Marina and the Diamonds Gets Real in Stripped-Down ‘Happy’ Performance

No words in the English language are weighted with the significance necessary to properly convey how we feel about Marina and the Diamonds. From her unique take on pop music to her penchant for sugar and alcohol to her unabashed willingness to call out injustices in Hollywood (remember when she tweeted about how human beings are more important than art?) -- there are so many things we love about her.

But she's an artist first and foremost, and while we could easily sing the praises of the persona she projects to the public (because, how well do any of us really know celebrities?), it's probably easier and more satisfying to judge her on her work.

Marina performed the somber sounding "Happy," for Nylon magazine, and if ever there were a song that more perfectly encapsulates the idea of emotional dualities, we haven't heard it yet. Her vocals are as haunting as ever, with lyrics that manage to be introspective without being schmaltzy. It was a bold choice to open her third studio album Froot with a stripped-down piano track, and it's an even bolder choice to perform it live. When your sole source of accompaniment is a piano, you better make sure you hit every note. Not that Marina ever has to worry about that.

There’s a vulnerability to her vocals in this performance — during the entire Froot era, if we're being real — that hasn’t been so obvious before. It makes sense: She was just starting out when she released her debut album The Family Jewels, and she played an archetypal character on Electra Heart. But the rawness on "Happy" seems to be a much truer reflection of who Marina is as a person, and we're fully onboard, no matter how much it makes us cry and reflect and cry some more.

Check out Marina singing "Happy" in the video above.