Pint sized pop sensation Eliza Doolittle has been chosen as the latest Max Factor girl. ‘I just did the photoshoot. I had to part with my eyeliner, which was a big deal, but they wanted to try some new looks,’ she told me. The 22-year-old, whose pop debut reached No3, joins Welsh pop star Marina Diamandis as the face of the make-up house.

Thanks to @MarinasDiamond

Related Links > Photoshoots In 2010 > Session 27 : Roger Rich

Last night Marina attended the InStyle’s Best Of British Talent Party in association with Lancome at in London. She looked gorgeous wearing a leopard print cropped top with an Alexander Wang skirt accessorised with some chunky gold jewellery and bright pink lips (Possibly from Max Factor’s Max Colour Effect?). Hopefully I will get more throughout the day.

Update : I have just added some candid pictures of Marina arriving at the party.

The fearsomely ambitious Marina Diamandis – aka Marina and the Diamonds – used to dream of pop stardom. Now that she’s an award-winning singer-songwriter, there are bigger fish to fry. She tells Nisha Lilia Diu about her next steps towards global domination.

Some of Marina and the Diamonds’ songs are frankly frightening.

Oh No! for example, opens with the lines ‘I don’t do love, don’t do friends. I’m only after success’. Or Hermit the Frog, in which she sings, ‘The devil likes to make my heart a double bed. And sometimes he likes to come and rest his little head.’

It’s all rather chilling.

‘I never felt too connected to anybody,’ Marina Diamandis tells me when we meet (the Diamonds are not her band, as you might expect, but her fans. As she explains on her Myspace page, ‘I’m Marina, you’re the Diamonds’).

She flicks a strand of blue hair away from her face – ‘it’s a weave’ – and adds, ‘I have a very hard, ambitious streak.’

Last year was an excellent year for Diamandis. She started 2010 by taking second place (after Ellie Goulding) in the BBC’s Sound of 2010 poll, and ended it by beating Tinie Tempah, Rox and Goulding herself to win best new UK and Ireland act at MTV’s European Music Awards.

She released her debut album, ‘The Family Jewels’, and sat back as waves of critical acclaim crashed about her. The album entered the charts at number five. Three top-20 singles followed. (more…)

Singer songwriter Marina Diamandis yesterday spoke of her determination to become a music success.

Since becoming runner-up to Ellie Goulding in the BBC’s Sound of 2010 poll, Diamandis – who performs as Marina and the Diamonds – has had nothing but critical praise and public adoration.

The half-Welsh, half-Greek 25-year-old now has three top 20 singles and a top five album in Family Jewels.

But she said: “I didn’t even listen to any music until I was about 19, really. I just wanted to be famous. But I didn’t say it to anyone because I was really embarrassed at the thought.”

She applied herself academically – by her own admittance in a “hardcore” fashion.

“With my GCSEs I was up at 2am everyday and I would study until 7am, go to school then come back and do some more,” Diamandis told a London Sunday newspaper.

When she was 16, Marina left the village of Pandy in Monmouthshire to live with her father in Athens, where she took the International Baccalaureate.

She said: “I’m a very, very disciplined person. And I don’t mind sacrificing normal things like friends and relationships.”

And she spoke of her eclectic university career: “I did a year, got a first, then I transferred to another uni, just because I was a bit bored, but I thought ‘this is a rubbish course’, so I switched to pure composition at Middlesex, but I stopped after two months. Never like to stay for too long!”

The musician, who once compared herself to Shakira and Lady Gaga, added: “Everyone’s like, ‘You are doing so well. And I’m like, ‘No I’m not!’ I need to do so much more.”

Kathryn Williams

I just updated the photo gallery with a few stunning outtakes from a photoshoot Marina had with Claire Shilland last year. This is not the most complex of photoshoots but the simplicity of it really makes it one of my favourites.
What do you think? Click the thumbnails to view the set & comment below.

Related Links > Photoshoots In 2010 > Session 22 : Claire Shilland

Last night in a much-hyped Katy Perry Facebook announcement she revealed her plans to tour America this summer. She is going to kick the tour off on June 7th in Atlanta and wrap it up in her home town of Santa Barbara on August 14th.
That isn’t even the best part. Amongst a lot of other important things Katy spoke about, including who looks after her cats, she also announced who would be supporting her on her tour. Katy will be joined by the incredible Robyn and… Marina And The Diamonds! The two girls are set to join her across America on selected dates which have still to be announced, so stick with us for any updates.

Katy joked during the webcast “It’s going to be super girl power. If you come to the tour, you’ll probably start menstruating.”

A list if the dates are below. Will you be going to any shows near you?

June 7— Atlanta, Arena at Gwinnett Center
June 9 — Orlando, UCF Arena
June 10 — Tampa, St. Pete Times Forum
June 11 — Ft. Lauderdale, Bank Atlantic Center
June 14 — Raleigh, RBC Center
June 15 — Columbia, Merriweather Post Pavilion
June 17 — Uniondale, Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
June 18 — Boston, TD Garden
June 19 — Newark, Prudential Center
June 22 — Uncasville, Mohegan Sun Arena
June 23 — Pittsburgh, Petersen Events Center
June 24 — Philadelphia, Wells Fargo Center
June 28 — Detroit, Palace of Auburn Hills
June 30 — Toronto, Air Canada Centre
July 2 — Montreal, Bell Centre
July 3 — Ottawa, ScotiaBank Place
July 5 — Cleveland, Quicken Loans Arena
July 7 — Milwaukee, Marcus Amphitheater – Milwaukee Summerfest
July 8 — Chicago, Allstate Arena
July 9 — St. Paul, Xcel Energy Center
July 13 — Regina, Brandt Centre
July 14 — Winnipeg, MTS Centre
July 16 — Calgary, Scotiabank Saddledome – Calgary Stampede
July 17 — Edmonton, Rexall Place
July 19 — Vancouver, Rogers Arena
July 20 — Seattle, KeyArena at Seattle Center
July 22 — Portland, Rose Garden Arena
July 23 — Boise, Taco Bell Arena
July 25 — Salt Lake City, Energy Solutions Arena
July 26 — Denver, 1stBank Center
July 28 — Dallas, Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie
July 29 — Houston, Toyota Center
July 30 — Austin, Frank Erwin Center
Aug. 3 — Phoenix, Comerica Theatre
Aug. 5 — Los Angeles, Nokia Theatre, LA Live
Aug. 12 — San Jose, HP Pavilion
Aug. 13 & 14 — Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Bowl

Are you a fan of Katy Perry? Visit my amazing friends site Katy-Perry.Net

Update : Marina tweeted about the tour including what dates she would join the tour. [Bolded above]

American diamonds: NEWS! This summer, I’ll be supporting Katy Perry on her California Dreams tour from 22nd June – 9th July. . . !!! – @MarinasDiamonds

Marina sat down with Jordon from AndPop recently to discuss her success in America and the divide between the UK and North American music scenes. They go on to talk about why they think Marina & Katy Perry are always being compared and who would win in a fight between them.
Who do you have your money on?

Watch the video or read some of the highlights below.

I find American music makes it over the water a lot easier than British music makes it over here, why is that?

Because we think when an American star comes to the UK it must good, if its big in America it must be good. That’s why so much stuff is really soulless because its all just focused on it being a hit.

So then artistically, do you think Britain is ahead of the curve?

Yeah, I have to say yeah. Creativity and weirdness is kind of accepted and encouraged more where as in American, I’m not saying it doesn’t exist, it absolutely does but its less risky in the music industry to go with something that’s worked before.

The idea of an artist in a traditional sense, someone like David Bowie… I don’t think it really exists here because my experience with the industry is if you want to create a hit album you have to go and work with Dr Luke and X Y Z song writers and I’m just like… I write songs on my own.

What do you normally get described as in Britain if they are trying to pin you with a genre?

Um, well they are as equally surprised by the crop of female talent and they kind of label all of those girls “quirky“.
They do say “She’s like the British Katy Perry“.

Why do you think they make that comparison between the two of you?

Umm, I suppose we both have brown hair. I don’t really know what else because I don’t sound like her. I suppose visually, I think its a visual thing. I love bright colours, she loves bright colours, we are one person.

If you and Katy Perry were to get into a fist fight, who do you think would win?

Oh that is really tough, I think I would. Sorry Katy but it’s more likely that you’d be wearing something gorgeous and glamorous and I’d probably be in my jogging bottoms so I’d have the mobility.

Marina and the Diamonds is set to play her first American show of the year at the Coachella Festival in April.

Marina who was set to bring her “Burger Queen Tour” to the states for January & February cancelled back in November because of recording schedule changes but she was hoping to reschedule it soon.
After 2 years pretty much constantly on tour, she said in an interview last week with Greg James that it is nice to be in one place but she hopes to return to touring by June.

Marina will be playing the first day of the Californian festival on Friday the 15th of April along with other great British acts such as Clare Maguire & Hurts + headliners Kings Of Leon, Robyn & The Chemical Brothers.

Tickets will be available from the 21st of January. To get yours visit Coachella.com or Ticketmaster.com

I was reading Shirley Manson’s blog on Facebook and noticed a familiar name in one of her latest posts called “Some of the People I Would Like To Hear More From in 2011“. Near the top of the list is someone we know all too well… Marina.

Marina and The Diamonds (Goddess in the making)

If you visit the site often you will know Marina is a huge fan of Shirley. It has been noted in the past that not only is Shirley is one of her style icons but someone she would love to duet with.

Marina has just returned from Los Angeles in America where she was recording some music for her sophomore album due out later this year. She did get to play a little though. Perez Hilton tweeted about being at a Lissie concert with her, Paloma Faith tweeted about having a little lunch date with her and Marina tweeted about doing some shopping.

I really hope in-between everything, Shirley & Marina had a chance to meet and who knows, maybe we have potential song in the making?

Fingers crossed.

Despite homegrown accolades from sources as illustrious as the BBC, BRIT Awards and MTV European Music Awards, Marina and the Diamonds still have one big area left to fully conquer: America.

“The thing is, it’s not easy to break in America because it’s so massive,” Maria Diamandis, the UK pop singer-songwriter at the heart of Marina and the Diamonds, tells Spinner. “If it’s too British-specific then the sound doesn’t travel. But I do think if your music is suited [to American tastes] then you will break.”

Putting aside her pronounced British delivery, Marina and the Diamonds’ debut LP, ‘The Family Jewels’ has an infectious, hook-laden pop sound that should resonate across the Atlantic just fine. It just looks like she’ll have to wait a little while longer before she can put that to the test in a live environment. Having cancelled her North American tour — originally scheduled to kick off this month — in order to record new material, Diamandis now has to stick it out in her motherland until she relocates to America in October.

It’s a bold move for a darling of the UK music press, but Diamandis knows that when she finally does hit the US, there will be no shortage of inspiration to fuel her obsession with American celebrity culture, best exemplified by the refrain from her hit single ‘Hollywood’: “I’m obsessed with the mess that’s America.”

“I think what fascinates me is the contradictory element of the culture,” she says. “Things like beauty and success and youth are glamorized and prioritized far more than things that actually matter, things like, ‘Are you a nice person?’ or ‘Do you help out?’” (more…)