#1: Marina & The Diamonds

I first heard Mowgli’s Road by Marina & The Diamonds in 2010, and loved the song, but it wasn’t until 2011 that I bought her debut album, The Family Jewels. I should have bought it sooner, but I didn’t realize just how good all the tracks were. Once I purchased the album, I played it over and over again. The tracks are catchy and often tongue-in-cheek, and Marina’s voice is so distinctive, with a husky low register and an exhilarating high register.

My top 6 most played tracks in 2011 were all from The Family Jewels. They are, from #1 to #6: The Outsider, Mowgli’s Road, I Am Not a Robot, Oh No!, Girls, and Guilty. The other seven tracks from the standard US release of the album all placed in my top 24. The album didn’t fare quite as well with other music consumers, though it sold well enough to land on the Billboard 200 for one week, and it hit the #2 spot on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart.

Marina & The Diamonds is a solo act; “The Diamonds” is a reference to her fans, not her backing band. “The Diamonds” is derived from her last name, Diamandis, which is Greek for “Diamonds,” albeit she is Welsh.

For those of you who haven’t heard of Marina & The Diamonds, or haven’t seen her videos, I’m embedding a few of them here; since she’s my top artist of the year, I feel it more than fair to include more than one of her videos in this post. If you like what you see and hear here, check out her other songs, most of which you can find on YouTube.

Oh No! – Marina & The Diamonds

Mowgli’s Road – Marina & The Diamonds

I Am Not A Robot – Marina & The Diamonds

Hollywood – Marina & The Diamonds

Marina has another album in the works, and a new single that has been released already in the UK. It’s not available yet in the US, but there is a video available on YouTube. You can find it and other Marina videos on Marina’s YouTube channel.

Thanks for visiting, and here’s to listening to lots of great music, old and new, in 2012!