Music Video: "Needles and Pins (I'm Not Alright)" - Marina and the Diamonds
Despite it's premiere due exactly one day from now, the video from the brand new single, "Needles and Pins (I'm Not Alright)" (Directed by Jonas Åkerlund) has been aired on
E! while the singer is in Somalia with her producer and supposed boyfriend, Łukasz Gottwald (Known better as Dr. Luke). Whether this was a mistake on
E!'s part or if a change in plans was made, we might not know, but we do know that the video was beyond amazing. It has also been confirmed by Åkerlund that there is a second edit of the video that was "too graphic for TV".
"The video opens up to a woman (Marina) lying in bed, crying her eyes out on her pillow. She moves her chest and shoulders heavily as she cries, as if purposely being overdramatic. There's absolutely no color in the room except for strange, red spots on her white dress, implying blood. The red spots are glittery, as if there's glitter mixed in with it.
Once the song actually starts, there's a very brief flash to Marina in a pink and white gingham dress on a highway overpass. She glances at the camera with a smirk, then looks down at the highway.
It cuts to Marina at an extremely long, gothic dinner table in a dark room as the first verse begins. There's nothing that can be seen except for Marina at the table wearing absolutely nothing but a black silk cloak that barely covers her important parts, and a few flames in the background. There's plenty of things on the long table, including extravagant candelabras with green flames, turkey feasts with glass shards stabbed into them, and just barely in sight, a feminine hand with blue nail polish on a platter in the corner. Marina's plate appears to be empty, but a closer view shows that there are countless, small diamonds all over the plate. She takes a spoon and begins to eat the diamonds, chewing slowly on them. Every now and then in the verse, it cuts from this Hellish dinner to Marina in a tight, leather, knee-length dress walking towards a tree in the night with a large amount of pearl necklaces on her wrist; she swings the pearls around on her wrist as she walks to the tree.
In the pre-chorus, she is seen in a room that is completely made of mirrored walls. She wears skimpy white dress and tall Stilettos, but there's something off about the room, as in, her reflection is not shown in any of the mirrors. She spins around in the room, looking up, as if confused by everything. There's also a shot of a man (Played by James Van Der Beek) and a mysterious, brunette girl (Jillian Murray) goofing around in a park as Marina watches from behind a tree.
When the chorus begins, she sits on the railing of a bridge above a rushing river, barefoot and in a blue checkered gown. She kicks her feet back and forth. There's also no color here, except for her gown and her tears as she cries, which are all a light blue. There's the man from earlier standing behind her, and he looks conflicted, as if he doesn't know what to do about Marina on the bridge. During the second half of the chorus, she is seen lunging at the woman from earlier with a glimmering piece of glass in her hand. The woman fights off Marina, but Marina is able to hold the woman down; Marina brings down the glass to the woman's stomach, but we cut to a different shot before anything happens.
In the second verse, we see Marina stripped, wearing nothing but black underwear. She's in a nondescript room, and everything is grey. She starts running across the screen, but she can't seem to move from her spot, as if she's stuck in her place. From the other side of the screen, there's a flock of ravens that flap in slow motion towards Marina; their eyes are a bright red. Around halfway through the verse, there's an unexpected WUB, and during the brief moment of it, we get a glimpse of Marina with white skin, black eyes, and flaming hair. There's another shot of Marina on the overpass, in color; she spins around a few times on the overpass, then begins to climb on top of the railing.
During the second prechorus, Marina is with the man on the bridge. He holds her hand gently, and her tears stop. She leans up to kiss him. Just before the chorus again, there's another shot of her at the gothic dinner table, except the man is standing behind her, holding the chair.
In the first half of the second chorus, we see the shot of her with the pearls at the tree again. She's in the tree, and she's made a long rope and a noose with the pearls. She slips the loop over her neck, and is ready to jump. There's another two wubs, and we see Marina spinning around in a very flowing white dress with blood raining down, just only for a second as the wubs last. During the second half of the chorus, we see Marina finally stab the woman from earlier, and instead of absolute blood coming out, a cascade of red glitter flies out, covering Marina and the girl.
There's a sudden cut to darkness as we get ready for the middle 8. During a brief hint of the drop, we hear some muffled bass, and we see, very dimly, Marina's profile on the darkness, but nothing specific about her can be made.
When the bass finally drops, we see Marina in a black, lacy gown. Her hair is on fire, and her skin is pale like a porcelain doll. She spins and dances amazingly with graceful choreography. Her eyes are completely black, with no sign of an iris. There's a few shots of her in the flowing white dress dancing in blood rain again. When she sings the words for the middle 8, she is seen in water, trying to swim, but she finds she is bleeding, and can barely move.
For the final chorus, it's one giant, fast-moving montage. There are brief shots from everything else in the video, but there's also a brief new clip, showing her attacking the man earlier with the same shard of glass she murdered the other woman with. He fights her off, but she slits his throat and throws him into the river below them.
As she sings the outro, we see her on the overpass again. She doesn't show any sign of emotion as she stands on the railing, and suddenly she jumps, and the camera cuts to black."
The video, with beautiful imagery and horrifyingly terrific graphics, fits the song perfectly, and really has set a bar for Marina's future work. We can't wait to see the director's cut that was "too graphic for TV".
Also, Adam - album chart today?
for Cher (Who's **** never seems to die) & Taylor for longevity.