When Marina Diamandis released her 2010 record
The Family Jewels in 2010, she was riding the wave awash with countless female contemporaries. Fast-forward to 2011 and you can't move for a female singer-songwriter puveying their own brand of catchy pop hits.
The challenge then, is for Marina to prove she deserves her place amongst this premier league of songstresses. And with one listen to new single
Radioactive, a first-class shot of sparkly dance-pop, it's plain to see she does.
Tapping into the Euro-Dance influences that seem to have seeped into the consciousness of so many fellow hitmakers this year (J-Lo, The Wanted etc.), the Marina that surfaces on
Radioactive is a very different one than the quirky individual of I Am Not A Robot.
Her voice remains as hauntingly ethereal as ever, but now it posesses a drive, a passion, a force that comes from being strapped to a dizzyingly good synth-heavy beat.
'My heart is nuclear, love is all I feel' she sings in the track's chorus as she 'heads for a meltdown' - it's that same brand of apocalyptic, end of the world pop that mega-star Rihanna has sent her career to stratospheric heights with. Tying the two singers together - production whizzes Stargate. These guys are everywhere at the moment, and going by
Radioactive, their creativity is far from spent.
Marina herself tells of how
Radioactive was inspired by New York's nightlife, the 'fizzing white energy' of the dancefloor - indeed, everything about the song and what it promises is more adventurous and wide-reaching than her previous material.
In her new transatlantic incarnation, Marina has hit upon a goldmine of pop magic - and in doing so, quite possibly nabbed her first UK Number One.
Radioactive is released on the 3rd October.
