Love + Fear

After concluding the Neon Nature Tour in promotion of her third studio album Froot (2015), Marina began writing sessions in Los Angeles for her next record, despite initially dismissing the idea of making a follow-up. In June 2016, she told Fuse that she had begun writing new material for upcoming songs. However, the sessions were cancelled because of her plans to retire from music, in search of new creative inspiration. In another interview, she elaborated that following nearly a decade of work, she had started to feel that too much of her sense of self was tied to her artistic identity, which led her to temporarily step back from music and focus on reconnecting with herself. Marina cited her struggles with depression and stress due the loss of her aunt and her grandmother during promotion for Froot as the main reasons of her near retirement. She also experienced writer's block, which led her to take acting classes. However, Marina left those classes and enrolled at the University of London where she studied psychology for six months. She described the experience as a way to explore another passion and "feel like a human being again", noting that her long-term obsession with being an artist since the age of 15 had consumed much of her life. it was released as a single in June 2017 and she performed it with them at Glastonbury. When Marina thought in May 2018 that the album was already finished, she wrote several songs in a trip to Sweden. To mark a new stage in her career, Marina announced via Twitter in 2018 that she would be dropping her "and the Diamonds" moniker to release music as "Marina" (stylised in all caps), explaining that "It took me well over a year to figure out that a lot of my identity was tied up in who I was as an artist... and there wasn't much left of who I was." She later elaborated that returning to songwriting felt deeply personal, saying that it was as if "something had cleared" within her. Marina explained that continuing under the name "Marina and the Diamonds" felt like constructing an artificial idea of herself, adding that she no longer wanted to be "locked behind a persona" or tied to the pop star concept of a tightly defined "era". Instead, she emphasised a desire to feel "more human", stating that there was "no concept other than love and fear." In November 2018, a second collaboration with Clean Bandit and Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi, "Baby", was released, peaking at number 15 in the UK. It was revealed that the song would also be included on the album. In July 2018, Marina said she was going to Los Angeles to finish the production of Love + Fear. The album was mixed and finished in December 2018. In an interview in June 2019, the singer spoke about the conception of the title and stated: Marina collaborated with several songwriters and producers during the album's production, most of them with close ages to the singer, unlike in her second studio album Electra Heart (2012), where most collaborators were older than her. ==Music and lyrics==

Love + Fear has been described as a subdued, pop, and electropop record. Marina described the album as a "contemporary pop record". Marina described the songwriting in the album to be more honest and direct in comparison to her previous works. Love + Fear is a double album that is split into two eight-track collections (Love and Fear), with each collection exploring psychologist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' theory that humans are only capable of experiencing the nominal two emotions: love and fear. According to a statement, Love was said to deal with a "longing to enjoy life", while Fear would address themes of gender inequality, insecurity, and the desire to understand one's purpose. Marina elaborated on this, quoting Kübler-Ross: "There are only two emotions: Love and Fear. All positive emotions come from love, all negative emotions from fear. We cannot feel these two emotions together, at exactly the same time. They're opposites." Songs Love + Fear opens with "Handmade Heaven", which was described as a musical departure from "the bubblegum pop excess and cheekiness" of Marina's first three albums. Lyrically, the song refers to her admiration of nature and the outdoors. In a track-by-track interview for Love + Fear with Apple Music, she revealed that climate change served as a main source of inspiration for the track. "Superstar" is a synth-pop and electro track that was compared to the sound of Marina's second studio album Electra Heart (2012). Lake Schatz from Consequence described her vocals on the track as "almost operatic" and noted the understated presence of a piano. The singer referred to "Superstar" as a "true love song" that "celebrates the hard work that goes into a good relationship". "Orange Trees" uses vivid imagery and serves as "an ode to the beauty of Earth's natural wonders". According to Marina, the song is about the island city of Lefkada in Greece, where her family originated from. Regarding "Karma", she stated that the song's lyrical content was subconsciously inspired by the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse cases and the consequential viral response that came with the Me Too movement. Marina said that the initial idea for the song's subject matter came from a discussion she previously had with her producers regarding various "music industry individuals that were falling from grace." Brittany Spanos from Rolling Stone felt like Marina was describing misogyny in the lyrics, which she noted as a common theme explored on the Fear portion of the album. Love + Fear closes with "Soft to be Strong", a piano ballad where the singer seeks kindness as a strength; Kate Solomon of The Independent found the track to be "a worthy message to close an album that probes metallic emotions and deep, universal insecurities." ==Release and promotion==

On 31 January 2019, Marina teased the album by posting a picture on social media with the caption "8 Days". A day after, she revealed in an interview the new album would come out some time in early 2019. A few weeks before the album's release, Marina premiered the song along with its accompanying music video, but cautioned fans not to view it as representative of the overall sound or tone of the record. The album and two cover artworks were announced through her Instagram on 14 February, with Diamandis revealing it comprised "two 8-track collections that form a set". On 4 April, Diamandis released the album's first half, Love, as a surprise. On 4 September, she performed the single "Karma" on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. All singles released prior to "Karma" were part of the album's first half, Love. Singles "Handmade Heaven" was released as the lead single on digital platforms on 8 February 2019. A music video for the track directed by Sophie Muller was released concurrently with the song. On 1 March, "Superstar" was released as the second single. Its lyric video was released on the same day, featuring an upside-down Marina partially submerged in a clear pool of water as the lyrics appear across the screen. The third single, "Orange Trees", was released on 22 March, alongside the music video. It was shot in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and directed by Muller. "To Be Human" is the fourth single from the album, which was released on 8 April with the release of its music video. The fifth and last single, "Karma", was released on 29 August. Tour The Love + Fear Tour was a concert tour in support of the album, running from 29 April to 18 November 2019, which began in Newcastle, United Kingdom, and included stops in cities such as Glasgow, London, Birmingham, and Manchester. The North American leg commenced in September 2019, featuring performances in Toronto, Montréal, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and other major cities across the United States and Canada. Supporting acts of the tour were Daya, Broods and Allie X. During the summer of 2019, Marina also appeared at several major European festivals, including Open'er Festival in Poland, Roskilde Festival in Denmark, Ruisrock Festival in Finland, Mad Cool Festival in Spain, NOS Alive in Portugal, Benicàssim Festival in Spain, and Latitude Festival in the United Kingdom. ==Critical reception==

Love + Fear received generally mixed reviews from contemporary music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 62 based on eight reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews". In December 2019, The Irish Timess Louise Bruton listed "Soft to Be Strong" among the Best International Songs of 2019. ==Commercial performance==

Love + Fear debuted at number five on the UK Albums Chart, becoming Diamandis' fourth consecutive top-ten album. The album also entered the top ten in Scotland, where it peaked at number four. number 28 on the Billboard 200 in the United States, number 31 in New Zealand, and number 32 in Canada. It also reached number 84 in Belgium's Wallonia region, number 90 in Slovakia, and number 136 in France. ==Track listing==

Notes • The CD version of the album includes a version of "Baby" (3:42) with a guitar intro before Luis Fonsi's opening lines. • The vinyl version of the album includes a version of "Baby" (3:41) which only features Marina and includes a guitar intro. • "Emotional Machine" features uncredited vocals by Broods. ==Personnel==

Credits were adapted from the liner notes Recording locations • Golden Age; Los Angeles (1, 2, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16) • Westlake Studios; Los Angeles (4) • Comic Sands; Los Angeles (8, 15) • Harmony Studios; Los Angeles (13, 14) • Wolf Cousins Studios; Stockholm (3, 5, 6, 9) • Club Ralph; London (4, 12) • Metropolis Studios; London (4) • RAK Studios; London (4) Love Musicians • Marina – lead vocals (1–3, 5–8), featured vocals (4), backing vocals (3, 5, 6) • Clean Bandit – lead artist (4) • Luis Fonsi – featured vocals (4) • Joel Little – keyboards (1, 7), drum programming (1, 7), percussion (1, 7), synthesizer (1, 7) • Captain Cuts – keyboards (2), programming (2) • Sam de Jong – keyboards (2), programming (2) • Oscar Görres – keyboards (3, 5, 6), programming (3, 5, 6), percussion (3, 5, 6), guitar (5, 6), bass (5) • Jack Patterson – keyboards (4), guitar (4) • Oscar Holter – keyboards (5), programming (5), percussion (5), guitar (5), bass (5) • James Flannigan – keyboards (8), programming (8), percussion (8), drums (8), violin (8) • Luke Patterson – piano (4), percussion (4), additional drums (4), trumpet (4) • Dan Grech-Marguerat – programming (5, 6, 8), additional programming (1) • Erik Hassle – guitar (3) • Mark Ralph – guitar (4) • Nakajin – acoustic guitar (4) • Grace Chatto – bass (4) Technical • Joel Little – engineering (1, 7) • Sam de Jong – engineering (2) • Alex Robinson – engineering (4) • Jack Patterson – engineering (4) • Mike Horner – engineering (4) • Ray Charles Brown Jr – engineering (4) • Ross Fortune – engineering (4) • Tom AD Fuller – engineering (4) • James Flannigan – engineering (8) • Greg Eliason – assistant engineering (4) • Dan Grech-Marguerat – mixing (1, 5, 6, 8) • Serban Ghenea – mixing (2, 3) • Jack Patterson – mixing (4) • Mark Ralph – mixing (4) • Geoff Swan – mixing (7) • John Hanes – mix engineering (3), assistant mix engineering (2) • Niko Batistini – assistant mix engineering (7) • Dave Kutch – mastering (1–3, 5–8) • Matt Deutchman – coordinating (8) Fear Musicians • Marina – lead vocals (1–8), backing vocals (1) • Joel Little – drum programming (2), keyboards (2), percussion (2), synthesizer (2) • Oscar Görres – backing vocals (1), keyboards (1), percussion (1), programming (1), ukulele (1) • Sam de Jong – keyboards (3, 5, 6, 8), programming (3, 5, 6, 8), guitar (6, 8), bass (8), drums (8) • Mark Ralph – guitar (4), mandolin (4), ukulele (4) • Caleb Nott – bass (5), percussion (5) • Dan Grech-Marguerat – programming (5, 6, 8), additional programming (7) • Georgia Nott – piano (5) • Alex Hope – drum programming (7), keyboards (7), percussion (7), piano (7), programming (7) • James Flannigan – keyboards (7), percussion (7), piano (7), programming (7) Technical • Dave Kutch – masterering (1–8) • Joel Little – engineering (2) • Niko Batistini – assistant mix engineering (1–3) • Geoff Swan – mixing (1–3) • Mark Ralph – mixing (4) • Sam de Jong – engineering (5, 6, 8) • Jack Patterson – mixing (4) • Ross Fortune – assistant mix engineering (4) • Tom AD Fuller – assistant mix engineering (4) • Dan Grech-Marguerat – mixing (5–8) • Matt Deuthman – coordinating (7) • James Flannigan – engineering (7) ==Charts==