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"Bubblegum Bitch"
Bubblegum Bitch (The TikTok Hits) playlist cover
Song by Marina and the Diamonds
from the album Electra Heart
Released27 April 2012
Recorded2011
Genre
Length2:32
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Live video
"Bubblegum Bitch" on YouTube

"Bubblegum Bitch" is a song by Welsh singer-songwriter Marina Diamandis, professionally known as Marina and formerly as Marina and the Diamonds. An opening track on her second studio album, Electra Heart (2012), it was released on 27 April 2012 along with the record. While the production was handled by Rick Nowels and Dean Reird, the song was written by Diamandis and Nowels. Despite not having been released as a single, the song entered international charts [2] [3] after experiencing a resurgence on social media platform TikTok in early 2021, thanks to which it subsequently was certified gold in the United States in March [4] [5] and silver in the United Kingdom in September the same year. [6]

Background

The song was written by Diamandis and Nowels in June 2011 in Santa Monica, California, inspired by the book Bubblegum: The History of Plastic Pop by a British journalist, Nick Brownlee. [7] Speaking about the song in a promotional track-by-track interview, Marina said it was "maybe" her favourite track off the album, describing it as a "fun, sassy song". the song's verses took ten minutes to write, though they were collected over a period of three months. [8] Marina expressed her interest in releasing the song as a single in 2012, but she said that she could not do it due to the vulgar title, acknowledging radio constraints. "Some songs sound like singles, but you can't release them", she explained in an interview to PopJustice. [9] After the resurgence in 2021, when promoting her fifth studio album, Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land, Marina said that her record label, Atlantic Records, wanted her to shoot a music video to the song, but she declined the offer, saying she "can't go back to the past". [10] As observed by the press, [11] "it probably also didn't help that she was promoting a string of feminist anthems at the time for a new album, which lyrically contrasts the more playful viral hit in quite the dramatic fashion".

Critical reception

A song channelling the playful "spirit of Britney Spears at her most syrupy sweet" [12] was met with mixed feelings at initial critics' response. Alexis Petridis from The Guardian compared the lyrical content used throughout the pop punk-inspired Electra Heart opener [13] "Bubblegum Bitch" to "the self-fulfilling I-will-be-huge prophecy" that was developed in The Fame by Lady Gaga. [14] Describing the track as "capricious", James Cristopher from AllMusic praised Marina's "resonant operatic voice", finding it expressive enough to make the song's lyrics "feel less like a floozy come-on and more like a malicious schoolyard taunt". [15] However, Emily Mackay from The Quietus deemed both the title and the lyrical content of the song "cringeworthy", saying "with all the vapidity promised but little in the way of analysis thereof, though it's a passable bit of Katy Perryish stomp that retains some of her Sparksy, camp oddness". [16] George Boorman from Clash in his highly negative review of the album said in his laconic final words: "There is actually a song called 'Bubblegum Bitch' on this album. 'nuff said". [17]

Charts

Chart performance for "Bubblegum Bitch"
Chart (2021) Peak
position
Greece ( IFPI) [3] 98
Lithuania ( AGATA) [2] 89

Certifications

Certifications for "Bubblegum Bitch"
Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom ( BPI) [6] Silver 200,000‡
United States ( RIAA) [5] Platinum 1,000,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ "MARINA & THE DIAMONDS Electra Heart". 1 May 2012.
  2. ^ a b "2021 16-os savaitės klausomiausi (TOP 100)" (in Lithuanian). AGATA. 23 April 2021. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Official IFPI Charts – Digital Singles Chart (International) – Εβδομάδα: 14/2021". IFPI Greece. Archived from the original on 22 April 2021. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  4. ^ "Marina Announces New Album Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land for June 2021 Release and Skewers Pop Culture in New Video for "Purge The Poison"". mxdwn. 14 April 2021. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  5. ^ a b "American single certifications – Marina – Bubblegum Bitch". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  6. ^ a b "British single certifications – Marina – Bubblegum Bitch". British Phonographic Industry. September 2021. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
  7. ^ Diamandis, Marina [@MarinaDiamandis] (5 May 2012). "The book that inspired "Bubblegum Bitch", 11 months to the day. God Bless Rick Knowles for this holy gift ✝" ( Tweet). Retrieved 31 October 2021 – via Twitter.
  8. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWFpEXcdemU Marina and the Diamonds | "Electra Heart" Album Interview. Part 2.
  9. ^ "Marina & the Diamonds might release another three singles from her album • Popjustice". 3 July 2012.
  10. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni6BoQNejE8&t=1421s Marina - "Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land" Live Q&A
  11. ^ "The changing face of youth media consumption". The Media Online. 17 June 2021. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
  12. ^ "Marina brings bubblegum pop anthems to the Apollo". 5 November 2019.
  13. ^ Levine, Nick (26 April 2012). "Marina Diamandis releases cathartic concept album". The National. Archived from the original on 27 April 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  14. ^ Petridis, Alexis (26 April 2012). "Marina and the Diamonds: Electra Heart – review". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  15. ^ Monger, James Christopher. "Electra Heart – Marina and the Diamonds". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 2 January 2021. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  16. ^ Mackay, Emily (1 May 2012). "Marina & the Diamonds". The Quietus. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  17. ^ Boorman, George (1 May 2012). "Marina And The Diamonds – Electra Heart". Clash. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
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