Marina and The Diamonds
Marina and The Diamonds is a indie pop artist I’m sure not many people have heard of. However, their song, “Are You Satisfied?” may ring a bell. This article will cover the song, “Oh No!” by the artist, Marina.
About the Song
“Oh No!” is the eleventh song of Marina and The Diamonds’s 2010 album, “The Family Jewels”. It is a catchy and upbeat sounding pop song with a totally unexpected meaning if you really listen to the lyrics. The title is named after a main lyric in the song, the repetition of ‘oh no’.
My Interpretation
Don’t do love, don’t do friends/I’m only after success/Don’t need a relationship/I’ll never soften my grip..
The speaker is quite direct. She believes she doesn’t need personal relationships. She has firm beliefs and primarily is vying for success. I believe she is in the working class, and has a higher role, like boss or something like that.
Don’t want cash, don’t want card/Want it fast, want it hard/Don’t need money, don’t need fame/I just want to make a change..
She isn’t asking for money or recognition, she simply wants to fight for a cause. I believe she is fighting for equal rights for women in the workplace or something similar to that, based on the next lyrics.
/I just wanna change/(x5)
She intensely wants a change in her personality as well. The speaker is struggling with her own insecurities. There are two sides to her; one that wants to change the world, and one that wants to change everything about herself.
[Chorus]
I know exactly what I want and who I wanna be!/I know exactly why I walk and talk like a machine../I’m now becoming my own self-fulfilled prophecy!
This builds on the themes of the last lyrics. One side of the speaker knows what she wants in life and how to live her dreams, while the other is self deprecating and pries on her insecurities. Her firm desires and beliefs are leading her to act blunt and dull, like a machine. Her thoughts are systematic and she has the same end objective: change. However, she tries to push the negative side of herself away to feed into her positive side.
/Oh, oh no! Oh no! Oh no, oh!/
One track mind, one track heart/If I fail, I fall apart..
The speaker’s mind (her insecurities) and her heart (her passions) stay on one track. They don’t change, and it’s hard to get her off those tracks of thought and emotion. If she doesn’t succeed, she can’t protect herself, and she crashes. She can’t handle failure, because her mind and heart are set in their ways. If something doesn’t go to plan (or to her “prophecy”) she falls apart.
Maybe it is all a test/‘Cause I feel like I’m the worst/ So I always act like I’m the best..
Again, the message of her heart and mind being at odds makes an appearance. She feels like her life is a test, so she wants to look fine when she really feels the total opposite. She feels the worst, but acts like she’s the best to keep people thinking she’s strong and independent.
If you are not very careful/Your possessions will possess you..
The speaker is warning the listener to not let your ego, emotions, and achievements take control of you. However, this is redundant since she did the same thing. She lets her emotions take control of her and tries to hide them under a mask of normalcy. She doesn’t want to be seen as emotional (because that’s a common stereotype aimed at women and she wants to change and make a change to that).
TV taught me how to feel/Now real life has no appeal!
/It has no appeal/ (x5)
She grew up watching television shows with strong women in them. The real world has no appeal to her anymore, because in the world of the television, everything is different and the speaker doesn’t have to work as hard to be seen as a strong and independent woman. Those worlds are unrealistic and accepting towards women, while the real world can be much different.
The chorus repeats twice, it being just as upbeat as the first time it was sung. The messages are being drilled into your head that she is firm in her beliefs, but that she also can’t handle the world around her and her own insecurities.
/Oh, oh no! Oh no! Oh no, oh!/
I’m gonna live, I’m gonna fly!/I’m gonna fail, I’m gonna die! (x2)
The speaker believes that she’s going to succeed and have triumph over the opposition (she’ll live). But at the same time, her head says that she’ll fail miserably and lose (she’ll die). She sees failure as dying itself. It’s a life or death situation to her, even if it really isn’t in reality. She holds herself to the highest of standards, basically guaranteeing her “death”.
You hear a sudden bang. I think this sound is the metaphor of the speaker getting killed by failure itself.
The chorus repeats two last times, but with a now sinister mood. The idea of her “death” or triumph hangs over your head, while she tries to ignore her growing unease by asserting her facade that everything’s fine.
/Oh, oh no! Oh no! Oh no, oh!/
The song ends with the exclamation, “oh no!”, which symbolizes to me that the speaker had a negative fate. Throughout the song, this repeats, foreshadowing that she’ll fail in the end.
To end off this article, I’ll summarize the song’s meaning as I see it. “Oh No!” is about the struggle of a woman who is trying to make a change in the gender inequality of the workforce. However, her crippling self doubt and hatred slow her plan, leading to her eventual failure and downfall.
As usual, I recommend you listen to the song and the album it’s from. That’s all.
I’m out!