song has Electra Heart vibes, reminding me especially of tracks like "The State of Dreaming" and "Teen Idle." In fact, further clarifying why the track was cut from the initial release of ADIAML, MARINA wrote, "It was just very hard to narrow it down to 10 tracks + this one had a slightly different sonic edge to the other tracks," and as much as I adore "Pink Convertible," I agree that it has a different vibe than the album overall does. MARINA described the song (in a since deleted tweet) as "very Rodeo Drive Melting Handbags Apocalypse meets Let's Pretend It's All Fine," and if that's not the best description of a song ever, then such a thing doesn't exist. I love how there is definitely (as is typical of a lot of her music) a cynical storytelling approach taken to the song, as it is about people living in a blissful bubble in which they can ignore what is happening in and to the world around them: "I just wanna forget how fucked up is our planet." Despite that, however, its light guitar, keyboard, and harp create a dreamy, whimsical quality. I love that dichotomy, and although, like I said, it is sonically pretty different from a lot of what's on the album, it definitely fits thematically, as it is very thematically similar to songs like "Purge the Poison" and "New America."

"Free Woman" is the final new song that the deluxe offers, and it's my least favorite of the three, possibly even my least favorite on the album overall. Don't get me wrong; I by no means hate it, but it's just one of the weaker ones. It doesn't, for example, have the playfulness of "Purge the Poison," the depth or beauty of "Flowers," or the big soundscape of "New America." It's rather minimalist in its instrumentation and melody, although I do like how the instrumental seems to feature a bit of Western influence. Like "Pink Convertible," though, it definitely fits a lot of the album's themes, working as a sister song to feminist tracks such as "Venus Fly Trap" and "Man's World." On "Free Woman," Diamandis addresses patriarchal problems such as women being ridiculed as they age, being reduced to their physical appearance and their bodies, and being abused. She argues that she has risen above and that it doesn't bother her like it used to: "...You can't extinguish me," she asserts, "'cause I'm a free woman." This is the one song of the three new ones that, as far as I know, fans were not aware of until recently. The deluxe edition of the album also includes a demo version of "Venus Fly Trap" as well as a demo version of the title track, and it's very cool that she has officially released a couple of very raw and unpolished demos because I don't think that most artists would do that. (The "ADIAML" demo is especially very raw, with MARINA's vocals being muffled and tinny.) Some fans have compared the "Venus Fly Trap" demo to old-school MySpace and pre-TFJ MARINA, and I definitely hear that. Although part of me wishes that the Beach Bunny mix of "I Love You but I Love Me More" had also been included since I love that version and even prefer it to the album version, I am just so happy that this got released, especially because of "Pink Convertible" being included. (I am seeing MARINA live a second time in a couple of weeks and can't wait; I will definitely be reporting on that!)

MARINA - Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land [Review]

Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land is Welsh/Greek pop musician Marina Diamandis' fifth studio album following 2019's LOVE + FEAR. I overall enjoyed LOVE + FEAR, especially with songs like "To Be Human," "End of the Earth," and "Believe in Love" being some of the best of her catalogue so far, but it (as an overall whole with those songs notwithstanding) is my least favorite MARINA album so far, and that's in large part because it's largely absent of the fun and playful attitude usually exhibited in her work. It's definitely back on Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land, though, especially front and center on tracks such as "Venus Fly Trap" and "Purge the Poison." Prior to the album's release, four singles were released from the album - "Man's World" (reviewed here), "Purge the Poison" (reviewed here), "Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land" (reviewed here), and "Venus Fly Trap" (reviewed here), and while I like all four of those songs, she was definitely holding out on us because those singles don't even showcase the best that this album has to offer. Ancient Dreams is absolutely beautiful and so much more emotionally raw and brutally honest than what I expected after having heard the singles. That's primarily because the album ultimately has two themes that are, in fact, split right in half (although I doubt that that was the intention as it was on LOVE + FEAR). One thing that I have more than likely discussed somewhere on this blog before, however, is the fact that albums tend to be promoted much differently nowadays than they used to be, and I am not the hugest fan of it. When I was growing up, an album would usually get one lead single - two at the absolute most - before the album dropped, and I liked that because when you finally got the album, most of it was still a surprise. Nowadays, however, you usually get several singles before the album comes out, oftentimes so many, in fact, that you end up having heard half of the album (or close to it) before it comes out, and Ancient Dreams is no exception to that trend. In fact, if you had heard all of the singles released thus far, then when you first hit play on the album when it came out this past Friday, you wouldn't have heard anything new until track 5, and with the album only consisting of ten tracks, that means that - as I said - fans had heard almost half of it before the release. I am not a fan of this trend and miss the days when most of the album was still a surprise when you got it, but I digress (and yes, I do realize that I could simply choose not to listen to the singles until I get the album).

One of the reasons why I point all that out, however, is that, like I said, nothing new is heard until the fifth track, as the first four tracks had all already been released as singles, so while I am not going to spend a lot of time talking about the first four tracks since I already reviewed them, I do want to mention something about the opening title track that I didn't mention in my review of it. First of all, both it and "Purge the Poison" have really grown on me, and I now consider both of them to be highlights on the album. Secondly, I think that there might be an intentional nod to the FROOT track "Savages" in the title track. "Savages" is an upbeat and playful track that looks at humanity from a critical and cynical perspective, positing the possibility that things like rape and murder happen because it's part of human nature. Near the end of the first verse of "Savages," she argues, "At the end of the day, it's a human trait hidden deep down inside of our DNA." Here on "Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land," she sings in the chorus, "I am not my body, not my mind or my brain, not my thoughts or feelings; I am not my DNA." I don't think that mentioning DNA in both tracks is a coincidence; I think that this is Marina acknowledging what she said in "Savages" and amending it, basically saying, "Yes, that ugly stuff can be a part of human nature, but we're more than just human nature. We can choose to be better." Moving on, however, the first new song that Ancient Dreams offers up is the piano ballad "Highly Emotional People." The piano accompaniment is gorgeous, and the song is the first spot on the album that is likely, at least in part, about her ex-boyfriend Jack Patterson of Clean Bandit, although I think that there is more than one way to interpret the song which I don't think are exclusive to one another. The chorus features Marina's signature porcelain vocals singing in a higher and precarious register, "'Cause we're just highly emotional people, and you don't need to hide. Sometimes it's hard to tell me how you feel. I never see you cry... You know it's safe to tell me how you feel." Marina has apparently confirmed that the song was inspired by her relationship, indicating that her ex was a reserved and stoic person, but I think that it can be applied to men in general because of the bridge (my favorite part of the song): "People say men don't cry. It's so much easier to just lie 'til somebody takes their life. Emotions are a part of our design." She is here making the case that emotions are a part of being human and that your sex or gender has nothing to do with it. It's a powerful (not to mention true) outlook.

"New America" is, to me, very reminiscent in style of Electra Heart, although some fans have also compared the melody of the chorus to the chorus of the FROOT title track, and once I saw that comparison, I went back and listened for it and now can't unhear it. (As I said, however, the style of the song is overall very reminiscent of Electra Heart. It, to me, features the big and full sound of songs like "Bubblegum Bitch" and "Radioactive.") Like the singles released thus far, the song (the title of which reminds me of Halsey's "New Americana") takes a critical look at the state of things today, this time specifically regarding the United States (which Diamandis had sort of previously done on "Hollywood" from The Family Jewels). She opens with, "Everything that made you great only made you bad, made the people hate all the good they had," and this is very likely a reference to Donald Trump's horrendous presidency and his campaign slogan, Make America Great Again, which many people combated with the argument that America was already great. Marina stated that she began writing this song the day after news broke of George Floyd's murder, and that makes sense because the song, amongst other things like privilege and wealth, definitely addresses racism: "Who gave you jazz, hip hop, rock and roll, and the blues?" It is of course a rhetorical question because the answer to it is people of color, but the influences and accomplishments of people of color are often overlooked, and people of color are frequently not afforded the respect that they deserve. I love this line at the end of the chorus: "Stars are shining for you, sparkling red and blue." The colors are clever because they're not only two of the colors on the American flag but also likely represent blood and tears. It's a very powerful song, although I do wish that its spot on the album were switched with "Highly Emotional People." Remember how I said that the album essentially has two themes? Half of the album is about society; the other half is about heartbreak, and like I said previously, "Highly Emotional People" is essentially the bridge between the two as it very likely deals with both of those themes. It would therefore make more sense to have "New America" closer to songs similar in theme - songs like "Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land" and "Purge the Poison." While I do realize that that would result in an ever higher number of slower ballads heard on the back half of the album, it would make more sense thematically; tracks 1-5 would deal with society and culture while tracks 6-10 would deal with love and heartbreak.

Speaking of love and heartbreak, "Pandora's Box" - one of my favorite songs from the album (likely my second favorite, in fact) - is the first spot on the album where it's addressed in full force without much room for alternate interpretation, and I think that the whole remainder of the album likely addresses a failed relationship. There is one line in particular for example that seems to indicate infidelity: "You damaged what we had, but for her, it's just another day." This line implies, again, that infidelity was involved in why the relationship ended and that the woman with whom the speaker's partner cheated might not have even known that she was an accomplice in infidelity. I have seen a lot of fans cite this as one of their lesser favorites on the album, and I just don't understand that at all. The melody - along with the song's strings - is so haunting and beautiful, as are the lyrics. It's also not likely a coincidence that MARINA would make use of an artifact from Greek mythology in the imagery. Being half Greek herself, she has implemented imagery from Greek mythology and history in the past. Electra Heart is in reference to the Greek tragedy of Electra, and that album's song "Hypocrates" refers to the Greek physician Hippocrates. According to the Greek legend, Pandora's box was a box that contained sickness, death, and evil - all unleashed onto the world when the box was opened. In the chorus of the song, Marina sings (in a beautifully catchy melody), "You opened up Pandora's box. You don't know what you just unlocked. I lose all control, let go of my darkest thoughts..." This ties tightly into the opening line of the song: "You almost turned me psycho. I almost lost my mind." Marina is referring to her mind as Pandora's box, saying that her lover's act of betrayal allowed for dark thoughts to escape. It's such a great track that stands out to me not only because of how beautiful its melody is but also because of how much I find myself relating to its haunting lyrics. Ancient Dreams then continues with the theme with "I Love You but I Love Me More," arguably a bit of a sequel to "Pandora's Box." "Do you expect me to believe that you've changed when I can tell that you're exactly the same?" she asks rhetorically in the first verse. She also points out in the first verse that "you'd rather shut your eyes than feel any pain," likely tying the song to "Highly Emotional People." There is also a possible Britney nod (of whom Marina is a fan) in the song when, in the chorus, she warns, "Don't come back knocking at my door." It's an upbeat and very catchy song in the vein of FROOT.

I mentioned that "Pandora's Box" is probably my second favorite song on the album, and "Flowers" is likely my first favorite. I have seen a lot of fans cite it as their favorite as well, so (similar to songs like "Teen Idle" and "Savages") it seems destined to become a fan favorite and a classic in our eyes even if it doesn't get released as a single. Like "Highly Emotional People" and the closing track, "Flowers" is a soft piano ballad and is just absolutely gorgeous. I even sent a link to the song to my best friend shortly after my first time having heard it, and she commented on how beautiful it was. A few days later, after having heard the album in its entirety herself, she cited "Highly Emotional People" and "Flowers" as two of her favorites on the album. (Like I said, it just seems like just about everyone loves this song.) I love the opening verse because I think that it might be an intentional nod to one of my favorite MARINA songs of all time - "Forget" from FROOT. The closing verse of "Forget" says, "'Cause in the end, the road is long but only 'cause it makes you strong. It's filled with peaks and twists and turns." The opening verse here on "Flowers" says, "The road had many bends, but we knew that all along. I think it made me stronger..." She goes on to say that even though difficult times have made her strong, "I would rather not betray myself just to keep your love at any cost." The song is from the perspective of someone hurting from a wrong committed by her lover, and, to me, she knows that she did the right thing by leaving but occasionally wishes that she had stayed: "...It's most tempting to give in when you're almost at the top, when you're steps from winning back all the happiness you lost." I could be misinterpreting this, but what this means to me is that she is tempted to take her lover back because she feels like the heartbreak would then go away, but she also knows that that wouldn't be the right thing to do for herself. (This would tie into the earlier line of not wanting to betray herself just to keep his love.) She argues in the chorus that "if you just bought me flowers, maybe I would've stayed," but it's unlikely that this is literal. Flowers, after all, can't save a doomed relationship. (I would know because I tried that.) Marina's love of flowers, however, is no secret, so she is likely just saying that she might have stayed if he had just paid more attention to her interests. ("With every careless action, you let me slip away.") It's just such a stunningly beautiful song, and I especially love the trilling piano in the chorus after the first line.

Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land, like the last two albums LOVE + FEAR and FROOT, only has one version - no deluxe version with any extra tracks. All versions therefore end with the raw piano ballad "Goodbye." "Goodbye" is such an emotional closing to the album and likely says goodbye to more than one person - her ex but also past versions of herself. My favorite part of the song is when, at the very beginning of the chorus, a single piano key is struck with force. It adds such emotional depth to the song, making her farewell feel more finalized. The song thematically reminds me a lot of Avril Lavigne's song "Goodbye" from her 2011 album Goodbye Lullaby. Like MARINA's "Goodbye," the song is saying farewell to an ex lover but is doing so with warmth, not coldness or anger, wishing them well. "Maybe we won't meet again," MARINA sings in the second verse, "but you'll always be my closest friend. I hope you'll always be happy." She also addresses their love as having had a positive impact on her and her life and seems to want to remember it that way: "No matter what happens now, nobody can take our love down," she asserts in the bridge. "It's safe in our memories, and I won't forget how you healed me." The LOVE + FEAR track "Superstar" was written about Jack and was essentially about his love healing and saving her, making this all come full circle in a really beautiful and poetic way. It is such a beautiful song that makes me cry especially because of the ways in which I can relate to it emotionally, and it's a perfect closing track to Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land. It is so hard for me to rank MARINA's albums because they are all so good and each have something unique to offer, but what I can say about Ancient Dreams is that, while offering a few echoes of past albums (especially The Family Jewels), it is one of her more ambitious albums especially in how, as stated previously, emotionally vulnerable the back half of it is. Diamandis holds nothing back lyrically and gives us the bare truth, as bitter as it might be at times, and it's a lush album combining indie rock bangers and vulnerable ballads, and I love how tracks like the title track, "Purge the Poison," and "New America" have a very full sound to them. Similar to FROOT tracks like "Can't Pin Me Down" and "Better than That," they sound very big like they're backed by a live band. Bravo, MARINA! You have done it again!

MARINA - Venus Fly Trap - Single [Review]

The fourth single released from Marina Diamandis' upcoming fifth studio album Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land, "Venus Fly Trap" is a song about being confident in yourself and proud of everything that you have accomplished so far. I can't say for sure whether or not it's intentional, but it definitely seems to me as if the song references her song "Hollywood" from her first album The Family Jewels. That song takes a critical approach in its discussion of the Hollywood lifestyle, and here in "Venus Fly Trap," Marina, in the first verse, sings, "I never quite fit in to that Hollywood thing. I didn't play that game for the money or the fame." With Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land being, as I said, her fifth studio album with past albums such as Electra Heart and FROOT being moderately successful financially, it would seem as if Marina has since embraced the lifestyle, especially since (as discussed in this interview) she recently bought a house in and moved to Beverly Hills. However, she did it in her own way and on her own terms: "I did it my way, baby. Nothing in this world could change me." In the song's intro and bridge, she asks the rhetorical question, "Why be a wallflower when you can be a Venus fly trap?" This more or less sums up the song's message as it is, like I said, about empowerment and being true to yourself. As have just about all of the singles released thus far from the album, it also addresses sexism and misogyny such as in the bridge when she, in a breathy and whispered tone, sings, "They'll shame you, blame you, pretend to even hate you, take away your rights, pacify you with their lies." Marina addressed the song's lyrics and sound by saying that the song "is really sassy. I'm sure my lyrics are going to be taken out of context and misunderstood, which I love. It's a very sassy, fun, bouncy, big song. It's silly, but I love it so much." In the aforementioned interview to which I linked, Marina stated that Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land is most similar in sound to her first album The Family Jewels, and I so far definitely agree. The lead single "Man's World" (reviewed here) is, in my opinion, most similar to her third album FROOT, but the following singles "Purge the Poison" (reviewed here) and "Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land" (reviewed here) definitely remind me of The Family Jewels, as does "Venus Fly Trap" which incorporates jaunty piano and a playful indie rock sound very similar to the overall sound of The Family Jewels, and I am so excited to hear the rest of the album (which drops tomorrow!). Although "Venus Fly Trap" is probably my least favorite song of the four singles released thus far, I do still really love it, and its music video is by far by favorite music video released so far this era!

MARINA - Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land - Single [Review]

Welsh and Greek pop musician Marina Diamandis (who goes simply by MARINA) is set to release her fifth studio album, Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land, on June 11, 2021, and the title track makes for the third single released from the upcoming album following "Purge the Poison" (reviewed here) and "Man's World" (reviewed here). I really love "Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land" (which is not only, as I said, the album's title track but is also the album's opening track) because of how it hearkens back to old school MARINA from The Family Jewels. I have seen some fans, in fact, compare it to the track "Mowgli's Road," and I can definitely hear a similarity in its chord progression. The first single released from the album - "Man's World" - reminded me a lot of MARINA's third studio album FROOT, especially with the very beginning sounding so similar to the very beginning of "I'm a Ruin," and "Purge the Poison" - like this song - reminded me of The Family Jewels. Both "Purge the Poison" and "Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land" are somewhat synthy and arguably lean more toward rock than they do pop. The song is very upbeat and very playful, and it makes me so happy to hear this side of MARINA again because even though I do really like her 2019 album LOVE + FEAR, I strongly feel like that side of her is largely missing from that album. Like the first two singles, "Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land" is a critique on the overall path upon which humanity seems to be. In the first verse, for example, she argues, "Our ancestors had to fight to survive just so we could have a chance of a life. We're not here so we can blow it all." Much of the lyrical content on The Family Jewels (on tracks such as "I Am Not a Robot," "Mowgli's Road," and "Oh No!") is about finding yourself and trying to fight the fear of being your true self. In the pre-chorus of this song, MARINA assures us that "you don't have to be like everybody else. You don't have to fit into the norm. You are not here to conform." What's interesting, however, is that she doesn't likely mean it in the same context as she did back on The Family Jewels. I think that she is instead arguing here that you can be the one who starts a revolution and encourages change. I especially think that because she then follows that part of the song up with, "I am here to take a look inside myself, recognize that I could be the eye, the eye of the storm." It's such a fun and, as I said, playful upbeat synth-rock track, and I cannot wait to hear the rest of the album only twelve days from now!

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.

MARINA - Man's World - Single [Review]

Welsh indie pop musician Marina Diamandis (who formally went by Marina and the Diamonds and now goes simply by MARINA) released her fourth studio album LOVE + FEAR  in 2019, and less than two years later, she is now preparing to release her fifth album, with "Man's World" serving as the album's lead single. "Man's World" reminds me a lot of material from MARINA's third studio album FROOT, released in 2015. The electronic production, especially at the very beginning of the song, is strikingly reminiscent of the FROOT track "I'm a Ruin," and MARINA's vocals are similar to many of her vocals on FROOT in that they're somewhat echoed and distant. Not only does the song give me instantaneous FROOT vibes, but MARINA also said in an interview with Vogue that this album will be very different from LOVE + FEAR in that, like FROOT, it will feature minimal collaboration with others, and the fact that MARINA wrote and produced all of the tracks on FROOT is one of several reasons why I love it so much. I am consequently expecting a sort of FROOT Part II from this upcoming album and couldn't be any more excited by that prospect! That aforementioned interview with Vogue describes "Man's World" as ethereal, and I think that that word definitely describes the song well. Over the years and past four (soon to be five) albums, MARINA has captivated me with her soft porcelain vocals, her catchy hooks, her cynical and sassy anthems (see "Oh No!," "Sex Yeah," "Savages," etc.), and her dreamy and atmospheric melodies, and "Man's World" ultimately blends together everything that I love about her. I absolutely adore her (as previously mentioned) somewhat distant and dreamy vocals in the post-chorus of the song when MARINA suggests, "If you have a mother, daughter or a friend, maybe it's time, time you comprehend the world you live in ain't the same one as them..." That is definitely my favorite part of the song melodically, although my favorite lyrical part is in the first verse: "Burnt me at the stake; you thought I was a witch centuries ago. Now, you just call me a bitch." I also love how Diamandis makes it clear that she is addressing white, straight, able-bodied men who reap the benefits of and participate in institutionalized racism, homophobia, ableism, sexism, and so forth; she is not addressing all men. She makes this clear when she compares the struggles of gay men to that of women in the second verse: "...owned by a sheik who killed thousands of gay men." She also addresses issues such as climate change when she declares in the chorus that "mother nature's dying; nobody's keeping score." It's such a melodically and lyrically powerful song that I instantly loved upon first listen, and, as I said, I cannot wait to hear the album (which, according to Genius, is also going to be titled Man's World). (Update: We now have confirmation that the album will actually be titled Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land.)

MARINA - LOVE + FEAR Tour - Live at Summerstage NYC [Monday, 9/16/19] [Review]

Eight years ago in 2011, I downloaded a fanmade mixtape for the iconic sci-fi television series The X-Files, a mixtape which happened to included "I Am Not a Robot" by the then named Marina and the Diamonds. Although I never felt like the song was a good fit for The X-Files, I instantly fell in love with the song and could not stop listening to it. I eventually listened to the rest of her debut album The Family Jewels (the only one that had been out at the time), and even though "I Am Not a Robot" remained my favorite (and still probably is eight years and three more albums later), I loved songs like "Hollywood," "Oh No!," "Girls," "Are You Satisfied?," "and so forth. I loved Marina's playful energy and her sound which incorporated elements of cheerleader pop, indie rock, and new wave. Her lyrics were cynical, honest, intelligent, and relatable, and it did not take long for her to become one of my favorite musicians of all time, especially after her sophomore album Electra Heart helped me through a very difficult experience back in the summer of 2012. It became a dream of mine to see her live in concert, and I finally made that dream a reality last month. I traveled by train down to New York City (I live in central New York State, so the City is a bit of a trip) and stayed with a friend who also attended the concert with me, and I couldn't be any more grateful that I had the opportunity to finally cross this off my bucket list. The venue was outdoors in Central Park, and Marina even tweeted how magical it was to perform outside near the trees, and I definitely agree that it made for an even more special night since I rarely go to shows that are outside. My friend and I arrived at the rather small venue (which definitely made for a pretty intimate show) at around 6:45 or so when the show was supposed to start at 7. I had wanted to get there as early as possible to get as close to the stage as possible since it was general admission, but we had trouble finding the venue because Central Park is pretty large, and GPS was not being very helpful. Surprisingly, however, the first opener LPX (Lizzy Plapinger) was already playing, and we still got pretty close to the stage. (The fact that I ended up being as close to Marina as I was made the night even more magical.) When LPX wrapped up her set, Daya soon after came on, and although I hadn't thought that I was familiar with her, I realized during her set that I knew her songs "Hide Away" and "Don't Let Me Down" (with the Chainsmokers). Nearly the entire crowd, in fact, was enthusiastically signing along to "Don't Let Me Down."

Once Daya wrapped up her set (neither LPX's set nor Daya's set was very long; I think that LPX's set was only six or seven songs, and Daya's set was only eight or so songs), we waited a while for Marina, but I have been to shows at which I waited a lot longer, so it was definitely a bearable wait. (Besides, I had waited years to see her, so this was nothing in comparison.) Once Diamandis did come out on stage, however, opening with "Handmade Heaven" (the lead single from her fourth studio album LOVE + FEAR), my heart was skipping beats, and I got emotional several times throughout the show, in surreal disbelief that this woman I had admired (and, of course, still do admire) for so long, whose music had changed my life, was practically right in front of me. I especially got emotional and started crying after her third number "Primadonna" because it was the first song from her second album Electra Heart that she played, and as I mentioned, that album is very special to me because it really helped me through a lot. That was when it really hit me what I was experiencing, and when I broke out into tears, my friend gave me a hug. Another number that had me really emotional - that felt almost like a spiritual experience in fact - was "I Am Not a Robot" because, as mentioned previously, that was the first song that I had ever heard of hers, so it felt like such a personal treat to see and hear her perform it live. Something else that lent to that aforementioned feeling of the concert feeling nearly like a spiritual experience is the fact that nearly everyone in the crowd seemed to feel similarly; you could just feel the emotional energy permeating through the crowd. Nearly the whole crowd passionately and enthusiastically sang along to nearly every song (with very few exceptions) as if nearly every song were a well known hit, and it's rare that I ever see and feel that kind of energy at a show. After performing a very stripped back and raw version of her Electra Heart song "Teen Idle" on the piano, for example, I overheard someone near me in the crowd say something to the effect of, "We don't deserve this. We don't deserve her." I couldn't have agreed more. The "Teen Idle" number was also memorable because she was singing it slower than she does on the album version and inserting longer pauses in between lines, so the crowd kept coming in too soon as we sang along, and you could see her smiling and trying not to laugh. That's something that I have always loved about Marina - her adorable and charismatic personality; she frequently engaged with the crowd by smiling at us, waving at us, and so forth, and she has always been very human and authentic. Even when she used a fictional persona on Electra Heart, it still felt authentic.

Another example of Marina's adorable and charismatic personality shining in this show is when she let out a small giggle while singing a particular line of her song "No More Suckers" from LOVE + FEAR. I found this to be a special moment because I have always found the line to be silly and out of place for Marina (as it just doesn't sound like something that she would write, which she, funnily enough, revealed on Instagram once that she did not; co-writer of the song Alex Hope did). The line is in the song's second verse and goes, "When you stay over, you eat all of my food; yeah, you mess up all my towels, but this time, I'm checkin' out." Marina chuckled, and so did a lot of people in the crowd, and it just felt like Marina acknowledging that yes, it's a silly line. As I said, she has always been so human, so authentic, and this was just another example of that. Other highlights of the show included (but are definitely not limited to) "To Be Human" (which is my favorite song from LOVE + FEAR), "Believe in Love" (during which two of her dancers engaged in a romantic ballet-like dance that was so beautiful to watch), "Bubblegum Bitch" (one of my favorite songs from Electra Heart and a song that I had not expected her to perform), "I'm Not Hungry Anymore" (a cut outtake from her third album FROOT, the inclusion of which was 100% fan service), "End of the Earth" (a deeply emotional and synth-infused record from LOVE + FEAR that is probably my second favorite song from the album), and "How to Be a Heartbreaker" (which is probably her biggest and most well known hit - Glee even covered it - so it made total sense for it to be included). "End of the Earth" and "How to Be a Heartbreaker" both served as encores following "Baby," and the funny thing is that since most shows that I have attended have only included one song as an encore, I expected "End of the Earth" to be the only song that we were going to get as an encore once she started performing it, and I hadn't even been thinking of "How to Be a Heartbreaker." Once she started "How to Be a Heartbreaker," however, I thought, Oh, duh. Of course. She's not going to not do this song. How could I have forgotten about this? I was overall very pleased with the set list. When I saw Madonna a few years ago in Brooklyn, the friend with whom I went and I each came up with a dream set list - what we would have loved for her to play during the show - and although I did not do that for this show, what I actually got would have been pretty close to what my dream set list would have looked like. The actual set list was as follows:

1. Handmade Heaven [from LOVE]
2. Hollywood [from The Family Jewels]
3. Primadonna [from Electra Heart]
4. Enjoy Your Life [from LOVE]
5. I Am Not a Robot [from The Family Jewels]
6. To Be Human [from LOVE]
7. Superstar [from LOVE]
8. Froot [from FROOT]
9. Orange Trees [from LOVE]
10. Teen Idle [from Electra Heart]
11. Believe in Love [from FEAR]
12. Bubblegum Bitch [from Electra Heart]
13. Emotional Machine [from FEAR]
14. No More Suckers [from FEAR]
15. I'm Not Hungry Anymore [outtake from FROOT]
16. Karma [from FEAR]
17. Blue [from FROOT]
18. Baby [from LOVE]
19. End of the Earth [from LOVE]
20. How to Be a Heartbreaker [from Electra Heart]

The only thing that I would have liked to have been different about the set list is for her to have performed "Forget" from FROOT. Not only is it my favorite song from FROOT, I also consider it to be one of her signature songs. It's so emotionally powerful and represents that album so well. Overall, however, I am so pleased with the set list that it's almost as if it were tailored for me. "I'm Not Hungry Anymore" (which, like "Teen Idle," she played stripped back as a softer and slower piano rendition) is one of my favorite MARINA songs of all time, and out of all of the unreleased songs that she could have chosen to play on this tour, that's the one that she chose. I was also pleasantly surprised that she performed twenty songs. I have been to a lot of shows at which the main act only performed 12-15 songs, so twenty songs was such a blessing. Several of the older songs that she performed were not released as singles but are fan favorites, proving that Marina knows her fans and tries to treat us to what she thinks that we want. Aside from "Forget" being left out, I really only have two other complaints about the show, but neither complaint is serious enough to have really taken much away. The first is that I don't like how they set up the stage. Marina started the show off on a raised platform to which a small set of stairs led, and it was sometimes difficult to see her because there were big black lights on each side of the stage that blocked your view if you were more at a side of the crowd (which I was). She fortunately did not stay on that platform. She did quite a bit of moving around and only returned to the platform on occasion, but it was still an inconvenience that I wish they would have anticipated. Secondly, Marina first wore a silvery short gown that stopped above her knees and then wore a sleeveless shirt with a dog print on it and a short pink skirt. (The latter is pictured below, which is the best photo that I managed to get of her.) She announced on Twitter that the show would be very theatrical and epic, so I guess that I was expecting more costume changes and not just two outfits, but it was still pretty theatrical, especially during numbers like "To Be Human" and "Believe in Love." I do, however, definitely have to commend the sound quality of the show because I have been to many shows at which the sound quality was atrocious, but that was not the case here, and as I keep stressing, this was such a magical night that I feel so blessed to have been able to experience. I even got to briefly meet LPX afterwards, and considering the fact that she is a co-owner of Neon Gold and is therefore partially responsible for helping Marina make it, that was a pretty neat honor.

MARINA - LOVE + FEAR (Acoustic) EP [Review]

Marina Diamandis (who previously went by the stage name Marina and the Diamonds and now simply goes by MARINA) released her fourth studio album LOVE + FEAR, a double album featuring eight songs that encompass love as an emotion and eight songs that encompass fear as an emotion, earlier this year. (I reviewed the album as two separate albums here and here.) More than a week ago, she released a companion EP to it which includes five acoustic interpretations of songs from the album - "True," "Superstar," "Karma," "No More Suckers," and "Orange Trees." It is worth noting that the cover of the EP is likely meant to symbolize the songs featured respectively. This especially makes sense given that blue has pretty much always been associated with "Superstar," and orange would be the obvious choice for "Orange Trees," and Marina is no stranger to associating songs with colors because she did almost the same thing with her Froot of the Month campaign several years ago. I am overall pretty happy with the songs that were chosen because three of them ("Superstar," "Karma," and "Orange Trees") are singles so are therefore obvious choices, although I would have loved to have heard "Believe in Love" acoustic and would have taken that over "True," especially as an opening track. I don't know how I feel about the EP opening with this rendition of "True" because (a) it isn't really one of my favorite LOVE + FEAR tracks (and she didn't even do it live when I saw her in concert recently) and (b) it kind of seems to abruptly and jarringly begin on Marina's vocals with no introduction (which is a way that it differs from the album version as the album version does begin with an instrumental introduction). Marina sings the song (which, on the album, is a very upbeat and poppy song) in a softer and more delicate tone, making the song a bit more emotional and vulnerable. The EP then gives us an acoustic version of "Superstar." The opening of the song is louder and much more pronounced and sounds like it might be played on an acoustic guitar with a high and tinny register (I am not sure precisely what kind of guitar that it is). The song prominently features piano and the aforementioned string instrument being gently plucked, with Marina's porcelain and fragile vocals not sounding too different from the album version. I prefer the album version as this one simply doesn't have the same power behind it, but it's also nice to hear Marina sing about emotional vulnerability in a more emotionally vulnerable way.

We then get "Karma," which, given its ambient introduction added to the beginning of the song (which is not heard on the album version), probably would have worked better as the EP's first track. I actually prefer this acoustic version of the song to the album version. I hear what sounds like a xylophone and, once again, the gently strumming guitar, and I just think that this version is a lot rawer but also more theatrical than the album version. I also like the aforementioned introduction that was added to the song as well as the similar outro. "No More Suckers" is one of the more surprising choices on the EP because it is one of the most playful and upbeat songs on LOVE + FEAR; it is therefore the song that probably deviates the most from its album version counterpart. Marina even sings the chorus in a much lower register than she does on the album version. It sounds like the xylophone from "Karma" might have been carried over here, and I also hear what sounds like maracas and/or tambourines being used for percussion. Although I prefer the more playful nature of the album version as well as the chorus being sung in a higher register on the album version, I definitely find this version to be an interesting and pleasurable take on it. The EP closes with an acoustic version of "Orange Trees," and I have to admit that I don't really like the decision to close on this song because the song's tone and structure don't really make it sound like a closing number, but I also can't be too critical of that because this is just an acoustic EP, not an album, and the order of the tracklisting therefore doesn't matter as much. There are aspects of this version of the song that I prefer to the album version; for example, the heavy snapping beat is gone, and I think that the song sounds better without it. However, also gone is the Caribbean and tropical sound from the chorus, which is my favorite aspect of the album version. This EP was overall a great treat for diamonds, but I do vehemently wish, as I said, that it had featured "Believe in Love." She also did a piano rendition of "I'm Not Hungry Anymore" on the LOVE + FEAR tour, so even though that is actually a FROOT song (although it unfortunately ended up on the cutting room floor), a studio recording of that would have been a nice addition, especially since it is one of my favorite MARINA songs of all time, and the aforementioned acoustic rendition of it that she did on tour is so incredibly beautiful.

MARINA - Please Don't Call Me [Unreleased Song] [Review]

[cover art by Marina Downloads, from whom you can also download the song]

I am doing something really unusual here in reviewing an unreleased song, unusual not only for me personally because I don't believe that I have ever done it before but also unusual in general because music reviewers don't usually review unreleased music. I could not resist discussing this song, however, not only because I am such a big fan of MARINA but also because the song is fantastic. Titled "Please Don't Call Me," the song was recorded two years ago for her fourth studio album LOVE + FEAR but unfortunately ended up on the cutting room floor. I admit that when I first heard the song, I wasn't all that impressed because like some of the other LOVE + FEAR songs such as "True" and "You," the song is pretty mainstream Top 40 sounding compared to the indie sound to which most MARINA fans are accustomed. (Even MARINA's second studio album Electra Heart is a pop album while also breaking several rules of pop music, calling back to what MARINA said years ago about her mission as a musician - to be an indie artist with pop ambitions.) After listening to "Please Don't Call Me" several times, however, it quickly grew on me and became one of my favorite songs from the LOVE + FEAR era. The clubby and summery vibes on its production make its intention for LOVE + FEAR obvious, and it would have sounded great next to "No More Suckers," especially since both songs deal somewhat with the same subject manner - choosing being alone over being with people who try to take advantage of you. The chorus is one of the catchiest choruses from the LOVE + FEAR era songs. MARINA, in a fast tempo, sings, "Please don't call me. It's getting me down, down. You straight up ignore me 'til I'm around-round; then you're all about me. This ain't what I want to feel from you."  I find the song to be very relatable as I have dealt with guys like this in the past. One ex in particular always seemed happy to be around me in person (for the most part), but when we were apart, he barely gave me the time of day - rarely responding to text messages and promising to text when he got back home from work and then never following up and doing so. Whenever I would point this out to him, he would apologize, but things never changed, so I eventually called it off. In the second verse of the song, MARINA sums up why I called it off so perfectly well: "You make me feel like I'm not a priority, spinning your wheels for another apology." It's funny that it reminds me a bit of Madonna's song "Miles Away" (from her 2008 album Hard Candy), except that the speaker of that song seems to be dealing with the opposite problem (someone who is loving over the phone but not in person): "You always have the biggest heart when we're 6,000 miles apart... You always love me more miles away." Even though "Please Don't Call Me" is a pop song about a relatively shallow subject (at least in comparison to songs like "I Am Not a Robot," "Sex Yeah," "Savages," and "To Be Human"), it definitely hits home for me, and it's a shame that it wasn't included, especially since one of the songs included ("Baby") had already been released on Clean Bandit's album What Is Love?. "Please Don't Call Me" should have been placed on the FEAR side of the album (as I said, alongside "No More Suckers"), while "Soft to Be Strong" should have been placed somewhere on the LOVE side of the album (instead of "Baby," a song that does not represent love at all anyway, instead representing wistfulness and regret).