There’s a bridal shower just a few tables away from Marina as she sips a berry smoothie in the sun-dappled courtyard of a Los Angeles hotel. She tells me she’s trying not to protect her heart quite so carefully these days.
“I think part of why this album has felt so freeing is because I’ve dove into my fear of love,” says the singer, 39, who made her new album, Princess of Power, from the perspective of a superheroine whose greatest power is love. “It can sound trite, but I think the ability to love is so powerful and brave. It’s a courageous thing, particularly if you’ve been hurt… It can be really hard to reprogram yourself, and I think I’ve finally been able to do that.”
Marina, today, seems free and relaxed. She occasionally puts on her sunnies when the light hits her face, letting out a cackle or two as she recalls her past work — and how she’s shed the people-pleasing tendencies that once defined her. She isn’t afraid to talk about anything, really, and most of all, with her music, she just wants to enjoy the process. “There’s a weird spaciousness in me that hasn’t been present in previous album releases, and I think it’s because I feel so happy and confident with what I’ve created,” Marina says with a shrug. “But also, I don’t like forcing things anymore.”
Fans got a taste of what’s to come with Princess of Power at Coachella, where Marina debuted the album’s standout single, “Cuntissimo,” twirling across the stage in a blond wig and a corset dress echoing the album’s cover. She also revisited songs from the early days of her career, when she performed as Marina and the Diamonds — think “How to Be a Heartbreaker” and “Primadonna,” both from 2012. These are the songs that built her deep-rooted fan base, which includes the likes of Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, and Chappell Roan.
With more than 15 years in the game, Marina is a true “if you know, you know” pop queen, beloved by fans and respected by peers. “Fortunately, I haven’t had to rely on charts or commercial success for much of my career,” she tells me. “It’s a wonderful thing to know those early albums had impact, because at the time, I still felt very small as an artist.”
Her 2010 debut, The Family Jewels, introduced an avant-garde pop talent who was unafraid to be kooky and cerebral. Her conceptual sophomore album, Electra Heart, cemented her legacy, helping make her a cult favorite for Tumblr teens and alt-pop obsessives. She made one more album, 2015’s Froot, before deciding to drop the “and the Diamonds” from her name.
“Froot was like a clean slate, and I was able to create on my own for the first time ever, really,” she says, looking back 10 years later. “I feel like I’m quite a different person, but in a positive way.”
As she approaches her forties, Marina says, she’s embracing life with no holds barred. Princess of Power offers playful, euphoric pop tinged with deeper introspection about growing older. “I was trying to access this euphoric energy that I wanted in my everyday life,” she says. “That was the blueprint for this record energetically.”
For the recent single “Cuntissimo,” Marina was inspired by icons like Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren, Madonna, and Rihanna — women “who enjoy life to the max.” She grabs the Gen Z-adopted term “cunty” and reframes it as a celebration of bold, unapologetic femininity. “That’s really key: pleasure,” she says. “Throughout the centuries, it’s been denied us that freedom to be silly and messy. Women have been under such a strict patriarchal power for so long, but this is just like, ‘Fuck you.’ ”
She hopes this album serves as a reminder that experience is a “benefit” to women, instead of a loss. Pointing to artists like Charli XCX, Chappell Roan, and Sabrina Carpenter — all of whom have spent years building toward their current success, following their own distinct paths — Marina sees a shift in how women in pop are being viewed. “I think that’s why women are so scared about aging, because we’ve been told that it’s something that’s going to take our value from us,” she says. “Whilst men get to age and gain power, and wisdom, and respect, and better pay. Why’s it the reverse for women? It literally makes no sense… Youth is usually where the fresh new things are happening, but I want to disrupt that.”
Last summer, Charli XCX’s remix of “Girl, so confusing” with Lorde struck a chord with Marina. She tweeted to Charli that the song made her cry and called it “courageous.” The moment marked a reconciliation between the longtime Tumblr faves and friends, who had an online falling-out in 2016 over visuals used in a photoshoot. “I think these moments are important. It was sweet to see people respond to that,” Marina says. “I love her work and it’s so inspiring to see what she did with Brat. She just fully deserves it.”
Early in Princess of Power is the standout track “Rollercoaster,” which Marina describes as “manifestation music.” On it, she sings about wanting to swim topless in the ocean, embracing life’s highs: “I want this fresh, free energy,” she says. She adds that she’s long believed in the power of believing in your dreams. “The Family Jewels was full of manifestation,” she says. “It was believing that I deserved… that I could be a star. It was based on what I’d been dreaming of. So, I fully believe this works.” Froot, she says, “brought a major love into my life.” “Primadonna”? “That created that lifestyle for me.” And “How to Be a Heartbreaker”? Marina just laughs.
“Metallic Stallion,” another highlight on the new album, is dedicated to a lover afraid of deep connection. On the album’s title track, Marina tells me, she “reteaches” herself how to love, and on “Rollercoaster,” she manifests finding it. “It almost always comes true,” she says.
Marina tells me she’s been single for a while now. She pulls out her phone to read me a Rumi quote that her therapist sent her: “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you’ve built against it.”
In other words, there’s an open door to love in Marina’s life, but it has to be the right connection. “A lot of us, I think, prioritize romantic love. And I’ve, by force, had to reconsider that,” she says. “That’s massively part of this album as well.”Most of all, though, Marina wants her listeners to enjoy themselves when they listen to Princess of Power. “I just really want it to have a positive impact,” she says. “Otherwise, what’s the point of doing anything?”
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