Marina and the Machine

Much like the boyband phenomena of the nineties (see below), there is of course a danger that all these female pop stars currently emerging will be labelled merely as a genre in and of themselves. You can see it happening already, with Little Boots and La Roux taking care of the 'synth pop' angle, and Emmy The Great and Laura Marling filling the folk pop quota. Another sub genre that seems to be emerging is 'kooky pop minstrel', with Florence & The Machine being joined by Marina & The Diamonds. It's not necessarily a case of these acts marketing themselves as these things, but more the way in which they're written about in the press or pushed by the major labels (which most of them are signed to now).

As with the boyband phenomena, and perhaps Britpop too, record labels are quick to pounce on the whiff of a new musical sea change and fill the gap until it bursts at the seams. Identikit artists soon start emerging, often as pared down facsimiles of who they're trying to be like, and this usually leads to the scene imploding ('landfill indie' is another example).

Confusingly, Marina & The Diamonds aren't a band, it's just Marina Diamond (real name) and a bucket load of ambition. But for all the talk and a brilliant myspace page, the songs aren't really there yet. Debut single 'Obsessions' is alright in a Regina Spektor, Florence & The Machine way but you can't help wondering if it forecasts a scene already eating itself when a new female artist already apes another new female artist who herself is yet to release a debut album.