The year before the New World Order that would commence whether anyone wanted it or not, MARINA released an album called Love + Fear, separated into two “discs” by the themes addressed. The lead single, “Handmade Heaven,” would appear on the Love side of things, and speak of MARINA’s reverence for the majesty and simplicity of nature. Based on Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ (and that teacher from Donnie Darko) philosophy of how human emotions are processed, MARINA’s depictions of existence ran the gamut. But all the songs ultimately proffered that, whether you were reacting from a place of love or fear, this was a beautiful world—if only we could see it/allow it to be.
With “Purge the Poison,” her second single from what will be her fifth record, Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land, MARINA is less tonally “flowery” about the subject of Gaia and being at one with Her, but she still believes we can turn our dire situation around behind the veneer of vexation. Even if our ingrate asses don’t really deserve it based on the centuries of unchanging behavior. Channeling some Lana Del Rey-esque lyrics (a fellow “witch” in Hollywood), MARINA opens the song with, “All my friends are witches and we live in Hollywood/Mystical bitches making our own sisterhood/While society is falling, we are quietly reforming/Protecting the planet, healing our own damage.”
MARINA’s ardor for Los Angeles has always been present (evidenced by a single from her first record, “Hollywood”), but, of late, it seems that affinity has reached a new peak. Which is why she feels obliged to address its ample history in song form. For “Man’s World,” it was remarking upon Marilyn Monroe and the Beverly Hills Hotel, while “Purge the Poison” takes on the Hollywood history of Harvey Weinstein and Britney Spears via the lyrics, “2007 when size zero was the rage/Britney shaved her head and all we did was call her crazed/Harvey Weinstein’s gone to jail/“Me Too” went on to unveil/Truth and all its glory/The ending of a story.”
MARINA’s homage to Hollywood persists throughout the accompanying music video as well, with Dorothy’s ruby red slippers a constant image throughout. A talisman demarcating that Mother Nature is our only true home (for yes, “There’s no place like home”) and, speaking from Earth’s perspective, MARINA reminds, “Need to purge the poison from my system/Until human beings listen/Tell me, ‘Who do you think you are?’/It’s your own decision/But your home is not your prison/You forgot that, without me, you won’t go far.” This is how MARINA accounts for all of the chaos that has become more pronounced these past few years, taking it as a warning that, if continually unheeded, will quite literally blow up in humanity’s face.
While the video possesses a late 80s meets early 90s aesthetic (complete with the free-floating mouth and VHS flourishes), the ruby red slippers throughout harken back to the days of Old Hollywood, along with the clapping hands bedecked in red leather gloves (one would like to imagine it’s the ghost of Judy Garland applauding MARINA’s rallying battle cry for women). And what Hollywood homage would be complete without swimming in a pool (a symbol of rebirth, to be sure)? Something MARINA also wields in the “Superstar” video. Here, too, she shows Dorothy’s legs flailing in the water, as though to indicate she’ll soon be able to float to the surface and stop being suffocated (by the patriarchy, obviously).
After all, as MARINA declares, “It’s a new world order, everything just falls away/Our life as we knew it now belongs to yesterday/Inside all the love and hate we can now regenerate/It’s all that we believe in every single day.” And the thing is, even those who would like to pretend normal is just around the corner, existence can never be what it was. The time of blithely going through life and sweeping problems under the rug can’t endure if we, as a civilization, want to continue to. Because no, Mother Nature doesn’t like us that much to keep sacrificing what’s left of herself.
And in the wake of this pandemic, MARINA—and so many others—have determined, “Need to purge the poison, show us our humanity/All the bad and good, racism and misogyny/Nothing’s hidden anymore, capitalism made us poor.” And yes, you can be poor in more ways than just financially, for MARINA is also referring to the spiritual poverty that plagues this Earth, and particularly America. The question is, will enough listeners take MARINA’s message to heart in time? Let us hope so. In the interim, Earth needs all the MARINA-like advocates she can get.
