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sitting here, reading this again, eating chocolate pie.
I heart Marina.

you forgot to add the accent: i WISH i had an american accent! or even an english accent! every time i think of an english accent i think of that kid from willy wonka, verucca. "Daddy, i WANT another pony"!! :D

and i agree with the rest- everyone whos not from america and has never been there is forever dying to go. it is compelling. :)

While running the risk of sounding like a smartass, I draw the comparison to early european societies. not simply for the reason that they are young nations but also because from the perspective of the newly arrived peoples there is nothing in this new land where they have arrived.

Or to clarify I think that one of the main reasons for american ingeniuity and optimism is that there is a need for it. That is to say when the USA was first "created" there was very little in the way of infrastructure and establishment and what have you, so there was a big need for inginuity and optimism, or the settlers wouldn't have survived.

Now it seems to me that that has continued into modern times largely because the american system has allowed it to, coupled with the fact that the states hasn't had a war on the mainland in the last century.

Man this is grounds for a research project... I should know better than to try to answer a question like that on a comment board, but hey no one ever accused me of being reasonable like that!

I've lived in Florida all of my life so far. I can easily explain why we have so many inventions and candies.
Candies: Fat kids and/or drunken people who think up random candy ideas.
Inventions: have you noticed that most of our inventions help you get fatter lazier and/or drunker? This is because they were made for these reasons by either people who want to get rich or people who want to be fatter, lazier, or drunker.
XD the products look good, but there defiantly not good for you.
What's funny is how everyone from Britain leaving notes wants to come to America because they think Britain is boring, while I want to leave America and come to Britain. If only we had enough money to send me to a British boarding school. :/ o well. at least Harry Potter is down the street now so i have something to do here.

I love america. I went there once when I was a little kid (New York straight after 9/11 o.O) and came back with a fake american twang that lasted for months. I am jealous of EVERYONE who goes to america, and since reading Looking For Alaska reeeally want to go to an American boarding school, but I know it's an impossible fantasy. WELL ACTUALLY SINCE HARRY POTTER WORLD OPENED I KNOW THAT NO, THIS FANTASY IS COMPELTELY REAL AND POSSIBLE :D but then on the other hand everyone has guns so :/ oh and Marina pleeease get tumblr ^_^ x

having spent the first eight yrs of my life in the US and the next 20 in England, i totally relate to your mal d'Amérique. although I've always *felt* like a Seppo deep down, living here again after my gig as an honorary daughter of England allows me to observe My Fellow Americans with endless, objective, joyous fascination. and i'm in love with America too, for the tacky, vivid, explosive, chaotic riot that it is.

i think part of the answer relates to a few uniquely American traits: we're compulsive innovators who love invention for its own sake; we're risk-takers and independent thinkers; we're geographically too large to support a rigid class system; and we're not afraid to make arses of ourselves because nobody rubs your face in your failures for the rest of your life. because of these traits, our culture attracts many of the brightest and best from other nations.

our love of invention may be observed during any given hour of late night infomercials -- Booty Pop (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUz51FjnlB0), Hawaii Chair (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9_amg-Aos4), anything endorsed by the hyper-masculine Richard Simmons, etc. etc. how is it possible that a small fortune can be made selling something called The Slap-Chop? because smart American inventors / marketers know what other Americans want: Unnecessary Plastic Objects and Things That Make Our Lives Better! Funner! Easier! the fact that these gizmos do exactly what we're promised is utterly beside the point. the core truth is that, even if we don't actually spend money on this festival of tat, it's comforting to know of its existence and, indeed, of the existence of the dudes behind these inventions. an America without Tiddy Bears? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJUBFkVrk9s) who would ever want to live *there*. not i...

i mention lowly infomercial products to make a general point. our can-do spirit of innovation extends of course to all sectors of industry. (wassup, NASA.)

implicit in the connate craving in the American mind for things novel and fresh is the understanding that we not be required to commit ourselves to it. hence, junk food, Lady Gaga, magazines, sit-coms, etc. choosing it, buying it, unwrapping it, and consuming it should take no longer than twenty minutes, thirty tops. any longer and you need to check yourself for a personality disorder, preferably at the drive-thru therapist's.

I'm obsessed with the UK and I live in America, so I guess I know how you feel.

The condensed idea of SO MUCH EVERYTHING BUY EVERYTHING AND EAT IT OR PUT YOUR ASS ON IT tends to only apply in certain cities. When I am in LA, it's certainly crazy, but more like "Wow, I didn't know that they sold chocolate funnel cakes" and less like "O sheesh yall, buy four rocket launchers, get a free cheeseburger!"

Answering your request, I believe the children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way. America is the world's fat little punching bag that has spewed out quite a few ideas due to it's focus and near obsession with youth.

This made me laugh but in a good way. I find it interesting that your so fasinated with America. I have lived in America my whole life and never really thought of us like that. After reading your blog it made me think. We do have crazy candy, insane people, and the horribly good food. America is a big crazy bubble and I have to admit sometimes I have wanted out. I guess I was thinking the grass is greener on the other side, but in the end I'm grateful and wouldn't want to change where I am from.

And to semi answer your question, I think it is because America is full of opportunities. People want to achieve the American dream. Whether you will make it or not you won't know until you try. I guess we are not afraid of failure, which shows in our past. If we fail we keep trying. I'm not saying we are proud of our failures, but we take it as a lesson and move on.

Btw I love our candy too. My favorite is reese's. I try my best to stay away from it, but it always seems to find its way in my mouth haha.

I wish you the best! and pleeeeeaaaaasssssssseeeeeee come to America (Memphis)!! I would love to see you live!

Marina I recently discovered your music through Towleroad blog, bought your album and I am IN LOVE with it! I also like your blog, and find this discussion particularly interesting. Some of the things you listed certainly made me giggle, especially the macho-man narrator bit, those voice-overs are so absurd. Some others caused me to feel grateful for certain things I take for granted living in the US.

It's fascinating to hear about what you find so attractive about America, because as many other Americans who have commented here, I have spent much of my life fascinated and infatuated with many cultural traits of Europe. I don't feel that I can add to the insightful explications here on what makes America tick because most of the time this country baffles me and feels very foreign to me. Perhaps this is because I spent part of my teens living in Portugal and Cape Verde.

I think that the idea that the US can be explained because of its youth, this makes a lot of sense. Also the point about city versus rural is very significant! The prevailing culture of coastal California and Hawai'i (where I am from) is so different than say, rural Utah or Alabama. American culture can be suffocating and US media soul-poisoning. Much like you wish you "could turn back time and be schooled in America", I often feel a distinct yearning to be living some place in western Europe. I feel that I am missing out on different kinds of friendships, perhaps a more fulfilling lifestyle, clean efficient public transport, etc., but my career would be hard for me to transfer across international borders. So I count my blessings and bloom where I am planted. Thank god for the internet that can allow some connecting with other cultures!

This may seem silly but after years of watching Dawn French do her Catherine Zeta-Douglas-Spartacus-Jones parodies and recently gulping down two seasons of Welsh accents on Torchwood, I must ask do you have that sexy Welsh accent? (I love it) Thank you for your fun and inspiring music!

I'm glad she likes it. If she ever stays here for an extended period of time only time will tell if she'd still think it's still predominantly lollipops and fairy tales. I mean look at the ego on "MEISDON" when he says 'cool little artists like yourself'. I don't see anything little about Marina or her music. That same sort of condescension permeates America to create things like Racism. I find both things in question massive and legendary in caliber and depth. As a loner / independent minded sort of person I find it refreshing to hear music wrought from one who thinks somewhat like I do. We (loners) want better for ourselves but others don't agree we deserve it. Calling us little doesn't help either. People like 'MEISDON' make me want to become one of those solitary, rural living, arsenal housing, overly-territorial recluses who blow things away first and ask questions later, exhausted of the average person and their inextricable nonsense.

Even though I find most of the things you listed morbid (candy is scarcely edible with all of the chemical ingredients, pharmaceuticals do more harm than good with their side effects, and every else is mostly either about profit or the negative side effect of something that is - not that there is anything intrinsically wrong with that last part) I'm glad you glean some reason to feel good from this place. At the end of the day that's really what life is all about. If I could change the part of human nature that makes them hate that which is different and alter a little more compassion and empathy into our profit driven society I would probably love America as much as Marina does. I've been around America and Chicagoland is the only area I can stand, minus Naperville and their population of pseudo-aristocracy.

The american dream is just something you can't escape!! we are surounded by american culture and whether you like it or not it's just everywhere!! they must be really good at advertizing because i can't help be fascinated by America!
Might be a new country but when you think about it when the settlers arrived, they were outsiders from other societies and they wanted to create a perfect society, no one was really there to crush their creativity and supervise them, thus they had a free pass for everything they wanted!! When creating the united states, the goals were obvious: freedom and dream making! it's as if singers, painters, writers, directors joined together to create something amazing! Since then, they just hold on to the american dream! America just seems to be the country where everything is possible!

Strange country, i'm just like billions of others, wishing i was born and raised in america, part of all the cliché we know!
When i went there, the american dream lost some of it's colours, but still, can't help loving it!!
Not sure i said everything which needed to be said but well it's a start!!
and thanks for the Hollywood song!
marie

America is so nice, I mean my highest worries are grades and snow season ending. Everyone I met is really nice, I mean one day I was snowboarding on Mt.Baldy, and was waiting for a lift and a group of us struck up a conversation on a upcoming storm, and wondering if it would be enough to open lift number four again, then someone offered free gum and then everyone took it and went on the lift. You can hold random conversations with people not just on the slopes but every where you go really. Maybe that's the american spirit, just talking randomly with random people, talking about your favorite tv show and letting your mind go wild, talking bout your opinion, talking, talking. I mean in the revolution people are talking about indpendence with random people. With my friends sometimes the conversation goes so wild, it can go from be saying Marina covered Starstrukk to blurting out potatoes then to asking my friend to fix my hair for graduation pictures then to a group of friends making up wild stories,
Maybe that's the american spirit, not being afraid to ask random questions and talking to random strangers

As an American born and raised citizen from the tiny commonwealth that is Massachusetts (the name of our state is literally the only thing that still holds true to the native culture), I do have an opinion that you might be interested in. The secret to the American culture is that we think simply. That is all really.

We are not told to question society or government nor are we ever encouraged. We are not a democracy, but a republic. We go out to the polls and vote once every two or four years. Those votes usually hold little to no power, and then we go on and live our lives like everything is fine. We don't have any enemies that we immediately know of.

Example being the fact that the ongoing "wars on terrorism" are not even reported by the press anymore. We are fed nothing but happiness and sunshine. That is why as American artists/actors/musicians, we dig that much deeper to find the truth; the heart of things. We are committed to discovering reality outside the restraints that our society presents.

America is simple and most people here go through their lives never asking questions and therefore never getting answers. The majority of our country's people are just happy working a full day at a simple boring little place in the middle of nowhere as long as they can go home at the end of the day and sit in front of the TV screen with a microwave dinner box to watch an episode of The Simpsons. The for this is just that they don't know there is more to life.

That gives purpose to art. To inspire the counter-concept that life can be more than just "simple".

That is why certain little Americans like myself listen to cool little artists like yourself. Because we like to bend the rules.

Much love,
Don

Wow you think soo similar to me.
YOU SHOULD NOT feel lonely in this jester, same as you i have had an obsession with american life....my whole life, and that was also through TV's propaganda. (i still remember getting my first sky box, this old grey thing which i still have lying around somewhere!)

Everything you say is true and i'm so happy, you are the same as me.

Although you did not mention 1 thing..........
Living in England through your teen years, have you noticed that when your out and about, with your mates, in your own street... where ever, in a shop ANYWHERE.....
PEOPLE FIND IT AWKWARD TO TALK TO EACH OTHER

its just something us British find hard, talking to random strangers,
DID YOU KNOW, on average a person makes a new friend every 3 months in the UK. (terrible :'(

Now the point is that in america it's completely normal to talk to strangers... which is soo cool!
I went there on holiday once, for a month, just random kids come up to you chat and invite you to join them doing whatever. THAT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN IN THE UK!

Just wana say I discovered you last friday night on jonathon ross, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED YOUR SONG.
since friday night and now (sunday evening) must have listened over all your songs on youtube at least 10 times each!

Also wana say, how its pretty cool that above in the blog you type with txt lingo, i think it kinda shows you write your blogs not some old man in a suit doing the work for you!
you are only 8 years older than me, nice to see ure pretty modern eh!

Lastly i wana say that I LOVE YOU!!!!
Please reply
Anees

Hi Marina,
I can't believe you actually love america like that. Cause it's kinda how I love America and American things. In fact right before i read this i was thinking that I really wanted to visit arizona or a deserty sunny place, after watching tremors. For me I moved to Saudi when I was growing up and got to meet people from all over the world. And even though I went to a british school I got into american music, tv and movies and the whole culture. I even had an american accent which was cool. Even though I;ve been back for years now I find it hard to relate to people in the UK now. Most people don;t seem to share my likes (Especially things that i probably should have been too young to know about like 80s tv show Family Ties - I miss it when things were more simple back then...)

My explanation for Americanmania is I think the weather's a lot better in America too, which might make people more cheerful and open and creative. British people are way more reserved and there's less land and nice scenery to become a cowboy.

ps. I really hope u read this cause I love that ur weird and different from other artist! keep it up!

Good list which I completely agree with; and to answer your question I think it's in the gene pool - the original immigrants had the get up and go - and got up and went to the US - this has continued and will continue to do so because of the diversity of its peoples, and their desire to achieve. Also, there was no cultural or social baggage to encumber them whilst growing - and finally, their constitution - which considering it was written in the 18th century is probably the finest piece of legislation ever written. (BTW - if you get a chance, go to Ellis Island in NY and find out about US immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries - fantastic!)

Finally - I think (if you want to be) you are going to be quite a superstar - you are clearly immensly talented - and that voice! (and music) Superb.

Good luck with whatever you want to be!

Makes sense, I've been to America quite a few times now with my family or school. Fallen in love with the place. Ever since I've first been able to comprehend the difference between the different styles of American and British music, cinema and literature I've know where my true love lies. I guess living in an international culture helped alot though, lived in the Netherlands for 14 years of my life even though I'm originally Welsh. But I've always been in love with the American Culture. So many times I'd wondered what it would've been like to grow up there instead of in Europe. I sing with an American accent, prefer american humour (feel rather out of place with the general sarcastic humour of Britain at the moment). I can probably only disagree with maybe 1 or 2 things of the above list, otherwise I completely agree.
As for why America provided the world with such an explosion of inventions and ideas and so on. I would guess it's just population, they have lots n lots of people, eventually one of them would come up with something ingenious. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to detract from their brilliant culture however superficial it may sometimes seem.
But OH WELL. I don't usually write crap on forums like this, but alcohol makes people do bizare things.
Literally just watched you on Jonathan Ross. You have a beautiful voice. But more than anything you intrigued me... sounds ridiculous. But the lyrics of Hollywood just seemed to suit u and make me raise an eyebrow.
WALL OF TEXT OVER!
Was a pleasure to listen to you and I hope to catch a live performance some time!
Sion

I am pretty much in love with you Marina :P
That is all I had to say hahaha
Although... I don't understand how you love America and all of it's superficial ideals yet at the same time you seem to hate it? But I know exactly what you mean!! Very bizarre...

It's hard to improvise and experiment under supervision of a Party tovarisch. Creativity grows on freedom. The Land of the Free always gave adventurers much more freedom than they could ever get in their own homelands.
Take democracy, add adventuristic 'national character', spice with wild capitalism and cook on HIGH revenue expectations - voila! the WATCHAMACALLITS choc bar is ready to sell.

The bad news is that creativity is one tender bastard. When raised on thirst for profit and success (aka American Dream), it may grow fast and flower mad, but end up a schwag giving lots of cough and no high at all.

The Led Zeppelin come from UK, anyway ;)

Hey....i love the Hollywood song, ive just dicovered it and cant stop listening to it.

Im SOO excited cos im going to HOLLYWOOD!!!! And its my first time to America! So this will be the song i will be listening to whilst im there. I too love American culture, especially their film industry cos its the BEST!