Line #178 Music/ElectraHeart


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2	%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExamples have been commented out. Please do not uncomment without explaining how they fit the trope.
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5	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/electra_heart.jpg]]
6	[[caption-width-right:350:''Wear your heart on your cheek, but never on your sleeve.'']]
7
8	->''"I saw that album more as a musical; a sort of flamboyant, tongue-in-cheek, dark pop record, a pop opera, and humour was a very big component of it."''
9	-->-- '''Marina Diamandis''' on ''Electra Heart'', via ''[[https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/straight-shooting-star-welsh-greek-singer-marina-diamandis-on-breaking-back-in-1.2136793 Irish Times]]''
10
11	''Electra Heart'' (2012) is the second studio album by Welsh SingerSongwriter Music/MarinaDiamandis (then known by the StageName of Marina and the Diamonds). It was released on April 27, 2012, by 679 Artists and Atlantic Records.
12
13	A ConceptAlbum highly cinematic in tone and presentation (with Marina's official Website/YouTube channel releasing eleven short film clips for the album), it consists of electropop and dance-pop music, a distinct departure from her earlier projects. Lyrically, the album discusses topics of love and identity. Diamandis created the title character "Electra Heart" to represent female archetypes in popular American culture -- the {{Housewife}}, the [[LovableAlphaBitch Beauty Queen]], the [[SerialHomewrecker Homewrecker]], and the [[DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife Idle Teen]].
14	----
15	!!Tracklist:
16	# "Bubblegum Bitch" (2:34)
17	# "Primadonna" (3:41)
18	# "Lies" (3:46)
19	# "Homewrecker" (3:22)
20	# "Starring Role" (3:27)
21	# "The State of Dreaming" (3:36)
22	# "Power & Control" (3:46)
23	# "Living Dead" (4:04)
24	# "Teen Idle" (4:14)
25	# "Valley of the Dolls" (4:13)
26	# "Hypocrates" (4:01)
27	# "Fear and Loathing" (6:07)
28	!!!Deluxe Edition Bonus Tracks:
29	[numlist:13]
30	# "Radioactive" (3:47)
31	# "Sex Yeah" (3:46)
32	# "Lonely Hearts Club" (3:01)
33	# "Buy the Stars" (4:47)
34	[/numlist]
35
36	!!!iTunes Deluxe Video Edition Bonus Track:
37	[numlist:17]
38	# "How to Be a Heartbreaker" (3:41)
39	[/numlist]
40	----
41	!!''Electra Heart'' provides examples of:
42
43	[[foldercontrol]]
44
45	[[folder:Miscellaneous]]
46
47	* AlterEgoActing: One of the major themes of "Electra Heart" is the Archetypes: [[{{Housewife}} Su-Barbie-A]], Homewrecker, [[ThePrimadonna Primadonna]], and [[BrokenBird Teen Idle]]. Marina assumes these personas throughout the album as she explore the negative aspects of each. The last track, "Fear and Loathing", discusses the trope the most, with lines like, "Got different people inside my head / I wonder which one that they like best."
48	* AmbitionIsEvil: [[invoked]]Main/WordOfGod says that "Electra" is her meditation on the negative effects of fame and fortune.
49	* {{Camp}}: As Marina herself has described the record, it's very flamboyant.
50	* ConceptAlbum: ''Electra Heart'' is about [[SplitPersonality different facets of the female psyche]], told through the perspective of a lonely young woman (who is clearly [[BrokenBird seriously mentally ill and suicidal]]).
51	* DownerEnding: Electra Heart is DrivenToSuicide.
52	* {{Eagleland}}: Commentary on archetypal ideas of women in the USA.
53	* {{Housewife}}: The so-named Housewife character. ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin and then some.
54	* IronicName: Electra ''Heart'' is a heartless bitch.
55	* MeaningfulName: Her name is ''UsefulNotes/{{Electra\|Complex}}'' Heart. A CentralTheme of the album is female core identity and archetypes.
56	* TheMuse: Music/BritneySpears inspired the Electra Heart project.
57	* RichBitch: Embraced in ''Electra Heart''.
58	--->"Electra Heart is based on the assumption that girls who are massive bitches rarely get hurt in love."
59	* VillainProtagonist: The titular character of ''Electra Heart'' is a self-admitted AlphaBitch, Homewrecker, Primadonna, Heartbreaker, and in general a very unpleasant and cold person who gets what she wants out of people (love, sex, attention, and material things) and doesn't care about the repercussions.
60	* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Her British accent is still quite prominent across the album's tracks, and it's never clear where exactly in the USA any of her characters are meant to hail from.
61	* WomanScorned: Most of ''Electra Heart'', as she has mentioned in a few interviews that one of the main themes is rejection.
62
63	[[/folder]]
64
65	[[folder:Tropes that apply to the music videos or short films]]
66
67	* TheCasanova: Main/GenderInvertedTrope in "How To Be a Heartbreaker," per the title, of course.
68	* ThreeMinutesOfWrithing: {{Parodied\|Trope}}/Main/GenderInvertedTrope with the video for "How to Be a Heartbreaker". It's common to see music videos featuring a clothed male artist and scantily clad female dancers, but this video surrounds a clothed Marina with men in Speedos.
69
70	[[/folder]]
71
72	[[folder:Tropes that apply to the songs]]
73	* AlbumTitleDrop:
74	** In "Bubblegum Bitch":
75	--->Welcome to the life of ''Electra Heart''!
76	** In the music video series interlude "The Archetypes":
77	--->''Electra Heart'', are you faux-real?
78	** Lastly, in the send-off song and video released to mark the end of the era:
79	--->I'm Electra, I'm Electra Heart.
80	* AllTakeAndNoGive: Electra Heart is the taker.
81	** "Primadonna":
82	--->When you give, I want more, more, more
83	** "Bubblegum Bitch" is even worse:
84	--->I'll chew you up and I'll spit you out\
85	'Cause that's what young love is all about
86	* AntiLoveSong: "Radioactive."
87	-->Love is all I fear\
88	Ready to be let down\
89	Now I'm heading for a meltdown
90	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: "Teen Idle" has this line: "I want blood, guts, and ''chocolate cake''." It is changed to "angel cake" later in the song, but the trope still stands.
91	* BadassBoast: "Bubblegum Bitch."
92	-->I'll chew you up and I'll spit you out\
93	'Cause that's what young love is all about\
94	So pull me closer and kiss me hard\
95	I'm gonna pop your bubblegum heart.
96	* BreakUpSong: "Lies" and "Homewrecker."
97	* TheCasanova: Female version in both "Homewrecker" and "How To Be A Heartbreaker".
98	* DarkReprise: The songs on ''Electra Heart'' aren't very lyrically upbeat to begin with, but the acoustic versions could be considered the DarkReprise of the original ones. "Lies" is the best example of this, as the more upbeat pop version can be considered a kind of 'moving on' song, while the acoustic version sounds like hurt, bitterness, and ongoing agony.
99	* DyingAlone: Feared in "Teen Idle": "Oh God, I'm gonna die alone." [[DrivenToSuicide Tragically a self-fulfilling prophecy by the final act.]]
100	* EvilIsEasy: "Homewrecker":
101	-->The good are never easy, the easy never good.
102	* ForTheEvulz: "Homewrecker":
103	-->They call me homewrecker, homewrecker, I broke a million hearts [[ItAmusedMe just for fun]]...
104	%%* FriendsWithBenefits: "Lies" and "Starring Role." The former is [[AmbiguousSituation arguable]], as it's told from the Housewife's perspective.
105	* {{Hypocrite}}: The subject of "Hypocrates".
106	-->I know you only want to own me\
107	And that’s the kind of love you show me\
108	You tell me one thing and do another\
109	Keep all your secrets undercover.
110	%%* InsultBackfire: "Homewrecker."
111	* LoveMartyr:
112	** "Lies":
113	--->I don't want to admit that we're not gonna fit\
114	No, I'm not the type that you like, why don't we just pretend?
115	** "Starring Role":
116	--->You don't love me\
117	Big fucking deal\
118	I'll never tell you how I feel...
119	* LyricalDissonance: Any of the more uptempo tracks ("Bubblegum Bitch", "Primadonna", "How to Be a Heartbreaker", "Radioactive") are lighter in music while hosting dark, ironic lyrics. "Living Dead" is a song about feeling dead inside, and the instrumental sounds like something you can dance to.
120	* MadonnaWhoreComplex: Discussed in "Teen Idle". ''I wanna be a virgin pure, 21st century whore...''
121	-->It's like a formula that no one can refuse. I remember seeing an interview with Madonna in the '80s and she was talking about how everyone is so attracted to the whole virgin/whore complex. And that is exactly Britney -- she mixed those elements so perfectly.
122	* MadnessMantra: "Lights, they blind me" has become the defining phrase of the Electra Heart era, the last video of which has Electra repeating the phrase over and over to herself until it's the last thing she says. Taken up to eleven on the horror scale when you realise she's essentially dying by this point.
123	* {{Narcissist}}: "Teen Idle."
124	-->I wish I wasn't such a narcissist\
125	I wish I didn't really kiss\
126	The mirror when I'm on my own
127	* NeverBeHurtAgain: "How to Be a Heartbreaker" has these dour lines:
128	-->Girls, we do whatever it will take\
129	'Cause girls don't want, we don't want our hearts to break\
130	In two, so it's better to be fake\
131	Can't risk losing in love again, babe
132	* NeverMyFault:
133	** "Primadonna."
134	--->You say that I'm kinda difficult\
135	But it's always someone else's fault
136	** The subject of "Lies."
137	--->You're too proud to say that you've made a mistake\
138	You're a coward 'til the end
139	* NewSoundAlbum: A much more mainstream sound than ''The Family Jewels.''
140	* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: Su-Barbie-A threatens to stick her head in the oven, as Creator/SylviaPlath eventually wound up doing. Plath also talked about the Electra complex.
141	* NonAppearingTitle: "Hypocrates".
142	* ObsessionSong: "Radioactive" is mostly passive as she says she's "heading for a meltdown" because of her feelings, but there is a couple of aggressive lines thrown in as well ("I'm gonna leave you drowning until you reach for my hand").
143	* PlayingTheVictimCard: "Hypocrates".
144	-->Yeah you played the martyr for so long\
145	That you can’t do anything wrong
146	%%* PunBasedTitle: In abundance.
147	* PrecisionFStrike:
148	** "Starring Role."
149	--->You don't love me, big fucking deal\
150	I'll never tell you how I feel
151	** "E.V.O.L"
152	--->It only takes two lonely people\
153	To fuck love up and make it evil\
154	It only takes a drop of evil\
155	To fuck up two beautiful people
156	* RecapEpisode: The music video for "Electra Heart", the final part of the music video series for the eponymous album. It also symbolizes [[MyLifeFlashedBeforeMyEyes how Electra's life went by]] before "dying" as Marina ended promotion at the same time for the album with a tweet saying "Goodbye, Electra Heart!".
157	* RockStarSong: "Teen Idle," "Primadonna," etc.
158	* SelfBackingVocalist: She harmonizes with herself in "Starring Role" and "Valley of the Dolls".
159	* SerialHomewrecker: The song "Homewrecker" is from the perspective of a woman who jets between relationships, breaking up her lovers' marriages in the process, before moving on to the next one and leaving the previous lover brokenhearted. She herself is a BrokenBird who doesn't think she'll ever find happiness in love.
160	* ShoutOut:
161	** "Dear Diary" and "Soda Pop" by Music/BritneySpears get a shout out in "Bubblegum Bitch".
162	** In E.V.O.L, Marina mentions [[Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet her Romeo]] -- and how she wants to be a [[Music/{{INXS}} suicide blonde]].
163	* SplitPersonality: A major theme on ''Electra Heart'', especially:
164	** "Fear and Loathing":
165	--->I've lived a lot of different lives, been different people many times...\
166	Got different people inside my head, I wonder which one they like best...
167	** "Valley of the Dolls":
168	--->Living with identities that do not belong to me...\
169	Pick a personality for free
170	* SpoiledBrat: The lyrics in "Primadonna" sound like as if it where based off the thoughts of a BrattyTeenageDaughter with lots of cash and ''way too much'' popularity.
171	%%* SpokenWordInMusic: The verses in "Homewrecker".
172	* StepfordSmiler: "Starring Role" ("You don't love me, big fucking deal / I'll never tell you how I feel"), "Lies" ("I just want it to be perfect / To believe it's all been worth the fight")... much of the album deals with repressing sadness in favor of a cushy suburban or glamorous, picture-perfect lifestyle. Fittingly, one of the Archetypes is the classic unhappy, buttoned-up '50s housewife.
173	* TakeThat: "Sex Yeah" criticizes how women tend to be oversexualised by history and the media, and how it impedes women from embracing their sexuality as they want to.
174	* UnusualEuphemism: "Homewrecker" describes men's genitalia as "their six-inch rockets."
175	%%* VillainSong: Several songs, particularly "Bubblegum Bitch," "Homewrecker" and "Radioactive."
176	%%* {{Yandere}}: Of the possessive kind in "Starring Role."
177	[[/folder]]
178	----
179	->''I’m Electra, I’m Electra Heart\
180	Only living, living in the dark\
181	Lights, they blind me...''

Context Music / ElectraHeart