Great Moments In Pop – The 2010s Part 5.

This is another singer who briefly brought some dazzle to the chart in the early-2010s. Marina (not the one who used to be on Bid TV of course, I’ll stop going on about Bid TV one day…) was born in Abergavenny, and she was known as Marina And The Diamonds. She had already been on the scene for a year or two, although she hadn’t made much of an impact at first.

But she soon found herself on most of those “she’ll be the next big thing”-type lists that critics enjoy putting together at the beginning of the year, and she did manage to fulfil her potential to some extent. In February 2010 “Hollywood” was released, which reached no. 12. Not long after, her debut album “Family Jewels” made the Top Ten.

In April 2010 “I Am Not A Robot” reached no. 26. Well I never said that you were. In August 2010 “Oh No” reached no. 38. As always, it’s a difficult choice to pick out a favourite, but this is definitely among them, so it was a disappointment that this one didn’t do better. The hits did keep on coming though, in October 2011 “Radioactive” reached no. 25.

Then she went into the peak of her career on the chart, when in April 2012 “Primadonna” reached no. 11, to become her highest-peaking single in the UK, and this was followed by the album “Electra Heart” being a chart-topper for one week. And just like Caro Emerald, who was recently featured in this series, Marina was in the situation of her albums doing very well, but the singles getting nowhere near the Top Ten.

But then after this, she began to fall out of favour a little. The only time she has made the singles chart again was in 2018 when she collaborated with Clean Bandit, a group who definitely know all about having some success on the chart. And by this point, she had been on the scene for about a decade, and she had decided to change her name, and was now simply credited as Marina.

In more recent years, Marina has continued to release many more singles and albums that have been enjoyable, but the days of her making the chart are gone now, which is a disappointment. It would’ve been good to have seen her make the Top Ten, but in an era when tastes change as quickly as they have ever done, it was a relief that made the chart at all.

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