Love + Fear

"To Be Human" redirects here. For the song by Sia, see To Be Human (Sia song).

Love + Fear
Digital edition cover
Studio album by Marina
Released	26 April 2019
Recorded	2017–2018
Studio	Golden Age (Los Angeles) Westlake Studios (Los Angeles) Comic Sands (Los Angeles) Harmony Studios (Los Angeles) Wolf Cousins Studios (Stockholm) Club Ralph (London) Metropolis Studios (London) RAK Studios (London)
Genre	Pop dance-pop synth-pop electropop
Length	56:16
Label	Atlantic Neon Gold
Producer	Sam de Jong Oscar Görres Captain Cuts Joel Little Jack Patterson Mark Ralph James Flannigan Grace Chatto Oscar Holter Alex Hope
Marina chronology
Froot Acoustic EP (2015) Love + Fear (2019) Love + Fear (Acoustic) (2019)
Singles from Love + Fear
"Handmade Heaven" Released: 8 February 2019 "Superstar" Released: 1 March 2019 "Orange Trees" Released: 22 March 2019 "To Be Human" Released: 8 April 2019 "Karma" Released: 29 August 2019

Love + Fear (stylised in all caps) is the fourth studio album by Welsh singer-songwriter Marina Diamandis and her first under the mononym Marina. It was released in full on 26 April 2019 by Atlantic Records, though the album's first half was released on 4 April 2019 as a surprise. Diamandis took a hiatus after she concluded touring in support of her third studio album Froot (2015) with plans of retiring from music. However, she began working on a new record with several producers like Sam de Jong, Oscar Görres, Joel Little, Jack Patterson, Mark Ralph, James Flannigan, and Oscar Holter during its recording.

Love + Fear has been described musically as a pop, dance-pop, synth-pop, and electropop album with a more commercial sound, in comparison to Diamandis' previous albums. Conceived as a double album, each half of the album explores the two nominal emotions referenced in the title, according to the theory by psychologist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. Love + Fear received positive reviews from music critics and was a commercial success. The album debuted at number five on the UK Albums Chart, becoming the singer's fourth consecutive top 10 album.

The album was supported by five singles, all of which were supplemented by music videos: "Handmade Heaven", "Superstar", "Orange Trees", "To Be Human", and "Karma". It also includes the previously released single "Baby" (2018) with Clean Bandit. The album was announced alongside a tour, which visited the US, Canada, and Europe, which began in April 2019 and concluded in November. An acoustic EP, titled Love + Fear (Acoustic), was released on 13 September 2019.

Background and production

After the concluding the Neon Nature Tour in promotion of her third studio album Froot (2015), Diamandis began writing sessions in Los Angeles for her next record, despite initially dismissing the idea of making a follow-up. In June 2016, Diamandis told Fuse that she had begun writing new material for upcoming songs. However, the sessions were canceled because of her plans of retiring from music, in search of new creative inspiration. Diamandis cited her struggles with depression and stress due the loss of her aunt and her grandmother during promotion for Froot as the main reasons of her near retirement. She also experienced writer's block, which led her to take acting classes. However, Diamandis left those classes and enrolled at the University of London where she studied psychology for six months.

Three months after finishing the course, Diamandis returned to the studio and continue with the songwriting of her fourth album from early 2017 to summer 2018. Some of the songs made before her break were initially instrumented only by piano but were reworked after Diamandis "[fell] back in love with them." The singer was inactive in social media during her hiatus, though she uploaded content occasionally. 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; it was released as a single in June 2017 and she performed it with them at Glastonbury. When Diamandis thought in May 2018 that the album was already finished, she wrote several songs in a trip to Sweden.

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 in all caps), 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." In November 2018, a second collaboration with Clean Bandit and Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi, "Baby", was released, peaking at number 15 in the UK. In July 2018, Diamandis said she was going to Los Angeles to finish the production of Love + Fear. The album was mixed and finished in December 2018.

In an interview in June 2019, Diamandis 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." Diamandis collaborated with several songwriters and producers during the album's production, most of them with close ages to the singer, unlike in her second studio album Electra Heart (2012), where most collaborators were older than her. 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".

Music and lyrics

Musically, Love + Fear has been described as a subdued, pop, dance-pop, synth-pop, and electropop record. Diamandis described the album as a "contemporary pop record". Its production was characterised to be "pristine", with booming synth lines and beat-driven ballads. Jeffrey Davies of PopMatters classified the album as "likely her most commercial attempt to date". Diamandis described the songwriting in the album to be more honest and direct in comparison to her previous works. Love + Fear is a double album that 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. Diamandis elaborated on this, quoting Kübler-Ross: "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."

Songs

Love + Fear opens with "Handmade Heaven", which was described as a musical departure from "the bubblegum pop excess and cheekiness" of Diamandis' first three albums. Lyrically, the song refers to her admiration of nature and the outdoors. During a track-by-track interview for Love + Fear with Apple Music, she revealed that climate change served as a main source of inspiration for the track. During the refrain, she sings alongside several layers of her own vocals, creating a choir-sounding effect; she coos: "In this handmade heaven, I come alive / Blue birds forever, colour the sky". "Superstar" is a synth-pop and electro track that was compared to the sound of Diamandis' second studio album Electra Heart (2012). Lake Schatz from Consequence of Sound described her vocals on the track as "almost operatic" and noted the understated presence of a piano. The singer referred to "Superstar" a "true love song" that "celebrates the hard work that goes into a good relationship".

"Orange Trees" uses vivid imagery and serves as "an ode to the beauty of Earth's natural wonders". According to Diamandis, the song is about the island city of Lefkada in Greece, where her family originated from. Regarding "Karma", she stated that the song's lyrical content was subconsciously inspired by the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse cases and the consequential viral response that came with the Me Too movement. Diamandis said that the initial idea for the song's subject matter came from a discussion she previously had with her producers regarding various "music industry individuals that were falling from grace." The lyrics of the song see Diamandis confronting an enemy with a "told-you-so" attitude as she sings: "I'm like, 'Oh my god / I think it's karma.'" Brittany Spanos from Rolling Stone felt like Diamandis was describing misogyny in the lyrics, which she noted as a common theme explored on the Fear portion of the album. Love + Fear closes with "Soft to be Strong", a piano ballad where Diamandis seeks kindness as a strength; Kate Solomon of The Independent found the track to be "a worthy message to close an album that probes metallic emotions and deep, universal insecurities."

Release and promotion

On 31 January 2019, Diamandis teased the album by posting a picture on Instagram with the caption "8 Days". The day after, she revealed in an interview the new album would come out some time in early 2019. On 6 February 2019, it was revealed the title of the lead single of the album would be entitled "Handmade Heaven". 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. The album was announced on Instagram on 14 February 2019, with Diamandis revealing it comprised "two 8-track collections that form a set". 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 would include a digital copy of the album. On 4 April 2019, Diamandis released the album's first half, Love, as a surprise. Four days later, she publicly performed the single "Orange Trees" for the first time on Late Night With Seth Meyers. 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. "Handmade Heaven" is featured on the soundtrack to the 2019 football simulation game eFootball PES 2020.

Tour

Love + Fear Tour

Tour by Marina
Diamandis performing in Los Angeles as a part of the Love + Fear Tour (4 October 2019)
Associated album	Love + Fear
Start date	29 April 2019 (2019-04-29)
End date	18 November 2019 (2019-11-18)
Legs	3
No. of shows	48
Supporting acts	Daya Broods Allie X
Marina concert chronology

The Love + Fear Tour ran from 29 April to 18 November 2019 and saw Marina play across the United Kingdom, North America, and Europe. 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, and Broods. On 28 May 2019, Diamandis announced a further five UK dates for a "part 2" of the tour. On 17 June 2019, Diamandis announced additional European dates intertwined with the second part of the UK tour. On 16 September 2019, Diamandis announced two extra concerts in Madrid and Amsterdam.

The tour differed from previous tours as Diamandis did not have a band. Instead, she toured with four dancers that also served as backup singers. When asked about the tour, she stated, "[The tour] is contemporary...the format is like a contemporary dance or theatre show." 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 Beyoncé's old stage shows. Diamandis stated, "I wanted to have something that was really powerful and female".

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue
Leg 1 – United Kingdom
29 April 2019	Newcastle	England	O2 Academy
30 April 2019	Glasgow	Scotland	O2 Academy
3 May 2019	London	England	Royal Albert Hall
7 May 2019	Bournemouth		O2 Academy
9 May 2019	Birmingham		O2 Academy
10 May 2019	Manchester		O2 Apollo
North America
26 May 2019	Boston	United States	Boston Calling
28 June 2019	New York		Rainbow Room
Europe
4 July 2019	Gdynia	Poland	Open'er Festival
6 July 2019	Roskilde	Denmark	Roskilde Festival
7 July 2019	Turku	Finland	Ruisrock
12 July 2019	Madrid	Spain	Mad Cool Festival
13 July 2019	Benicàssim		Festival Internacional de Benicàssim
18 July 2019	Oeiras	Portugal	NOS Alive!
20 July 2019	Suffolk	England	Latitude Festival
Leg 2 – North America
10 September 2019	Toronto	Canada	Rebel
11 September 2019	Montreal		Mtelus
13 September 2019	Boston	United States	Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion
14 September 2019	Philadelphia		The Met
16 September 2019	New York		Summerstage, Central Park
18 September 2019	Washington, D.C.		The Anthem
20 September 2019	Nashville		Ryman Auditorium
21 September 2019	Atlanta		Coca-Cola Roxy
23 September 2019	Chicago		Aragon Ballroom
24 September 2019	Minneapolis		Orpheum Theatre
26 September 2019	Houston		Revention Music Center
27 September 2019	Dallas		The Bomb Factory
28 September 2019	Austin		Moody Theater
30 September 2019	Denver		Mission Ballroom
1 October 2019	Salt Lake City		Union Event Center
4 October 2019	Los Angeles		Greek Theatre
5 October 2019	San Francisco		The Masonic
7 October 2019	Portland		Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
8 October 2019	Seattle		Paramount Theatre
9 October 2019	Vancouver	Canada	Orpheum Theatre
Leg 3 – Europe
28 October 2019	Edinburgh	Scotland	Usher Hall
29 October 2019	Manchester	England	O2 Apollo
30 October 2019	Dublin	Ireland	Olympia
1 November 2019	Cardiff	Wales	Motorpoint Arena
4 November 2019	London	England	Eventim Apollo
5 November 2019	Brighton		Brighton Centre
8 November 2019	Paris	France	Zénith
10 November 2019	Amsterdam	Netherlands	Melkweg
11 November 2019	Tilburg		013
12 November 2019	Antwerp	Belgium	Trix
14 November 2019	Milan	Italy	Fabrique
16 November 2019	Athens	Greece	Piraeus 117 Academy
18 November 2019	Madrid	Spain	La Riviera
Total	48 dates

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	5.4/10
Metacritic	62/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Clash	7/10
Dork
The Independent
The Line of Best Fit	7/10
MusicOMH
NME
Pitchfork	5.4/10
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". Another music-aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 5.4 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.

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

Commercial performance

Love + Fear debuted at number five on the UK Albums Chart, becoming Diamandis' fourth consecutive top 10 album. In Australia, the album reached number 22 on the ARIA Album Charts, making it her third top 50 entry there.

Track listing

Love + Fear – Love

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Handmade Heaven"	Marina Diamandis	Joel Little	3:30
2.	"Superstar"	Diamandis Benjamin Berger Ryan McMahon Ryan Rabin	Sam de Jong Captain Cuts	3:54
3.	"Orange Trees"	Diamandis Kaj Hassle Jakob Jerlstrom Oscar Görres	Görres	3:08
4.	"Baby" (Clean Bandit featuring Marina and Luis Fonsi)	Jack Patterson Camille Purcell Jason Evigan Diamandis Matthew Knott Luis Lopez-Cepero	Patterson Grace Chatto Mark Ralph	3:25
5.	"Enjoy Your Life"	Diamandis Jonnali Parmenius Oscar Holter	Holter Görres	3:36
6.	"True"	Diamandis Parmenius Holter Görres	Görres	3:29
7.	"To Be Human"	Diamandis	Little	4:06
8.	"End of the Earth"	Diamandis Joseph Janiak James Flannigan	Flannigan	3:41
Total length:				28:32

Love + Fear – Fear

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
9.	"Believe in Love"	Diamandis Görres	Görres	3:33
10.	"Life Is Strange"	Diamandis Little	Little	3:17
11.	"You"	Diamandis Patterson Janiak	Patterson de Jong	3:32
12.	"Karma"	Diamandis Patterson Berger McMahon Rabin	Patterson Ralph	3:24
13.	"Emotional Machine"	Diamandis Georgia Nott Caleb Nott de Jong	de Jong	3:16
14.	"Too Afraid"	Diamandis Justin Parker	de Jong	3:23
15.	"No More Suckers"	Diamandis Alexandra Robotham Flannigan	Alex Hope Flannigan	3:15
16.	"Soft to Be Strong"	Diamandis Richard Nowels Jr.	de Jong	3:47
Total length:				27:27

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.

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal.

Love

Musicians

• Marina – lead vocals (tracks 1–3, 5–8), featured vocals (track 4), backing vocals (tracks 3, 5, 6)
• Clean Bandit – lead artist (track 4)
• Luis Fonsi – featured vocals (track 4)
• Joel Little – keyboards (tracks 1, 7), drum programming (tracks 1, 7), percussion (tracks 1, 7), synthesizer (tracks 1, 7)
• Captain Cuts – keyboards (track 2), programming (track 2)
• Sam de Jong – keyboards (track 2), programming (track 2)
• Oscar Görres – keyboards (tracks 3, 5, 6), programming (tracks 3, 5, 6), percussion (tracks 3, 5, 6), guitar (tracks 5, 6), bass (track 5)
• Jack Patterson – keyboards (track 4), guitar (track 4)
• Oscar Holter – keyboards (track 5), programming (track 5), percussion (track 5), guitar (track 5), bass (track 5)
• James Flannigan – keyboards (track 8), programming (track 8), percussion (track 8), drums (track 8), violin (track 8)
• Luke Patterson – piano (track 4), percussion (track 4), additional drums (track 4), trumpet (track 4)
• Dan Grech-Marguerat – programming (tracks 5, 6, 8), additional programming (track 1)
• Erik Hassle – guitar (track 3)
• Mark Ralph – guitar (track 4)
• Nakajin – acoustic guitar (track 4)
• Grace Chatto – bass (track 4)

Technical

• Joel Little – engineering (tracks 1, 7)
• Sam de Jong – engineering (track 2)
• Alex Robinson – engineering (track 4)
• Jack Patterson – engineering (track 4)
• Mike Horner – engineering (track 4)
• Ray Charles Brown Jr – engineering (track 4)
• Ross Fortune – engineering (track 4)
• Tom AD Fuller – engineering (track 4)
• James Flannigan – engineering (track 8)
• Greg Eliason – assistant engineering (track 4)
• Dan Grech-Marguerat – mixing (tracks 1, 5, 6, 8)
• Serban Ghenea – mixing (tracks 2, 3)
• Jack Patterson – mixing (track 4)
• Mark Ralph – mixing (track 4)
• Geoff Swan – mixing (track 7)
• John Hanes – mix engineering (track 3), assistant mix engineering (track 2)
• Niko Batistini – assistant mix engineering (track 7)
• Dave Kutch – mastering (tracks 1–3, 5–8)
• Matt Deutchman – coordinating (track 8)

Fear

Musicians

• Marina – lead vocals (tracks 1–8), backing vocals (track 1)
• Joel Little – drum programming (track 2), keyboards (track 2), percussion (track 2), synthesizer (track 2)
• Oscar Görres – backing vocals (track 1), keyboards (track 1), percussion (track 1), programming (track 1), ukulele (track 1)
• Sam de Jong – keyboards (tracks 3, 5, 6, 8), programming (tracks 3, 5, 6, 8), guitar (tracks 6, 8), bass (track 8), drums (track 8)
• Mark Ralph – guitar (track 4), mandolin (track 4), ukulele (track 4)
• Caleb Nott – bass (track 5), percussion (track 5)
• Dan Grech-Marguerat – programming (tracks 5, 6, 8), additional programming (track 7)
• Georgia Nott – piano (track 5)
• Alex Hope – drum programming (track 7), keyboards (track 7), percussion (track 7), piano (track 7), programming (track 7)
• James Flannigan – keyboards (track 7), percussion (track 7), piano (track 7), programming (track 7)

Technical

• Dave Kutch – masterering (tracks 1–8)
• Joel Little – engineering (track 2)
• Niko Batistini – assistant mix engineering (tracks 1–3)
• Geoff Swan – mixing (tracks 1–3)
• Mark Ralph – mixing (track 4)
• Sam de Jong – engineering (tracks 5, 6, 8)
• Jack Patterson – mixing (track 4)
• Ross Fortune – assistant mix engineering (track 4)
• Tom AD Fuller – assistant mix engineering (track 4)
• Dan Grech-Marguerat – mixing (tracks 5–8)
• Matt Deuthman – coordinating (track 7)
• James Flannigan – engineering (track 7)

Charts

Chart (2019)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)	22
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)	19
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)	59
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)	84
Canadian Albums (Billboard)	32
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)	50
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)	43
French Albums (SNEP)	136
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)	18
Irish Albums (IRMA)	17
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)	31
Polish Albums (ZPAV)	44
Scottish Albums (OCC)	4
Slovak Albums (ČNS IFPI)	90
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)	24
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)	20
UK Albums (OCC)	5
US Billboard 200	28

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Label	Ref.
Various	26 April 2019	CD digital download LP streaming	Atlantic

External links

• Love + Fear on Diamandis' official website
• Love + Fear at Discogs (list of releases)