Froot

This article is about the album. To see alternate articles, check out the song with the same name.

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Froot (stylized as FROOT) is the third studio LP by Marina and the Diamonds, released on March 16, 2015.

The album was originally to be released on April 3, 2015; however, the date was pushed forward following the entire album leaking online in February 2015. Marina released songs off the album leading up to the release date, starting with the title track, "Froot" in October 2014. The album itself was a worldwide success reaching the top 10 in both the United States and United Kingdom simultaneously, Marina's first time accomplishing this feat. The album also reached the top 10 in Canada, Ireland, Switzerland, and Scotland. It is the first album of Marina's where 679 Recordings is not associated.

Froot of the Month

With the official announcement of her third studio album, Diamandis launched her "Froot of the Month" club, which was the release of one studio track in each of the six months preceding the album. Each song was released as an instant-gratification download to anyone who preordered a physical or digital copy of the album as well as being available for standalone purchase. Each song was released on the day matching the month's number.

1. November 11, 2014: "Froot"
2. December 12, 2014: "Happy"
3. January 1, 2015: "Immortal"
4. February 2, 2015: "I'm a Ruin"
5. March 3, 2015: "Forget"
6. April 4, 2015: "Gold"
7. July 18, 2015, "Blue"

Composition

All songs were written by Marina, and produced by both David Kosten and Marina.

Froot is a pop album with elements of dream pop, synthpop,  electronic, indie pop and rock music. The songs were recorded with a live band. The album opener, "Happy" was described by Idolator as being a "dreary, heartfelt ballad". In it, the singer is "laying her emotions bare above the simplest, sweetest of piano melodies", her voice remaining the focus. The title track was described by critics as being quirky, and a collage of forgotten 1970s and 1980s club gems.

"I'm a Ruin" is a mid-tempo composition in which Diamandis reflects on life and loving herself selfishly. The tense vocals are backed by lush, throwback synths and hard-hitting drums. A critic complimented the lyrics as similar to the ones she wrote for Electra Heart (2012),while also "starkly confessional". "Better Than That" was described as "sassy" and "a future heavy-hitter, doused in wah-wah axes and classic funk and rock delvings" by The Line of Best Fit, while Diamandis herself said it was "like classic rock". "Savages", the penultimate track, reflects on humanity's proneness to violent acts, and is inspired by contemporary events including the Boston Marathon bombing and the Delhi gang-rape; Diamandis called it one of the "most important" songs on Froot and expressed a wish for it to be released on its own, despite saying that it "doesn't scream radio single". The closing track, "Immortal", is a "delicate, stripped-back ballad that finds her contemplating the transitory nature of life", which Idolator viewed as a recurring theme in Diamandis's "occasionally morbid oeuvre", but added that she "always manages to examine the topic from an original perspective."

Release and promotion

The album's title track, "Froot", premiered on Diamandis's birthday, 10 October 2014, and was released digitally on 11 November 2014. The track listing was confirmed on 9 November 2014, whilst the album cover was unveiled the following day. Diamandis also confirmed that the album wasn’t originally called ”Froot”, it was called “Pamplemousse”, of which is a type of grapefruit.

Diamandis had confirmed that six songs will be released before the album's release, one each month up until 6 April 2015, calling this strategy the "Froot of the Month". After questioning about the "Froot of the Month" strategy, Diamandis tweeted, "I came up with the 'Froot of the Month' strategy to enable me to release the music I wanted to, as opposed to what might work commercially." After the internet leak and subsequent release of the album, fans speculated that this would be cut short to five songs, but despite this, the final song was released on its planned date. "Froot" was the first of these releases, and was followed by "Happy" in December. The two were released as a limited-edition 7" vinyl single. "Immortal" was released in January, "I'm a Ruin" in February, "Forget" in March and "Gold" in April. Over the final 12 days before the album's release, each song (in the same order they appear on the tracklist) was released and promoted through a variety of outlets. Despite light commercial intent, several singles off the album were moderate hits across Europe.

In an interview for Billboard in April 2015, Diamandis expressed a wish to repackage the album with new tracks to include "I'm Not Hungry Anymore." However, she later decided against it, stating that Froot works best as a twelve track album and that she was still not satisfied with the new track.

Later on April 5, 2016, the Froot era is finally ended through her announcement on Instagram and Twitter.

Neon Nature Tour

Main article: Neon Nature Tour

Diamandis gave several large profile performances during early 2015, such as a performance at the Governor's Ball in New York City between the 5 and 7 June. Other performances included Coachella Festival in April and the Lollapalooza Festival in August. After announcing a number of festival dates, in February Diamandis announced the first dates of her third headlining tour, the Neon Nature Tour. In an interview with The Guardian, Diamandis stated that her hopes for the merchandise stand for the Neon Nature Tour included scratch and sniff T-shirts, eyeshadow and nail varnish modeled after Diamandis's color palette, and glow-in-the-dark T-shirts so that audience members can wear them and be a part of the show. The stage decoration for the festival performances was described by Diamandis as an "electric garden, with luminous flowers and shiny fruit", though the debut of said setup during Lollapalooza Brasil wound up canceled due to flight delays. The 48-date tour began in October 2015 and includes performances in North and South America and Europe.

Critical reception

Froot received positive reviews from contemporary music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 75, based on 19 professional reviews. Martin Townsend of the Sunday Express described Diamandis as a "pop enigma", complimenting her sound "which comprises few of the usual R'n'B/pop clichés" and called the album "never less than enthralling", comparing it to "True Blue-era Madonna." Michael Cragg of The Observer described Froot as "a cohesive pop album that doesn't just rely on a couple of big singles", with particular praise focused on the deep introspection present throughout the record. Sarah Jamieson of DIY wrote that Froot "finds [Diamandis] at her most accomplished and intriguing", while saluting her as "untamed by genre, unbothered by coolness and unhindered by people-pleasing" and eventually hailed the album as "the jewel in her crown." Isabella Biedeharn of Entertainment Weekly noticed the shift in Diamandis's sound, saying that it compliments her voice "which swings from voluptuous alto to fluttering soprano in one swoop" and described the album as "good fun, [...] with its smirking quips [...] and bubbling beats."

Lisa Wright of Digital Spy gave a moderate review and noticed a problem of identity in the album, saying that "there's much on Froot to love and even the tracks that dip into oft-chartered waters still have a playful spark that's hard to dislike, but three albums in, it's still difficult to see where Marina's collage of influence fits in pop's spectrum." Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian called Froot "a record of intense highs and lows", which includes "a range of styles that don’t always join up well", however, she remarked that "if you allow yourself to be swept into [Diamandis'] world, it’s an intriguing place."

Idolator readers named Froot the "Best Album of Winter 2015"  and in the Pop Crush Fan Choice Awards, readers named Froot the "Best Album of 2015" with 36% of the vote. Metacritic also identifies Froot as being the 9th most discussed album of 2015 amongst its users.

Commercial performance

Froot debuted at number 10 on the UK Albums Chart, selling 10,411 copies in its first week. Froot became Marina's third album to land in the top 10 in the United Kingdom The following week Froot fell to number 44 selling 2,244 copies bring the total UK sales to 12,655 copies after 2 weeks. The following week Froot fell to number 77 selling an estimated 1,400 copies. Froot's fourth week it fell to number 88 with around 1,200 sales. In week 5 the album fell to number 127 with around 850 sales. In week 6 the album fell to number 160 selling 700 copies. In week 7 the album fell to number 199 selling 500 copies. In week 8 the album fell out of the Top 200. In Week 9 however, Froot ascended up to number 141 with an additional 800 sales. Froot spent a total of 8 weeks in the UK Top 200 albums. By the End of 2015, sales there are estimated at slightly below 30,000 copies. As of June 2018 sales for Froot in the UK are estimated at 50,000 copies.

In the United States, the album entered the Billboard 200 at number eight with first-week sales of 46,000 units, 43,000 of which consisted of traditional album sales; it became Diamandis's first top-10 album on the chart and opened with nearly 4 times the opening week sales of her previous album Electra Heart In week 2 Froot fell sharply to number 96 selling slightly over 6,000 copies. In both weeks 3 and 4 Froot stabilized at number 181 selling 3,000 copies both weeks. In week 5 Froot fell to number 200 selling an additional 3,000 copies. In total Froot spent 5 weeks on the Billboard 200 compared to Electra Heart spending 2 weeks on the chart and The Family Jewels lasting only one week. As of June 2018 sales are estimated at roughly 200,000 copies in the United States.

In Canada, Froot reached number 6 selling 4,500 copies with an estimated 20,000 copies sold as of January 2018.

Froot was very successful across Europe, reaching number four in Ireland, number 10 in Switzerland, number 19 in Finland and number 24 in Germany. In Oceania, it peaked at number 12 in Australia and New Zealand, becoming Diamandis's highest-charting album in both countries.

Worldwide Froot reached the Top 10 in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Switzerland, and Scotland. 3 months after its release Froot had sold over 150,000 copies worldwide, impressive considering Marina had not yet begun official promotion for Froot. In late 2015 Marina embarked on her Neon Nature Tour to promote the record which saw Marina performing around the world. Marina also performed at several high profile festivals and shows internationally including Lollapolloza, Coachella, Glastonbury, and the Sziget festival. As of June 2018, exact sales for Froot are not known but the album is expected to have sold around 500,000 copies worldwide.

Charts

Chart (2015)	Peak Postion
Australian Albums	12
Austrian Albums	38
Belgian Album	61
Canadian Albums	6
Dutch Albums	21
Finnish Albums	19
French Albums	78
German Albums	24
Irish Albums	4
Italian Albums	68
New Zealand Albums	12
Norwegian Albums	31
Scottish Albums	9
Spanish Albums	27
Swedish Albums	48
Swiss Albums	10
UK Albums	10
US Billboard 200	8

Tracklist

No.	Title	Co-Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	Happy	Marina Diamandis	David Kosten, Diamandis	4:01
2.	Froot	Diamandis	Kosten, Diamandis	5:31
3.	I'm a Ruin	Diamandis	Kosten, Diamandis	3:44
4.	Blue	Diamandis	Kosten, Diamandis	4:18
5.	Forget	Diamandis	Kosten, Diamandis	4:10
6.	Gold	Diamandis	Kosten, Diamandis	4:14
7.	Can't Pin Me Down	Diamandis	Kosten, Diamandis	3:26
8.	Solitaire	Diamandis	Kosten, Diamandis	4:37
9.	Better Than That	Diamandis	Kosten, Diamandis	4:36
10.	Weeds	Diamandis	Kosten, Diamandis	4:08
11.	Savages	Diamandis	Kosten, Diamandis	4:16
12.	Immortal	Diamandis	Kosten, Diamandis	5:25
Total length:				53:09