The natural assumption when people hear of the band Marina and the Diamonds is to think “the Diamonds” refers to the band playing behind singer/songwriter Marina Diamandis. What they soon learn is the diamonds are actually her fans.
Diamandis will have plenty of diamonds in the crowd when she takes the stage at Lollapalooza 2015 this weekend in Grant Park and enthralls her fans with her unique, slight indie-alternative sound.
Diamandis, 29, was born and raised in Wales by her mother, but has also lived in Greece, where her father lives. She released her debut album, “The Family Jewels,” in 2010 and it debuted at No. 5 on the UK album charts and 138 on the United States Billboard charts.
Diamandis’ sophomore album, “Electra Heart,” was released in 2012 and debuted at number one on the UK album charts. This was the album that brought her in the mainstream in the United States, with the single “How to be a Heartbreaker” being her first single to be released on U.S. radio.
The official music video for “How to be a Heartbreaker,” with its bevy of good-looking, tattooed men in showers, has almost 29 million YouTube views.
Perhaps most importantly for Diamandis, the album also spawned Diamandis’ alter ego, aptly named, Electra Heart.
Each song off the Electra Heart album has a music video that depicts the evolution of the Electra Heart character. The first track, “Fear and Loathing,” shows Diamandis transitioning into the character by cutting her hair.
The fourth music video, “Primadonna,” debuted what would become the signature heart on Diamandis’ cheek, which she wore everywhere she went. Diamandis killed off her character in the video for a track named “Electra Heart,” which was released about just over a year after the album’s release. The video shows her having flashbacks to previous videos and ultimately wiping the famous heart off her cheek.
Diamandis’ latest album, “Froot,” was released in March. She wrote all 12 of the songs and represented the full break from the “Electra Heart” character she portrayed for the greater part of 2012 and 2013.
This weekend Diamandis will finally have the opportunity to perform the new album at Lollapalooza. Diamandis was scheduled to play Lollapalooza Brazil earlier this year, but complications with traveling forced her to cancel.
Although she is only one of the over 140 acts performing at Lollapalooza this weekend she is will be one of the better known artists, on pace with acts such as The Weeknd, Tove Lo, and Florence and the Machine.
Dani Chudler, a Columbia College student and fan of Diamandis, said if tickets weren’t sold out, she’d buy a one-day pass to see both Marina and the Diamonds and Florence and the Machine.
“I have all 3 of Marina’s albums downloaded and I even went to her concert in Detroit in June,” Chudler said.
Lollapalooza has nearly 50 acts playing each day of the festival. Diamandis will play Sunday on the Sprint stage from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.