Or do we mean Electra Heart, apparently?
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[5.12]
Doug Robertson: The problem with creating a alter-ego and releasing music under the guise of a character — other than the fact it’s an incredibly wanky thing to do — is that it makes it very hard to actually judge the actual tracks. This, for example, when viewed through the prism of Electra Heart is an incredibly well realised and nuanced example of the sort of music the persona would release, clichéd and self important, with an inherent vacuity and lack of any real substance. But while these things can be applauded as part of the characterisation, the minute you start treating this as a song in its own right, free from the backstory, those self same criticisms still apply, only this time the only handclap they’re going to get is the slow one.
[5]
Alfred Soto: Not a Ratt cover, unfortunately, and it boasts the feeblest Stargate production ever. Maybe Ne-Yo could have saved this from Marina’s sub-Sarah McLachlan poshness.
[2]
Anthony Easton: I often cannot tell Euro dance apart, but this, this I love — maybe because my Blood is Radioactive reminds me of a Gojiro or Spider-Man — can you imagine a Broadway musical featuring Marina and the Diamonds and the erotic ennui of certain kinds of urbanity, as opposed to the bizarre Orphic nightmare of Bono and Taymor? That would be awesome!
[8]
Brad Shoup: Here, at least, it seems Marina has ceded even the pretense of cleverness. One could tease out the metaphors (I guess losing energy = coldness…) cos what else are you gonna do with a Stargate production this rote? It’s not like I’m a card-carrying Diamond, but even when her songs are dumb as hell, there’s always that cheeky nose-thumbing so prevalent in the goofier tunes of the first New Wave era. Outside of the Ultravoxian opening couplet, there’s little tweaking to be done. Maybe she fights her way back, I dunno.
[4]
Iain Mew: Electropop more polished and pristine sounding than anything on the first album, building up to a powerful breakdown/meltdown. The thing is that the way it has been constructed, especially the frequent iterations of the chorus, doesn’t leave a lot of room for personality. This is magnified by the rote lyrics and ready escape route to character and irony which makes it all the easier to believe that she doesn’t really mean any of it It spares us the worst excesses of a “Hollywood” but prevents it from hitting emotionally like “I Am Not a Robot” or “Obsessions,” and the sounds aren’t great enough to make up for that.
[6]
Edward Okulicz: Marina creates an alter-ego and does a basic pop song with Big Foreign Producer (Stargate), and in the process, is apparently making some satirical point and breaking some big satirical ground. I’m not convinced, because last year’s “Oh No!” — also done with a Big Foreign Producer (Greg Kurstin) — was twice as catchy, funnier, and spotlighted the glorious absurdity of the substance/vapidity continuum that is pop so much better than this. “Radioactive” is too mild to make an impact; even the “big chorus” doesn’t release much energy.
[4]
Ian Mathers: Still oversinging the verses, still writing lyrics that aren’t half as clever as she thinks they are, still capable of mustering a halfway decent chorus. It’s like if Zola Jesus was trying to be a pop star. Must do better.
[5]
Katherine St Asaph: Marina Diamandis cannot win. Her Electra Heart persona is the same thing Bat for Lashes tried for Two Suns with Pearl, plot-point blondeness and all, and it’s getting the same derision from the same people more likely to welcome a concept album by a dude who rocks. Meanwhile, her fanbase, who you’d think would be more accepting, is instead freaking out about the TAINT OF POP as applied by Stargate and contorting itself into “but it’s genre tourism!” supplicant’s poses. And mainstream pop audiences only care about Marina as much as they care about, say, Little Boots, i.e. not at all. As usual, the song gets flung aside when it shouldn’t; it’s a perfectly sweeping Stargate number with a husky alto where the soubrette would go. Marina’s toned down (and autotuned away; cue more freakoutery!) the gobbles in her voice that put some folks off The Family Jewels, which helps her. There is nothing to dislike about “Radioactive,” if not enough to love. All we can hope is that Marina doesn’t denounce the whole idea an album later.
[7]