Marina and the Diamonds Quotations

I consider myself a feminist because I believe women should have equal rights. Of course. It's just that the term 'feminism' conjures up other things for people.

There's no one particular road that will lead you to success. I think everybody will find it differently.

If you don't want to have your private life splashed everywhere, why go to the restaurants and the places you know you're going to be photographed?

That's when you know you really fit with someone - when you can just sit there and not do anything. Kind of ignoring each other.

Blonde symbolises sexuality and power - it holds very different connotations. The archetypal star has always been blonde.

I am very curvy, so the vintage stores suit me better than most designers. I just can't seem to give up crisps, or make my boobs shrink for that matter. Alas, I will never fit a size zero.

I want to provoke people with thoughts, not by taking my clothes off. It's time to move on from Stripperville.

Hollywood infected my brain and I really valued the wrong things in life, but I changed dramatically.

I've always been interested in how fast-moving our identity is and that I've never been able to pin down who I truly am. That inspires me to write, because I feel like that cements me a bit, in that I find my identity in being an artist.

I love natural beauty, and I think it's your best look, but I think makeup as an artist is so transformative.

Everyone gets dumped and everyone gets hurt and there's karma to love in regards to what you've done to other people.

Even when I see a beautiful woman, I think, 'Aw, her life must be amazing.' Everyone does it. That's human nature to believe that beauty is everything.

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.

When you are with the wrong person, who doesn't really love you, all you want is to be adored. It makes you more inward and needy. Gross.

This obsession with celebrity culture is really unhealthy. I don't want to live my life like that, and I don't want to be a typical pop star.

Touring can be tough; the crew and I travel everywhere by a big pink bus, and live in petrol stations.

I think some people just have an innate musical ability, and I'm lucky enough to be one of those people.

I really like the look of the 1950s, lots of suburban Americana influences. I'm 5'4', so I like kitten heels occasionally because I can move around a bit easier, but pointy-toed pumps are very elongating.

I criticized the whole American songwriting industry and the pop side of it and I was bitter about it. And I stepped back and thought 'Why are you bitter? You can't just stand there like every other indie musician and criticize this so-called 'generic' music when you're not doing anything to challenge that.'

Nobody will admit to playing power games in relationships, but they do.

Obviously when you're a teen you have no money, so you make, like, three outfits out of one dress. You're like, 'OK cut the arms here. Alright: New party, cut them to here.'

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.

My dad's quite a conservative person, and he brought me up to be very questioning of the commercial world. He looked down on pop culture. I definitely got the impression that pop was evil and that Britney Spears was evil.

Music is my 90% of my life and my biggest passion. I really don't have an interest in anything else.

I don't just want to sing about simplistic things all the time. It's good to have a mix of songs that have a real depth, and that provoke and challenge people, and then songs that are fun and people can enjoy.

I hate the whole 'record your album, do your promo campaign, have a year off to write another album' pattern. As an artist, you should keep creating as much as you possibly can.

I feel weird without lipstick. Even after the first time I wore a really neon pink or a really bright red, I felt really strange without it there. My lips are a main feature, so I feel naked without them.

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.

Rejection is a universally embarrassing topic and 'Electra Heart' is my response to that. It is a frank album.

My style icons are Leigh Lezark, Gwen Stefani and Shirley Manson.

You know what, if you compromise and do stuff that's not becoming to you as an artist, that's your fault.

What I hate is that not many people admit to having a big ego, but you have to - and there's nothing wrong with it.

Britney Spears is a big influence. Huge. I think people thought I was joking about that for a long time. But when I was a teenager, there was a genuine connection with this sweet girl who also had this very sexual side that people didn't really want to accept.

Everybody is different. Some people like to share more. I just wouldn't want to spoil someone's opinion of me by them knowing me as a person instead of an artist.

There's nothing I'd never wear, really. I've worn pink spotty pajamas from a Goodwill store onstage before. This only happens when I'm having a small breakdown!

I've read every Madonna biography. I've also looked up every pop star to see how they first made it. The biggest thing I learnt was that you have to be pro-active. You can't be scared.

Actually, I think that a lot of the interviews and acoustic sessions and other things that artists fill their time with are really pointless and suck the energy out of the artist.

I'm not really part of that 'L.A. thing' or that celebrity culture. I'm more like someone who observes it, and I can't ever imagine being like that.

I'm just waiting for the moment where it's accepted that women are just as sexual as men without women having to be overtly sexy just to prove how 'liberated' they are.

I lived in Greece for about four years of my life, and living there had a huge impact on my life growing up. My father was very much adamant that we would learn about our culture. It's a very rich culture to be a part of since it has such a great history behind it. I definitely carry that in my job, and I am very passionate.

I often take things I find in vintage crawls and hand them to a very good seamstress, who then replicates them and makes a more robust version in different colors, with a pocket for my mic pack.

If you're making too many excuses for someone, agonising over them in a way which takes up all your waking thoughts and feel so nervous around them you could be sick, then they are probably the wrong person.

I really do want people to listen to the music more than watch what I wear. There's time for that later. I've got the rest of my life to dress up and look nice.

I don't think I'm an instantaneous act the whole world will love in one second - but that's how I've felt about bands I love.

I didn't even listen to any music until I was 19, really. I just wanted to be famous. But I didn't say it to anyone because I was really embarrassed at the thought.

I could draw up a list of about 30 artists who I apparently sound like. From Lady Gaga, to Katy Perry to Lana Del Rey. I don't know if it's because I'm versatile or because production affects how people judge music. I can't wait for a time I can just be classed as myself.

What I've learnt about artists over the years is, artists are usually the opposite to their music.

I think each human being wants to make their mark on the world in whatever way they can, and maybe everyone has a slight egomaniac inside of them.

I love 40's-60's fashion because it suits the type of figure that I have the most, so that's what I always go for. I won't change!

I actually quite like promo, which is quite odd for an artist, but recording's not the easiest thing.

I'm not going to lie; I'm not a huge remix person.

I feel like everyone has the right to privacy, even if you're the most famous person in the world.

I'm a very, very disciplined person.

I was always very creative. I was always into acting and dancing when I was younger.

I turned off my Google alerts in 2009 as I learnt that following yourself on the Internet very quickly becomes unhealthy.

I love pop music because you can really see what's currently happening in society.

I have quite a lot of plastic sunglasses. It's just a nice accessory, it adds a final thing, and it's my favorite way of figuring an outfit.

I don't think I'm an instantaneous act the whole world will love in one second - but that's how I've felt about bands I love.

I am absolutely not a roll-on-stage kind of girl! I would be totally freaked out if I didn't warm up, and I don't know how other singers do it.

I'm masquerading as an innocent pop star.

People are complex, and I think it's a huge element of what I do, because you have to balance out the fact that you talk about quite serious things with a sense of irony and tongue-in-cheek humor. That's my personality as well.

You could say that my life's a mess. But, I'm still looking pretty in this dress.

I want blood, guts, and chocolate cake.

Success, I've come to realise, is fleeting so you shouldn't value it too much.

I think I actually did write about love because I kind of had a fear of it, like we all do, nobody wants to get hurt.

Drink to forget; don't forget to drink.

I've really come into my own as an artist. I'm much more sure of my identity and understand it much better, and have accepted the fact that I like to jump around a lot in terms of who I am and what kind of music I create, and that it is okay - in fact, that is my main identity, the fact that I do that.

I feel like I'm the worst, so I always act like I'm the best.

I feel like artists that are always quite sad in real life always make really happy music, and artists who are really bouncy and bubbly always make really sad music.

I have sold my soul. I would sell my soul, if I could have it all.

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.

I'm vulnerable, I'm vulnerable. I am not a robot.

Trends in culture all serve a purpose and that's always indicative in fashion and music, you can always tell what's going on culturally in the mindset of the young generation if you look at those mediums.

You can’t have peace without a war.

Lots of narcissistic people have helped lots of other people with their music. That's such a narcissistic thing to say! Ha ha!

I'm not really part of that 'L.A. thing' or that celebrity culture. I'm more like someone who observes it, and I can't ever imagine being like that.

[Being in the States] is almost like being on a holiday. It's kind of annoying because everyone's like "Oh, you're so obsessed with America," but it's not really that. I just really enjoy being here - I'm not the first British artist to make music here and be inspired by the country.

I think celebrity culture and sexuality in pop music is really important, but I want there to be an alternative for people.

I quite like dark humor.

I don't want to live in real life. It's too harsh, too brutal.

I'm interested in how identity is transient. How do we know who we really are, when different situations and environments dictate how we behave? I'm interested in the role we all play. We spend our whole lives becoming ourselves when we are born as no one else.

I'm obsessed with the mess that's America.

I don't really know how to live my life, just like lots of other people don't. I guess you just learn along the way.

My biggest fear is love and getting hurt in love but still believing.

When you are in the studio, you don't have anybody to feed off of; meanwhile, when you are playing live, you interact with people and you feel the energy in the room. When the crowd is going crazy, that definitely impacts your vocal performance. I prefer to sing live.

Electra Heart is the antithesis of everything I stand for. And the point of introducing her and building a concept around her is that she stands for the corrupt side of American ideology, and basically that's the corruption of yourself. My worst fear - that's anyone's worst fear - is to lose myself and become an empty person. And that happens a lot when you're very ambitious.

If you believe something enough, it comes true eventually, and that's so true even with lies. If you tell yourself a lie, after a few years you'll think it's true.

Fake it, fake your confidence until it's real. I think it's a good way to live most of your life.

Sometimes you feel amazing about life and other times you just feel fat and depressed, so I think it's good to be honest about that and to make light of it, I think humour is important, nobody's perfect.