Pop Princess MARINA Encourages the Human Race to “Purge the Poison”
Written by Cailley Leader
Graphic by Rebekah Witt
It’s been just over three years since our favorite feminist icon MARINA (formerly known as Marina and the Diamonds) released her last album LOVE + FEAR, and after an agonizing wait, she has returned, gifting us a new single entitled “Purge the Poison,” an accompanying video, and a release date for her upcoming album, Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land, set to drop June 11th. “Purge the Poison” is much more upbeat than the album’s first official single “Man’s World,” sung from Mother Nature’s point of view rather than her own. While the first track spoke of her disgust with the patriarchy, “Purge the Poison” covers a broader spectrum of the world’s problems today and is a call to action for humanity.
On the surface, “Purge the Poison'' has everything you could expect from a MARINA track: a catchy, fast-paced beat, dead-pan lyrics regarding our current state of affairs (spoiler alert: it’s not looking good) delivered with a punch, and that infectious, can-do girl-power attitude that we’ve all come to associate with her. However, a deep dive into the track shows a cry for help, a call for humans to take charge and save the Earth before we destroy it. The message of “Man’s World” was a much more direct hit at the patriarchy; “Purge the Poison” seems to address a new issue within the human race in each line. From racism to misogyny, wildfires, or capitalism, MARINA is calling everybody out, and rightfully so.
The music video features MARINA in a variety of glamorous outfits singing along to the track, a mixture of both high definition footage and grittier, lower quality shots, giving off a nostalgic, Fujifilm vibe. Interspersed between clips of MARINA are shots of red gloved hands clapping along to the beat, as well as an edit of a red-lipsticked mouth singing along, reminding me of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I’ll admit: at first, I was a bit disappointed because I felt like there was a huge opportunity to showcase all of the issues she addresses within the song. After a few (five) watches, I thought about her role in the track as Mother Nature, and now I feel like it’s a perfect match to the message of the song: Earth is the star, the one thing we should be focused on right now, and we need to start paying much more attention to it. We are so constantly losing ourselves in the day-to-day that we’re forgetting to take care of the one thing keeping us alive.
The track begins with a strong drum beat that carries on throughout the song and is joined by a crisp guitar riff that blends perfectly behind MARINA’s spitfire lyrics. The first verse sets the scene, introducing Mother Nature and the overall theme of changing damaging human behaviors. “Virus come, fires burn / until human beings learn / From every disaster / you are not my master,” MARINA as Mother Nature sings, evoking a sense of responsibility in listeners to cherish the home we have.
The chorus, a blatant solution to the conglomerate of problems, is accompanied by a series of claps and that same driving drum beat. MARINA’s signature swoopy high notes urge us to obliterate the toxicity from the Earth before it’s too late, and then the chorus repeats in a slower, dream-like fashion, a complete 180° from the powerful punch it has the first time around. The second verse tackles even more huge movements, addressing both #MeToo and #FreeBritney in under thirty seconds. There is a lot of bleakness in this verse, but MARINA is quick to instill hope, “Inside all the love and hate / We can all regenerate / Stop how we’ve been living every single day.”
MARINA chronicles a rebirth in the bridge, asking for a government with more women and arguing that we should be, “Owning female power / Taking back what’s ours.” The chorus repeats, then changes key (I am a firm believer that any track with a key change is a great one), and abruptly ends on a high note (literally) with one final reminder: “It’s your own decision / But your home is now your prison / You forgot that without me, you won’t go far.” The entire track is a very candid analysis of the world at hand, and I love that it ends just as brisk as it began. MARINA took our problems, laid them out in a very neat and frank track, and told us to get busy living, and I couldn’t be more excited for whatever else she has in store for us.
Stream “Purge the Poison” now, and be sure to check out Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land when it drops June 11th!