Song Analysis

Obsessions - Marina and the Diamonds

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/marinathediamonds/obsessions.html

In this song by Marina and the Diamonds, many techniques are used such as cacophony, sibilance, assonance, and personification.  For example, a cacophony is used when the song says, "Supermarket, oh what packet of crackers to pick?" This helps portray to the listener that the person asking this question is sort of mad and annoyed. The way that Marina sings it, she sounds annoyed. In order to understand why it is supposed to sound mad, you will have to read the lyrics, but basically it is about trying to be absolutely perfect and how impossible it is. You can get obsessive about it, hence the name Obsessions. She portrays this pressure through a person in a supermarket who has to pick the perfect pack of crackers. Another technique used is assonance. For example, the song says "Silk sheet... sweetheart," and later in the song repeats "week...weak." I think that this sort of shows a calm and more relaxed point in the song. Lastly, personification is used in the song. The phrases "nasty thought" and "sick ideas" are used multiple times throughout the song. These help tell the story in the song and describe the thoughts and ideas.

Using SOAPSTone, I analyzed this song. The speaker of the song is the character that has an obsession with being perfect, to the extent where she has to pick the perfect pack of crackers. The occasion of this song may have been because Marina suffers with the obsession to be perfect. However, Marina is known for writing and singing about different mental challenges and illnesses. The audience may be general listeners or people suffering from the same problem. The purpose may be to let people know that trying to be absolutely perfect can be bad, and potentially dangerous. The subject is the obsession to be perfect and the consequences that come along with it. The tone of this song is sad and sort of downgrading perfection. Overall, this song has lots of deeper meaning than the lyrics look, along with the rest of Marina's songs, and I recommend listening to all of her songs.