Marina and The Diamonds
Froot
ATLANTIC
4/10
If Marina and The Diamonds’ 2012 Electra Heart was an delicious tart, then Froot is a simple red apple begging to be picked. Marina Diamandis’s third full-length still delivers a sugar rush, but without the same satisfying sweetness. Unfortunately, it’s that frilly tart slice that Marina fans are craving, and Froot simply doesn’t taste quite the same. Diamandis’s trademark effervescence seems to have waned—gone is the girl with the cheeky heart-shaped beauty mark and buckets of sass. That’s not to say that a pop singer can’t evolve or explore deeper emotional valleys, it’s that in this instance it’s just not as immediately enrapturing as earlier hits like “Primadonna” or “How To Be a Heartbreaker.” With the exception of the sumptuous first, title track single and the fierce “Savages,” this LP’s songs don’t ignite a sense of longing for repeated plays—Diamandis’s powerful voice is all that keeps them from rotting on the vine.
