Similar Artist Research Marina and the Diamonds

Marina Lambrini Diamandis, or Marina and the Diamonds, is a 28 year old Greek-Welsh singer and songwriter. She first discovered her talent in secondary school and eventually went on to to study at a dance school in London. Here she auditioned for many different things including musicals, with eventually being signed by a

record label. 

Marina Lambrini Diamands, or Marina and the Diamonds, is a 28 year old Greek-Welsh singer and songwriter. She first discovered her talent in secondary school and eventually went on to to study at a dance school in London. Here she auditioned for many different things including musicals, with eventually being signed by a record label. 

Critics have characterized her as a DIY musician, and described her music as an alternative to mainstream pop music. She is often catalogued as a new wave pop artist. She herself stated that she was an 'indie artist with pop goals.' 

She has said she has been influenced by a wide range of musicians, including PJ Harvey and Britney Spears. This is useful for us to keep in mind, again in terms of styling our artist. She herself has said that Daniel Johnston was one of the most influential people for her. I think it would be worth while for us to look into him a bit deeper, especially when we take what she said about him into account:

He really opened me up to a whole new world of music and a whole new perception of what an artist is. For me, he really encouraged me because if you think of someone who has been spoon-fed pop, up until twenty-one years old, and you hear someone like Daniel Johnston you're like "God, this is terrible, but I love it." It sounds like a child has made it, like, the production is so all over the place. He's obviously got something very captivating here yet he doesn't fit the normal mould and people still love him. I thought "if he can do it then [so can I]," that's when I started to produce things myself and play live, even though I wasn't even great on the piano. It's all about emotion and if you have heart, people connect to that.

As well be noted for her music, she is also noted for her attire. She described her own attire in three words - Vintage, Cheerleader and Cartoon. She also has drawn her style inspiration from other celebrities including Gwen Stefani. Some influential designers for her include: Beyond Retro, Laura Mackness. This is useful for us as we can research these designers and discover a bit more about their style and apply it to our final product. 

New Wave

New wave music is an umbrella term for several late-1970s to mid-1980s pop/rock styles, with ties to 1970s punk rock. Initially – as with the later post-punk – new wave was broadly analogous to punk rock, before branching as a distinctly identified genre, incorporatingelectronic/experimental music, mod, disco and pop. It subsequently engendered subgenres and fusions, including new romantic and goth rock.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_wave_music

Daniel Johnston

Daniel Johnson is an American Singer Songwriter.  His work gained notoriety when he moved to Austin Texas.  From there is career grew with him gaining a place on a then MTV show for new artists
and with well known artists such as Kurt Kobain endorsing his products. (Kurt Kobain was spotted wearing a top with Johnston's album cover on the front. His music style was described as spotty but brilliant. There was a film made about his music career called The Devil and Daniel Johnston. It documented his life from childhood until present, with emphasis on his experience with bipolar disorder and how it manifested itself in demonic self-obssession.

By looking at the albums which Marina and the diamonds has produced, we can apply our findings to our production by taking certain methods she has applied. To date, she has produced 2 albums; The Family Jewels and Electra Heart.


I like this style of cover, with a more detailed background and very simple text and pose from Marina and The Diamonds, I like how the text looks like it has been written on as it gives it a more original quality. The colours that are used I feel are quite traditional to the indie pop genre. I like how she has been photoshopped in and obviously filters have been applied to her face which gives her an almost cartoon like quality. I think this would be good option for us to consider if we consider pursuing a song which is upbeat or girlish.

 Again this cover is very simple and quite similar to the above one for The Family Jewels. I however prefer the previous cover as I feel this lacks a professional touch with the font. The font is quite ordinary and does't have any unique touch to it. I do however think the colours in this cover were altered very well and make the cover look different to all people.







Overall, I feel these 2 covers are very girly, which is fair enough considering this is a female artist. I think the only thing we could take from these is that colour manipulation can be very effective, especially in the second cover which manipulates each persons view. I like the idea of using handwritten text, as seen in the first album ad this may be somewhere we would want to explore a little further.

Website

Like Lana Del Rey's website, again the theme and text employed in Marina and The Diamonds video is very simple. With a plain, texture background in very neutral colours and the text being the same that was used on her Electra Heart Album. However when I compare these 2 sites so far, I think I would prefer Lana Del Rey's as it still has that bit more extra to it. I feel this example is far to plain and almost boring and therefore would not hold our audience. So I like the idea of the plainer, neutral website but not so plain that it is boring. 


Audience

In terms of gender, the following graphic, obtained from Beluga by Groove shark, shows the division in her audience in terms of gender

This shows that Marina and The Diamonds has a bigger popularity amongst the female population. I would expect this considering her style and the fact that she herself is female. I don't males would be a sinterested in her music, they may be interested in her due to looks etc but not her music.

In terms of age, she is most popular with 18-24 year old females and less popular with 45-54 year old males. I understand this and would expect this, due to Marina and The Diamonds sound and style, which I believe is more suited and more tailored to a younger female audience, rather than the older male audience. I think she would possibly be a bit more popular amongst younger males, possibly within the 18-24 bracket, or under 30 for her appearance, but not necessarily because of her music. This is useful for us to apply to our artist because we now know how different factors can affect the different audiences we appeal too.