Marina and the Diamonds

Marina And The Diamonds是BBC 2010年年度新声亚军得主，同年也获得了MTV欧洲音乐奖最佳英国新人奖和被提名全英乐评人选择奖。她是来自英国威尔士的一位女歌手,Marina从小便在音乐上拥有写作的天赋。最终在2009年，签约给了华纳公司设立在英国的分厂牌679 Recordings，随后第二年便为这位才女发行了第一张专辑The Family Jewels，展现以独立流行为主要概念的流行作品。2012年Marina带着第二张专辑Electra Heart回到大众眼前，全新的曲风赢得一众好评，英国开卖首周便获得冠军专辑称号。值得一提的是Marina And The Diamonds并不是乐队，而是只有Marina Diamandis一个人，“The Diamonds”指的则是自己的粉丝。而Marina的独特的假音唱腔也让人瞩目。
by Jack Semmence
Marina and the Diamonds, really just Marina Diamandis (the Diamonds are the fans), was born in Wales to Welsh and Greek parents in 1986, although she has often claimed to be from Ancient Greece. After dropping out of four different music courses at four different universities, Marina decided to make her own way in music, and began writing her own unique brand of left-field pop songs under her new stage name. Early on, she claimed that her inspirations were Britney Spears and Gwen Stefani -- who she often covered at live gigs -- but her songs have a soulful edge pointing to a deeper source of influence.
Her piano/keyboard-driven songs vary from melancholic ballads to out-and-out glam-pop, but her unique voice and melodic style are omnipresent in her music. Essentially a solo artist, Marina wrote the bulk of her early material alone, arranging it for a band to ensure her live shows carried the full energy of her studio recordings. Quick to distance herself from comparisons to the rest of the female solo artists who broke through in 2009, Marina was also open about voicing her opinions on more established musical peers including Lily Allen and Kate Nash. In interviews she often showed a dislike of being grouped together with other emerging artists, especially when she had nothing in common with them except gender. The variety in her music made it hard to classify or pigeonhole, and comparisons were made with artists as diverse as Regina Spektor and Elvis Costello. The startling "cuckoo!" refrain of "Mowgli's Road" and the introspective balladry of "Obsessions" could not be more different, but it was the ever-present charm in Marina's music that brought her cult success in the early part of her career.
Her first single, "Obsessions/Mowgli's Road" was issued by indie label Neon Gold in the U.S., also home to electro-indie Americans Passion Pit, and was followed later in 2009 by The Crown Jewels EP, which contained three new songs, including an electronic remix of fan favorite "I Am Not a Robot." After playing the exhausting British festival circuit in the summer of 2009, Marina briefly retired to the studio to polish off her debut album, The Family Jewels, before quickly hitting the road again in late 2009.