Love + Fear

After the release of Froot, Diamandis took a break from touring to rest and find new creative inspiration.[8] In June 2016, Diamandis told Fuse that she had begun writing new material for upcoming songs.[9] In December 2016, electronic group Clean Bandit confirmed that "Disconnect", a song they had performed with Diamandis at the 2015 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, would be released on their new album;[10] it was released as a single in June 2017 and she performed it with them at Glastonbury.[11]

To mark a new stage in her career, Diamandis announced via Twitter in 2018 that she would be dropping her "and the Diamonds" moniker to release music as "Marina" (stylised "MARINA"), 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."[12] In November 2018, a second collaboration with Clean Bandit and Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi, "Baby", was released,[13] peaking at number 15 in the UK.[14]

Upon album announcement, it was revealed that the album was to be a double album and 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.[15] Marina elaborated on this, saying "There are only two emotions: love and fear. All positive emotions come from love and all negative emotions from fear. From love flows happiness, contentment, peace and joy. From fear comes anger, hate, anxiety and guilt. It's true that there only two primary emotions: love and fear, but it is more accurate to say that there is only love or fear for we cannot feel these two emotions together at exactly the same time. They are opposites. If we are in fear, we are not in a place of love. When we are in love, then we are not in a place of fear." In an interview in June 2019, Marina spoke about the conception of the title and stated, " I think [Love +Fear] can both be motivating forces...I mean there's a reason why we feel fearful- it’s from evolutionary reasons. We need fear to survive, we need love but...I think because this whole chapter of my life has had like a psychological backdrop it was a very fitting universal title. I didn't write with this concept in mind I just wrote ready freely. I didn't even know if I was going to do an album I was just writing for the joy of it and then at the end I was like what should I name it?... I went through and so what the main themes were...[Love+ Fear] kept jumping out on me."[16] It's the first album Marina wasn't involved in the production of any song. When asked about the collaborations, Diamandis said, "It's really important as a writer to feel like I'm excited about doing new things ...that's why I collaborated a lot on this record...Orange Trees, I never would’ve wrote on my own".[17]

On 31 January 2019, Diamandis teased the album by posting a picture on her instagram with the caption "8 Days".[18] The day after, she revealed in an interview that the new album would come out sometime in early 2019.[12] On 6 February 2019, it was revealed that the title of the lead single of the album would be entitled "Handmade Heaven".[19] The single was released on digital platforms on 8 February 2019. A music video for the track directed by Sophie Muller was released concurrently with the song.[20][21] The album was announced on Instagram on 14 February 2019, with Diamandis revealing it is a "two 8 track collections that form a set".[22] She released two cover artworks, one for each eight-track collection, and a set of tour dates for the upcoming world tour in support of the release; every ticket to the tour purchased online through Ticketmaster or Live Nation will include a digital copy of the album. On 4 April 2019, Diamandis released the entirety of Love ahead of schedule. Four days later, she performed the single "Orange Trees" for the first time on Late Night With Seth Meyers.[23] On 4 September 2019, she performed the single "Karma" on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. All singles released prior to Karma were part of the album's first half, Love. The song "Handmade Heaven" is featured on the soundtrack to the 2019 football simulation game "eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020".

The Love + Fear Tour ran from 29 April to 18 November 2019 and saw Marina play across the United Kingdom, North America, and Europe.[24] The tour included Spring and Fall dates, as well as festival dates across various countries during the Summer. The tour was opened by various artists, including DAYA, Allie X,[25] and Broods.

Love + Fear Tour (10.04.2019)[26]

On 28 May 2019, Diamandis announced a further five UK dates for a "part 2" of the tour.[27] On 17 June 2019, Diamandis announced additional European dates intertwined with the second part of the UK tour.[28] On 16 September 2019, Diamandis announced two extra concerts in Madrid and Amsterdam.[29]

The tour would differ from previous tours as Diamandis did not have a band. Instead, she toured with four dancers/back up singers. When asked about the tour, she stated, "[The tour] is contemporary...the format is like a contemporary dance or theatre show."[16] The stage would be slanted and everything was white so projections could show up. This was also the first time Diamandis had a choreography centric stage show.

The costumes were inspired by Beyonce's old stage shows. Diamandis stated, "I wanted to have something that was really powerful and female".[16]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	5.4/10[30]
Metacritic	62/100[31]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Clash	7/10[32]
The Independent	[33]
The Line of Best Fit	7/10[34]
NME	[35]
Pitchfork	5.4/10[36]
Q
The Irish Times

Love + Fear received generally positive 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". The user score was 8.2 based on 297 ratings.[31]

In December 2019, The Irish Times listed "Soft to Be Strong" among the 'Best International Songs of 2019'.[37]

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[32]

Credits adapted from Tidal.[38]