MARINA (and The Diamonds)

[111 36,666]

the reddit thread is going IN on her  i would have never expected marina redditors to be keeping her in check like this, i expected maybe a few critical comments and the rest defending her but...

[creditcardromancer 751]

I actually really liked the poetry book. As some of you may know, I was not a fan of the Zine she did during ADIAML. (lol).

I dont read poetry so that might be why, I have no bar to set it against. I didnt really like Lana's book, I struggled to get through it but I did love the audio book and own a couple of the records.

My personal favourites after the first read:
 

Spoiler

 

Aspartame - Loved the story telling, I like when she talks about her past, and I felt it was relatable.

Pain Eraser - My life summed up in one page of poetry.

Factory Settings - Not so much the relationship part, but starting over and over and "how is this my life" is relatable af.

The Sparkling Clam - YES. The feeling of pushing yourself down so far to protect yourself but also wanting to open up is such an annoying and painful paradox in life to deal with.

E-motion - Its true, we suffer with the emotions we refuse to feel instead of feeling it and letting it go (because its scary!)

Broken Heart Syndrome - The hardest part of changing your life is being able to see it differently. It's there but it's hard to stop identifying with the past version of yourself..

Eclipse - After getting over your Broken Heart Syndrome, things do change even if you dont notice it right away. But one day you do and the difference between your life then and now is immense.

Cocoon - Similar to The Sparkling Clam, weighing yourself down and protecting yourself - except here she finally breaks free.

Eat The World - As someone who feels like nothing is ever enough, I loved this one.

 

I really enjoy her perspective on life and it mirrors a lot of what I've gone through, especially over the last 8 years. Some of the line breaks were a little weird but it doesnt personally bother me that much. I love the artwork throughout the book.

I'm not a huge fan of the theme of Love in art because there are so many other topics to explore it just gets old for me, so obviously those poems didnt resonate as much. Just my personal opinion though, obviously a lot of people enjoy that.

I'm surprised its getting such a negative response tbh. The poetry is exactly what I expected.

[AtomicMess 3,453]

 

On 11/4/2024 at 9:40 AM, AllForYou said:

it seems like marina's been channelling sky ferreira and arriving 10m late and leaving 30m early on her book tour, she also blocked a fan on instagram for posting a slightly negative review (reddit thread)

I think it's fair enough that marina might want questions unrelated to music but then the questions should've been pre-screened (maybe a questionnaire before the event then asked by the host?), but most fans would have bought it on the day of the event with their ticket so I'm not sure how anyone was supposed to ask poetry related questions anyway

 

On 11/4/2024 at 10:06 AM, 111 said:

 

is anyone surprised... she's always been this way with her fans lol. she had many live streams talking about how she doesn't "love" her fans because how can she love people she doesn't know (which is valid ig but not how you treat people who pays your LA house mortgage) 

 

this is why her career will never see the tumblr days, even if she continued making mid music a strong fanbase would have kept her afloat but she lacks that connection with her fans 

 

"and the Diamonds" IIRC was supposed to represent her fans too, right?

 

So we've got that being punted, then I guess "I can't love my fans b/c I don't know them" - which we've seen from other artists, and saying that is kicking a proverbial hornets nest with how parasocial fans are nowadays like logically I get it but if you say that people lose their shit.

Then a little book tour divaism?

Why does it give me a vibe like she's just on autopilot about it all? Like she's just making music/art for a paycheck and not so much a passion? 

[AllForYou 1,699]

45 minutes ago, AtomicMess said:

"and the Diamonds" IIRC was supposed to represent her fans too, right?

 

So we've got that being punted, then I guess "I can't love my fans b/c I don't know them" - which we've seen from other artists, and saying that is kicking a proverbial hornets nest with how parasocial fans are nowadays like logically I get it but if you say that people lose their shit.

Then a little book tour divaism?

Why does it give me a vibe like she's just on autopilot about it all? Like she's just making music/art for a paycheck and not so much a passion? 

yes the diamonds were supposed to be her fans, whilst 111 was right and she’s said things like ‘no I don’t love you, I don’t know you’ she has, in the MATD era at least, been very vocal about how grateful she is to her fans as she wouldn’t be able to do what she does without the support of them. especially in the FROOT era as the success of the album was due to the fanbase, it’s why it’s still held in such high regard, and imo why some fans are missing that ‘hit’ of recognition now.

 

the truth is I don’t think we’ll ever get MATD levels of interaction again because she’s not in her 20s anymore. it’s not that 39 year olds can’t be ‘with it’ but I think she’s made it clear she doesn’t want to be ‘with it’/on social media anymore. (and as she’s blocking teenagers for mild reviews of her poetry that’s probably for the best)

I’m not sure why she (or her team) didn’t think to make the event shorter if she didn’t actually have anything to say for 2hrs, if it was an hour and she stayed even 10 minutes longer with some faux ‘omg I really have to go but you guys are great’ everyone would be hyping her up right now. yes parasocial relationships in this current age are going too far, but you have to foster them a bit or people ‘notice’ they’re being sold something. after all it’s not regular poetry readers are buying her book, it’s her fans. 

___

in other news she said the album is finishing production so I’m wondering about the schedule. I don’t think we’ll get a single this year as it’s cutting it a bit fine, but she has the 10 year anniversary of FROOT in March so will she release a single, promote that then jump back to m6? seems a bit messy but it would be on brand. 

[vrtvie 2,260]

the greatest success of froot was that she had created fanbase that genuinely cared about her and was excited for her going 'indie' and finding happiness that she dedicated the record for.

[Embach 41,833]

50 minutes ago, vrtvie said:

the greatest success of froot was that she had created fanbase that genuinely cared about her and was excited for her going 'indie' and finding happiness that she dedicated the record for.

I really wish I experienced the Froot album era because the rollout was so perfect, I haven't even seen a Lana album rollout that perfect as Froot's was because the Froot song of the month campaign was so creative, also the music videos and photoshoots and merch. Like best ever, the peak Marina for me.

[Veinsineon 76,610]

The poems aren’t helped by the music and narrating. They’re just terrible.

[Charlottexseax 7,932]

 

On 11/4/2024 at 4:08 PM, 111 said:

the reddit thread is going IN on her  i would have never expected marina redditors to be keeping her in check like this, i expected maybe a few critical comments and the rest defending her but...

and people on reddit are braindead idiots so for them to be calling her out it means what she’s doing is EGREGIOUSLY bad

[AtomicMess 3,453]

8 hours ago, AllForYou said:

the truth is I don’t think we’ll ever get MATD levels of interaction again because she’s not in her 20s anymore. it’s not that 39 year olds can’t be ‘with it’ but I think she’s made it clear she doesn’t want to be ‘with it’/on social media anymore. (and as she’s blocking teenagers for mild reviews of her poetry that’s probably for the best)

That's also probably a big part of it. I forget she's that old. In the TFJ-EH-Froot run I always think of her as being like, 19 to 24, when in reality she was like 25 to 30.

I think that might be a part of some of the fanbase's 'disconnect'. I feel like there was a HUGE leap in perceived maturity - between Froot and L+F it felt like she somehow lurched forward a decade in her appearance and appearances, mannerisms, attitude, etc. I always imagine EH, specifically, being such a 18-21 year old's album. The themes and the touches of angst around it are just so..... "youthful" to me. And then Froot comes along and we glow up a bit, but then....it feels like there was a missing "step" between that and L+F, and that "missing step" in maturity in all forms I think is where things rifted.

 

All rambles but I hope someone gets what I'm trying to put down.

[Charlottexseax 7,932]

8 hours ago, AllForYou said:

 

 

the truth is I don’t think we’ll ever get MATD levels of interaction again because she’s not in her 20s anymore. it’s not that 39 year olds can’t be ‘with it’ but I think she’s made it clear she doesn’t want to be ‘with it’/on social media anymore. (and as she’s blocking teenagers for mild reviews of her poetry that’s probably for the best)

 

Interacting with your fans is not the only way to grow a fan base, most artists do by simply making good music. Madonna managed to keep her fanbase engaged for 50 years and all it took was making good music.

 

i feel like we are giving Marina too much leeway, she is absolutely 100% at fault for the wreck that is her career 

[AllForYou 1,699]

40 minutes ago, AtomicMess said:

That's also probably a big part of it. I forget she's that old. In the TFJ-EH-Froot run I always think of her as being like, 19 to 24, when in reality she was like 25 to 30.

I think that might be a part of some of the fanbase's 'disconnect'. I feel like there was a HUGE leap in perceived maturity - between Froot and L+F it felt like she somehow lurched forward a decade in her appearance and appearances, mannerisms, attitude, etc. I always imagine EH, specifically, being such a 18-21 year old's album. The themes and the touches of angst around it are just so..... "youthful" to me. And then Froot comes along and we glow up a bit, but then....it feels like there was a missing "step" between that and L+F, and that "missing step" in maturity in all forms I think is where things rifted.

All rambles but I hope someone gets what I'm trying to put down.

I thought exactly the same.

I think with l+f we were expecting 'why' she was missing so long, some angst and explanation in her music (which is in some outtakes like demons + angels) but she came around with 'enjoy your life! :)' which was disingenuous, and we all knew it, including her. adiaml feels more honest but her writing still isn't up to par, though that's more evident on the political tracks rather than personal ones imo.

I'm not sure she can ever get to MATD levels again but I'd rather be pleasantly surprised rather than let down, she writes best when she's writing from specific* personal experiences or has a theme (adiaml title track springs to mind, and obviously electra heart). (*she admitted she didn't do this for l+f, she wrote 'generally' and why I think her cover of 'only want you' from the era feels like it could have been on the album)

35 minutes ago, Charlottexseax said:

Interacting with your fans is not the only way to grow a fan base, most artists do by simply making good music. Madonna managed to keep her fanbase engaged for 50 years and all it took was making good music.

I agree with you, I actually wrote a bit more in my original post but deleted it because it felt too long. but in short, my opinion is to get around the accusations that you're only coming out to 'sell' something is you either make the product good, and therefore it doesn't need selling, or you form a parasocial relationship to sell the product, marina isn't doing either and that's where she's been falling short.

there are successful artists that don't interact with their fanbases at all and just drop music and hide away again, but I think if you didn't start that way it's quite difficult to make the transition, you almost have to make the music twice as good to make up for the lack of interaction, which again, she hasn't been doing and I can't see her doing. (as much as I would like her to bring out a 10/10 album and would be happy to be proven wrong.)