Marina and the Diamonds on Mullets, Mouse Sweaters, and Dressing Like a Cynical Britney Spears

Photo by Caspar Balslev. Last time I met Marina it was in the middle of a field somewhere outside London. We had to play a game that involved stacking ice cream cones on my nose while she answered questions. It was for a TV show that no longer exists, despite such groundbreaking format ideas. This time round there are no ice cream cones and instead we meet in her air-conditioned trailer, in the middle of Central Park, New York. After 18 months on her Lonely Hearts Club tour, promoting her second album, Electra Heart, this is her final headline show, and Charlie XCX is opening. The fans have been lining up in the sticky heat for hours and you can totally tell who's into Marina and who's team Charli: they've clearly spent hours, and most of their lunch money, attempting to emulate them both.

Noisey: So it's the final show of the tour, the sun is shining, how do you feel? Exhausted?
Marina: I feel very positive actually, and I'm normally quite a miserable person, so that's good.

That is good. You've been playing all over the country for months now. How does your US crowd compare to the UK?
Fans are mental everywhere, but in the US they like dressing up a lot, like there were 200 teenage girls here already this morning

Dressed up as you?
Yeah! Hearts on their faces, the lashes, it's very flattering.

Nabbed from Marina's Instagram: team Marina… and team Lana Del Rey. You should start selling merch copies of your outfits so they can look just like you.
We do actually sell ribbons.

Good to know you can capitalize on that. So every time I see you your hair is a different color, but we're back to black now?
My hair was always black and I just had a wig, but it was so itchy! I haven't done a wig for a while now, mainly because I just needed to not do it for a bit, like putting it on in the tour bus at 6am—it gets a bit much.

Wig or not, you are well placed to answer the following scientific question: do blondes have more fun?
Yes! That is true. You get more male attention, but in a weird way. I think it's literally a light reflective thing, because you're a white fluff ball. Actually you are a white fluff ball…

Yeah, my friend bleached it for me and it's sort of all dead…
Mine snapped off entirely when I was actually blonde. I ended up with a mullet, but not a good one. Only half fell off and the rest was long! So I guess, yes, being blonde is more fun, but there is a risk you will end up bald and ugly.

Your look is a big part of your show; do you switch it up throughout the tour?
No, throughout this tour I've had the same look. I actually got a Welsh guy to make everything for me at the beginning and it hasn't changed much since.

Do you have a lot of say in that?
Yeah totally. I do these crap sketches for him and say, "I want a pink trim on that," or whatever. With this album, I knew I wanted a consistent image for the whole tour, to have this one look.

And what is that one look?
It's like, cyborg beauty queen. At least it was until I had dark hair. Now it doesn't feel quite right.

Doesn't feel cyborg-y?
No, it doesn't feel cyborg-y, but the fashion is very pink-tastic still, it's like a cynical Britney Spears.

I read Britney Spears was a musical influence of yours, as well as PJ Harvey?
I like to make comparisons like that because I like to have a huge contrast. The third album will definitely fall somewhere in between again. It's a weird thing being half a pop artist. I am obviously in pop, but my brain doesn't feel that way. And of course the production on a track determines the audience, the genre, everything, so I don't really know where I am.

What are you being inspired by at the moment?
I'm boring in my music tastes to be honest. I stick with the same artists. Thank God Cat Power put out a new album! I'm not hugely adventurous, when I find an artist I like I stick to them like glue. There are some great new artists out there though.

So what have you been listening to on the tour bus?
There's a band called Haerts who I really like, and I still listen to Charli even though she's on tour with me. We had a party the other weekend and I turned her album on because I can't get enough!

Was she there?
No, she was not there and she does not know this story. Actually do you remember that English band Brother? Well now they've started this new band called Love Life and I really like them too.

You've worked with Charli though right?
Yeah we did a track a couple months ago called "Just Desserts."

Any more of that from you in the future?
I don't know because I've never actually collaborated with anyone before and probably will never again. I'm secretly not a team player at all—just putting it out there—and I was really nervous. But we would send each other stuff back and forth and it really worked out.

Do you always a sound and a style in mind for each album?
Yes, for Electra Heart the whole thing was very specific from the start.

Where do you want to go next?
I think as a knee-jerk reaction to all the pink fluffy stuff, I just wanna do black for like a year now. Just plain black clothes. No make up. It's been so ridiculously girly, it would be nice to just not have drag queen make up on for a second. When I saw you last summer, I was literally dressed as an ice cream.

Does the way you dress affect your persona on stage?
Yes, obviously the clothes you wear make you feel a certain way, and with Electra Heart, it only feels right performing those songs if you have a bridal veil on or something, so you play up to the character even more. Those clothes really set the scene. If I had to go on stage in leggings and a t-shirt it would feel really weird.

You're obviously very conscious of how you put yourself together. Any style moments that you now regret though?
Yes. London Fashion Week 2011. I was in a drag queen bar the night before and somehow I broke my ankle, but I didn't think it was broken until the next day, when I was in agony. But I thought, "Oh, I must go to Fashion Week." So in my weird, delirious state I ended up wearing navy leggings, my pink party frock over the top, then I pulled over a knee-length wool sweater to with knitted mice on the shoulders. Then, just to top it off, I decided to put my hair in ringlets and spray it purple. We can find pictures now; let's go online. [Marina pulls up the offending outfit.] I forgot about that bag as well! [Laughs.] And look at the hair! I mean if I just hadn't done that hair… and that dress… and that bag, it could've maybe been alright. Wait, are you going to print this picture?!

Yes. But only because we love you.

Georgie has a show on EVR! It's called Pop Goes The Future and it's every Friday at noon (EST). She's on Twitter - @GeorgieOkell.

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