MARINA, formerly known as Marina and the Diamonds, strutted onto T-Mobile stage to a cacophony of cheers.
The Welsh singer opened with “Venus Fly Trap,” establishing her command of the stage and the audience early on in her performance. Following up with “Froot,” MARINA successfully grabbed the attention of festivalgoers who had gathered around the base of the stage.
Leading into “PRINCESS OF POWER,” MARINA’s floating vocals fit beautifully on top of her signature electropop instrumentals, reminiscent of ’80s pop icon Madonna. The crowd was bopping along to the addictive beat and singing along as MARINA confidently delivered lines about succeeding in face of negativity.
As she warbled “CUPID’S GIRL,” MARINA’s soprano pierced through the background instruments, providing a unique blend of fragile vocals and thick beats. It’s in tracks like these where festivalgoers are able to look past the flashiness of the electro pop and truly recognize MARINA for the musical powerhouse that she truly is.
While MARINA carries herself in a very confident manner, she did not let this stop her from connecting and interacting with the audience. Her first instance of this was during “I Am Not a Robot” — a rather ironic track to humanize her to the audience. “I want to hear you!” MARINA shouted into the audience, and they responded by enthusiastically singing her lyrics back to her.
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“Lollapalooza,” MARINA drawled. “Okay, so I have a question for you. I’m about to play a song that I haven’t played before. It’s called ‘Everybody Knows I’m Sad,’ but here’s the thing: I’ve only ever like practiced it once, so do some people know the lyrics?”
In times like these, the icon became more realistic, attainable and human to the audience, creating a mutual understanding and comfortability. The crowd would respond positively and enthusiastically each time she had these interactions, proving how minor details can elevate a performance to the next level.
To start wrapping up her set, MARINA took the crowd back to the days before her rebrand. As soon as the first chords to “How to Be a Heartbreaker” started to play over the speakers, the crowd went wild, immediately jumping around in sync with the beat.
MARINA then launched into an equally energetic techno-pop, “CUNTISSIMO” which garnered a similar response from the crowd.
Ending in her iconic, female-forward bubblegum pop style, MARINA finished out her Lollapalooza set with “Primadonna Girl,” “I <3 YOU” and last but certainly not least, “Bubblegum Bitch.” This combination of some of her oldest hits and one of her new hits highlighted that while she has changed and gone through a rebrand, at heart she will always be a pop icon.
On top of her naturally engaging music with thumping beats, MARINA utilized the T-Mobile screens in a very engaging fashion with bright visuals painting a bold and chaotic background. Her effortless confidence also added great continuity to her performance, connecting both the powerful lyrics of her songs with the powerful image of her stage presence prowess.
Her Lollapalooza performance proves whether as Marina and the Diamonds or MARINA, she is able to connect with her listeners in her iconic buoyant fashion.
