Talking about her desire to be famous.
For some reason I was quite ashamed of the idea of fame, even though my whole life I felt like I was an artist. I want to be famous but for being extrodinary. I think in the begining because we had gone through this era of reality stars & people being fame hungry for no reason I was like, I wana shy away from that, I don’t want to be associated with that, but you know, it’s really silly to lead your life like that & I’m really enjoying what I have now.

On The Second Album
I think I am very ready for it, I feel like this second album, I just have this feeling. I just feel really ready where as the first album I had all these hangups.

On Touring With Katy Perry
I’m so excited, nothing but pure excitement about this, it’s a really big gig for me & it feels like the beginning of something new. Katy has been great to me & I would like to be really great to her, from what I can learn from her, I am going to be studying her production. I am just excited to see her show 11 times, let alone performing.

Before Marina takes the stage at this years Coachella music festival on April 15, Starpulse.com spoke with her about the Burger Queen Tour, auditioning for a boy band, and her most prized possession.

What should audiences expect from your upcoming Burger Queen Tour?

I don’t want to give a negative first, but it’s scaled down from the British version. However, it showcases the whole Family Jewels album. I think The Family Jewels is a revelation of ending an addiction to things that don’t matter in life. A lot of that, fortunately and unfortunately, involves American pop culture. I love pop art and Americana, so some of my visual inspirations are certainly based on that. I thought the name ‘burger queen’ sounded perfect. I hope Americans like it as well.

You’re currently working on your second album. It may be too soon to talk about it, but how is it going to be different from your first release?

All I can say is that I started writing it a year ago. I have two visions for it and they’re very separate. I almost feel like putting out two albums, but that’s probably not essential. I want it out as soon as possible. I don’t know when as soon as possible is. I just want it to be fabulous first and then release it.

You once stated, ‘I think all of what I nearly do musically is powered by an agenda.’ What’s your agenda now?

I suppose that quote is true. I do have a memo all the time because I need to be guided by something in my life. I’m not religious and I don’t have idols, so something has to drive me. It’s funny because pop music is irrelevant and yet it’s so relevant to life. I’m constantly in between the two. For the second album, I really come into my own as a person. I think I was in denial of who I am because I felt heavily judged. Love is really my nemesis. I never really allowed myself to indulge in such basic things because I was so motivated and thought that if I did I wouldn’t succeed. I know it sounds crazy, but that’s how it was.

What triggered your interest in music?

I thought for a long time that I was going to be a pop artist. It was around 18-19 that I started to make that a reality. I just knew that this was my destiny. I was quite musical when I was young and played the violin, but then I quit, like I do with everything else.

What are your thoughts on today’s female pop artists and how they’re treated by the media?

I’m a lot more positive about it now than I was last year. I think female artists in pop music have it great. You’ve got people like Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry who are all winning. They are doing it by being very strong, opinionated females. Because of that, they’re wildly successful. I think we have the upper hand right now.

Is it true that you used to read biographies on Madonna for tips on how to become a pop star?

I read every biography on Madonna. It wasn’t just about getting tips. I felt connected with Madonna from a very young age. I think I share a lot of qualities from her personality. I really respect her.

What about auditioning for a boy band in drag? How did that turn out?

Not great (laughs). I’m still challenging genders, though. That’s what I like to say, so I’m less embarrassed by it.

What’s your relationship like with The Diamonds, also known as your fans?

I feel like half of me wants to be a massive star, but when I meet my fans, I feel like they’re friends. The whole point of Marina And The Diamonds was to ignore this stupid, ridiculous, and hierarchical nature of my industry. I think it has gotten a lot better now, especially with people like Lady Gaga, who’s a spokesperson for that. But, I felt like other artists didn’t really give a shit about the fans and I hated that. That’s how the name came about. I feel extremely passionate about my fans and I hope they never feel excluded. I really care about them and I would feel awful if something happens to them, like having to wait in the rain for a show. That breaks my heart.

You attempted to pursue the university several times now. Do you ever see yourself returning?

I’m pretty sure it’s behind me. I just feel that I learn more out in the world than inside a room stuck with a book. You never know, but I don’t think I will. It’s not a terrible idea. I think I’m too independent and I like reading on my own. If I want to learn about something, then I’ll just buy 50 books on the topic and eat them up.

As the brand ambassador for Max Factor, what advice can you give to female fans who want to look and feel good about themselves?

Actually, my advice has nothing to do with makeup. It’s about your skin. If your skin looks like shit then everything else will be shit. You need to get a little more sleep and take your makeup off before you go to bed. You know when you’re really hammered and you just want to roll into bed? No (laughs).

Stephanie Nolasco for Starpulse

Marina brought The Burger Queen Tour to a packed crowd in Antone’s Nightclub last night. Now on the fourth date of the tour she surprised the fans by singing ‘Living Dead‘, a song off her currently unnamed second album. You can see what she said to the lucky crowd before taking a sip of vodka and singing the song.

I am gonna play a song I have never played before, so it might go tits up. It’s from my next album actually, it’s called Living Dead.

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…)

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.

Marina had a quick phone call yesterday with friend and DJ Greg James on his Radio 1 show to talk about “BBC Introducing“. They discuss how it helped Marina boost her career and what she is up to right now. You can listen and read some of the highlights from the interview below.

Now the reason I am calling you is just to have a little chat about BBC Introducing, cause all this week we are talking about how important things like BBC Introducing are to a new artist. Now turn the clock back a couple of years and you kind of had a little mini break on BBC Introducing didn’t you?

Yeah I did actually. I started to get press about 2 years ago and I remember Huw Stephens introducing me to the world of Radio 1 and he invited me to play in Swindon at The Big Weekend and that was when things really started off for me.
I know it sounds really cheesy saying it but you really can’t underplay the importance of it because it really did do a lot for me, Especially because the stuff I had out back then was a lot more left field than the stuff I would finally release.

What happened after the Introducing thing did you notice the fan base got any bigger from the back of that or what?

I got lots of press off it and it just started the ball rolling and the next big thing a year later was the BBC Poll. I think it was great, I think people can be quite cynical about these things but it was so good for me it got me so much exposure and so quickly.

And also, It led on to you doing The Big Weekend proper on the In New Music We Trust stage last year.

Yeah, Exactly, Which I was really happy about.

One of few artists to go from the Introducing stage to one of the main stages which is quite an achievement.

So you’re working on some new stuff at the minute and then what? Touring? Where abouts?

Actually, I had two American tours but I cancelled them because I’m really really wanting to get on to the next record but I will be touring again by I don’t know.. probably June. It’s been two years touring so it’s nice to stay in one place.

Related Links > 10/05/2009 : Radio 1′s Big Weekend, Lydiard Park
Related Links > 23/05/2010 : Radio 1′s Big Weekend, Bangor