On her sixth studio album, Princess of Power, the multi-faceted pop sensation reclaims her energy, her sexuality, and her music.
The world may not be the most empowering place for women right now, but in spite of this, or maybe because of it, female music artists are having a moment that feels like a reckoning—getting real about their personal challenges, pushing themselves creatively, and owning their vulnerability and humanity in ways that are both relatable and aspirational.
For the past decade and half, Marina Diamandi—formerly known by the stage name “Marina and the Diamonds” and since 2018, mononymously as just “MARINA”—has used the ups and downs of her journey as a performer and a person as fuel for her music, which clearly inspired the current slew of mold-breaking singers who’ve come up behind her, from Charli XCX to Chappell Roan.
Her latest, Princess of Power (released in June), uses reflection as celebration, elevating her expressive energy in inventive and intentional ways as only a seasoned performer can. In the process, the 39-year-old Welsh pop sensation continues to redefine herself and what it means to be a pop star.
Finding her “power” again wasn’t easy, though. As the L.A.-based star tells it, there was a lot of struggle to get here, especially where her mental health and physicality were concerned. She was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome in 2023, following years of “deep fatigue, numbness, tingling, low appetite, brain fog, rashes, insomnia and a feeling of being ‘poisoned,'” as she described on her social media at the time.
“It’s tied to exhaustion but it's not really about that,” MARINA shares with Music Connection during a candid and all-encompassing Zoom chat to promote the new album and tour. “It's about life events that precipitate your brain and nervous system working in a certain way. It had been kind of building up for a long time. And of course, this career is intense. Once I figured it out, I was like, ‘Okay, I'm on the road out of this.’”
Identifying a medical reason for the obstacles she’d been fighting for years allowed for a much-needed release and refresh. She even tried a new medium, writing a book of poetry called Eat the World, released late last year. The collection of 38 poems and essays marked another mode of storytelling for her, though fans of her early work will note symbolic and aesthetic references from her colorful oeuvre.
Known for audacious themes since she first hit the charts in the U.K. and later the U.S., MARINA’s quirky and catchy 2010 debut The Family Jewels lived up to the hype it received online. The shimmering new wave and pop hybrid saw her compared to everyone from Katy Perry to Kate Bush—which she didn’t necessarily appreciate.
She followed the debut up with an even more attention-grabbing sophomore release, 2012’s Electra Heart, a conceptual commentary on archetypes and objectification that skewered the corporate pop machine that sought to classify and constrain her. If the fantastical frolic and frocks of it all were misconstrued by some as selling out, then collaborations with producers such as Dr. Luke probably deepened that impression.
But MARINA’s gift for inventive hooks and arty imagery felt anything but manufactured, even if the satire was lost on mainstream audiences. She was still weirder and more unique than her peers and, like Lady Gaga, her persona(s) always felt authentic even when she embraced provocative, pop star-style promotion.
Following up her early successes, 2015’s Froot offered more whimsy and bite as she continued to court the teen Tumblr crowd and eventually, a wider array of music fans who saw her enchanting live sets at festivals like Coachella and Glastonbury. Her vibrant music videos on YouTube over the years always sealed the deal.
Revisiting different ideas and guises from her 15-year career as she moves forward, her latest is a fearlessly fun assortment of melodic confections, serving sass and dancey singles for new fans to devour, and more thoughtful compositions that put the star’s trajectory into creative context for her longtime followers.
Princess of Power is also her first independent release (via a partnership deal with BMG) since leaving Atlantic records. Striking out on her own and getting to make her own decisions, along with finally figuring out what’s been ailing her body, seems to have reinvigorated her soul. The album is as beguiling as anything she’s ever done, inspiring movement and an array of moods that hone in on the female experience—her female experience—and solidify the idea that time teaches us things.
“I think this album—thematically and because of what I was going through in my life at that time—was really about taking back ownership of myself as a woman and sexuality-wise,” MARINA shares. "I was going through, like, a very transformative period, personally. And even though the term ‘self-empowerment’ is so bandied around, it really felt like this record was about that and self-reclamation, essentially.”
While Princess asserts more control than ever, she says the “power” she’s exploring isn’t necessarily about politics. “I think power is political, and for me, it was about redefining that word as a whole,” she explains. “There are so many examples of masculine power and not many examples of feminine power. You know, it's kind of like the ‘being’ versus ‘doing’ thing. So for myself, it's really been applied to love and vulnerability and seeing how powerful it is to have the ability to override fear instincts when it comes to love in general and relationships. For me, that's what makes somebody powerful.”
The power of love she’s talking about has nothing to do with Disney cliches or cartoon warriors—which the album title might conjure for pop culture-obsessed consumers. It’s about owning one’s choices, desires and even shortcomings and celebrating them all. The overall vibe brings to mind a Madonna-like moxie and a disco-driven decadence and freedom.
MARINA has maintained all the attitude and style that first garnered her a cult-like following (her fans have adopted the “diamonds” tag for themselves). But she’s also wiser, with tracks touching upon depression and despair (“Everybody Knows I’m Sad”), transformation (“Butterfly”), and finding your inner badass (“Cuntissimo”).
The latter exemplifies how the “C word” has been taken back, first by the queer community which has always adored her, and today, by women themselves. It feels like a more wicked bookend to her Electra Heart hit, “Bubblegum Bitch,” and it might be the most overt proclamation of power on the album.
“It's the power when I'm walkin'
On the streets, sweet-talkin’
Push-up bra in my diamonds
Gift from my ex-husband
(Cuntissimo) Oh baby, it’s a way of life
(Cuntissimo) Don't let nobody dull my shine
(Cu-cuntissimo) This ain’t no Bonnie and Clyde
(Uh-huh, uh-huh) But you can be my Thelma on the side”
Even with explorations of self that aren’t always pretty, MARINA is exuberant on record—and clearly from speaking with her—in her life right now. “It’s just what I needed and what I still need. I feel like we came out of this period of the pandemic, and I think we've all taken a bit of time to get back to what life looks like…Socially, politically, we've all changed so much,” she explains.
“And so when I was writing, I guess it was 2024, and I just had this real craving for fun and playfulness. And I also had this mission or intent for this record, where I wanted to make something purposefully positive for people so that they can feel just energized by it, even if they're not listening to the lyrics so much, because we all listen to music so differently.”
Different generations listen differently, too. The disco diva moments might read retro depending on your cultural references, with both ‘70s and ‘80s elements popping off, but all together as backup to her gorgeous vocals, the sound feels novel and very now.
“It wasn't conscious, but weirdly, it worked its way in along with these, like vintage video game sonics. It’s probably related to that era, which is, energetically, what I was trying to channel and bring into my own life,” MARINA says of the dance floor beats. “So it's like these really high vibe songs that were so reminiscent of that era in music. And I'm a huge ABBA fan as well, so I was listening to them a lot at the time, but also listening to more modern artists like Kylie [Minogue] and a lot of old Madonna. I was honing in on only consuming music that was in that frequency.”
There’s a joyful kind of depth too, especially on the ballads. “Adult Girl” in particular is sure to resonate with fans who’ve grown up with the star. In a world where “40 is the new 30,” and women can wear whatever they want, maintain youth thanks to beauty technology and act however they choose with abandon, it solidifies the idea that feminism is multi-faceted and ageless, and that we can be many things at once.
"I can let go of the flower, now my power has returned
I can look back at the past, now I see what I have learned
Try my best to act my age, but the child won't behave
She wants to scream and cry and rage, and who am I to dig her grave?
The teenage years I never lived
The innocence of high school kids
Young romance and endless nights
Of carefree joy and pure delight
Didn't grow up in a normal world
And now I'm just an adult girl"
“I read in a book once that ‘emotion is energy in motion,’ so the energy comes up in your field, you know, your nervous system, and it seeks to be released,” she says. “So what happens when you blunt it down and you're like, I don't want to feel that emotion. It gets stuck in your system and basically loops… it wants to be felt.”
Princess of Power offers permission to process a wide range of emotions, especially for women, so that eventually they can release them like MARINA did. “I think music is magical for that reason,” she says. “I think for all of us, whether we make it or we listen to it, it can transmute energy very effectively.”
With its gentle melody and potent message, “Adult Girl” sort of brings to mind Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For” from the Barbie movie soundtrack. Which isn’t surprising as Eilish has spoken out in a few different interviews about being a big MARINA fan.
As for other contemporaries, her much-speculated relationship with Charli XCX—which some media pushed as a rivalry—seems to be good, especially after MARINA shared positive thoughts on the Brat remix of “Girl So Confusing” on social media last year. The collab, which featured Charli and Lorde not just putting their issues aside but airing them out as a way of healing, was seen by many as the ultimate girl power move. Clearly, coming together and supporting fellow princesses is helping them all rule the world.
Social media continues to play a huge role in exposing pop music to new fans too, but these days it’s less niche-driven and wider than it used to be, with TikTok leading the way. MARINA has seen the social media platform’s reach first hand, with cuts like “Primadonna” and “Are You Satisfied?” finding new audiences recently.
“I was lucky that, just like two years ago, Electra Heart went platinum because of TikTok,” she says. “Like three different songs… and then a bunch of my other ones from my first record. And I didn't have to do a thing.”
“The greatest challenge is really holding your own sense of what you want to do—holding your own compass, because I think what's expected of us online now is to be content creators,” she admits. “There are some artists who can do both effectively, but I think most artists are in one camp or the other. And I think artists who really want to be visionaries, shouldn't focus on content. I think the content is going to be created by your fans anyway.”
Princess of Power tracks that have the potential to join her older hits as online faves include “Hello Kitty,” “Final Boss,” and the title track which opens the record. “I <3 You” and “Cuntissimo” are already gaining traction. Though Marina says she doesn’t think about it when she writes, she is developing “a sense for songs that might do well online.”
During our interview, her mind is more excited by how she’ll be interpreting her new and old material in real life. After lauded performances at Coachella 2025, her 32-date Fall Princess of Power tour—which kicked off in Seattle in September and ends near the end of October with three dates in California—is her focus. She’s inspired to stage an engaging new experience for fans with fabulous fashion, “referencing a cosmic, galactic ‘70s vibe with knee-high glam rock boots, glitter, hot pants… and star makeup that I've been doing recently,” and production conjuring “a video game concept where each song is a new level…it’s like the game of life!”
MARINA continues to play it with passion and enduring pizzazz as she discovers new layers and new kinds of power moving forward. “The one thing that hasn't changed is I've always been very confident in the creativity,” she says. “When I think of my first few records, there was so much tension, anxiety, you know, desire for it to be a certain thing, which is very normal, very natural. But these days I think our music industry has shifted so wildly that you need to let go of the work and let it find its own home.”
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