A Musical Unveiling of Our Flawed World: A deep dive into Marina’s latest album that strays away from her musical norms

Lily Macey

When I think of Marina, like many others, I think of her striking dance pop album Electra Heart. It’s an album filled with bold tracks about being an ultra-confident “it girl”, as well as enchanting ballads about her own position in the music industry.  

That era was a defining moment for Marina. I know when I was in grade school, I dreamed of being a “Primadonna Girl” or a “Heartbreaker”. She made being bad sound so good. Her latest release, Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land, takes a step away from all that glamor. On the surface, it is similar to Electra Heart, with its confident drums and upbeat synths. Yet if you listen closer, the album is a call to action for the world and a reflection of her past as a “Bubblegum Bitch”. 

While Marina usually tackles many global problems with her lyrics, this album confidently holds the world accountable, especially America. Many music fans have claimed that this album isn’t as good as her first two releases, The Family Jewels and Electra Heart, but I don’t think that it matters. Marina’s goal was to spread a message through good music, and she did that. 

Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land is very similar in style to these albums, but it speaks on so much more. The album still contains upbeat drum intros and confident piano chords, like her old music. But its lyrics are what make it more impactful. She mentions the flaws in the way the world treats women; she talks about racism, sexism, heartbreak, acceptance, self-love, climate change, and a plethora of other topics. Past lyrics talk about her bravado and extreme “bad bitch” radiance, but now it’s time to put all the make-believe away and talk about some real problems.  

It’s also time for people to listen. 

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Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land (ADML) begins with a track that shares the album’s title. You can hear the typical heavy drums in the intro, but the lyrics share a more unique message. It talks about everyone’s place in the universe as beings, more than our bodies or our own DNA. To her, everyone means something in the grand scheme of life. She is turning self-confidence onto the audience now by saying, “you don’t have to be like anyone else,” and “you could be lost, but you belong to the world”.  

In her past, Marina has talked about her role as the “it girl” but after her newest album, we are all the “it girls”. This album provides a harsh criticism of society, and she’s encouraging everyone to listen up. As she so eloquently said in track one, “the walls are being broken, and we’re ready for change.”  

So, listen up. 

As the album progresses, we get tracks like Purge the Poison and Man’s World. Both songs are fierce barks at the way women are treated in the music industry, and in life. Marina remarked in an interview in Vogue Magazine about a lyric inspired by Britney Spears in Purge the Poison: “It’s very clear that she was having a nervous breakdown, and the only response people should have had is compassion. But it was pretty much the opposite”. The lyric reads, “Britney shaved her head and all we did was call her crazed”.  

Women and femininity have been seen as weak things throughout history, but in her track Man’s World, she expresses that we as women shouldn’t get punished for not being men. When women are faced with hardships, a lot of the time we are met with unseriousness. Marina is attesting to this in both tracks: “I just want a world where I can see the feminine” (Purge the Poison).  

Once again, listen up. 

The cultural significance of this album is really shown in the track New America. As a non-American resident, this struck fans in a very odd way at first. But, in her interview with Vogue Magazine, she cleared the air: “I’m not American, and I haven’t lived my whole life here... But America has been this empire—it’s like the world’s superpower—and we all have looked to America for how to progress and evolve”. She then continues to talk about how she wrote it shortly after George Floyd’s murder. She felt like enough was enough and transitioned her thoughts into music.  

New America speaks on the ugly side of America that has been historically suppressed. This song calls out the “stealing white man”. Lyrics in this track also speak on the significance people of color have in American history: “They killed off the natives,” and “Who gave you jazz, hip hop, rock and roll, and the blues?” are some examples. This is their America too and the “New America” should include them in it.  

Are you listening now? 

As the album wraps up, three specific tracks, Pandora’s Box, I Love You but I Love Me More (ILYBILMM), and Flowers, stray from the usual upbeat synths and heavy instrumentation that have been carrying these strong lyrics. These tracks stand out because they tap into vulnerable feelings related to a recent break up Marina had.  

In her lyrics, she speaks about how she loves this person and the person she was when they were together, but to truly grow and free herself from pain, she must say goodbye to her old self and the relationship: “Do you expect me to believe that you’ve changed when I see that you’re exactly the same?” (ILYBILMM). She is deciding to choose herself instead of them: “I’ve been choosing your heart over mine” (ILYBILMM).  

Marina also took my breath away with her last track, Goodbye. Its gentle piano intro matches the ballads listed before, but there’s something unique and raw about this track. She is acknowledging her past self—who she was when she wrote Electra Heart—and saying farewell to that girl, along with her lover. It’s the perfect ending to a bold and fierce album.  

Happy to see you’re listening now. 

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Vulnerable and sharp: that is who Marina is, that is who she’s always been. To say that this album doesn’t live up to her first two releases would be not giving her credit for the changes she has made to fit the new message that people want to hear. It’s not 2012 anymore; upbeat club pop music written about nothing isn’t what I think the world wants to hear.  

Marina changed with the times but kept her authenticity. This album still has the upbeat dance pop we have all learned to love and enjoy from Marina, but it tells a different story: a story of a broken world that we can fix, and one of finding our place and meaning as humans. This album is more than just an enjoyable listening experience, it is a message for people to listen to. People can hear the music without listening, but I encourage you to pay closer attention, you may be surprised at what you discover.  

Thank you for listening.