How To Be A Heartbreaker

Album: Electra Heart (US and Canadian iTunes edition) (2012)
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Songfacts®:

  • Singer Marina Diamandis penned this track as the UK edition of Electra Heart was being printed. It therefore only features on the American edition of the album, replacing "Living Dead" on the tracklisting.
  • Diamandis told Digital Spy regarding the song: "It basically involves four rules on how to be a heartbreaker. It's a guide for everyone!"
  • Marina admitted that this song, along with the rest of the album, was inspired by her own experiences with a heartbreaker. She explained: "Before I wrote the album I was in love with this person who didn't make enough effort. He wasn't really in love with me and I'd never experienced that before. I was like 'I never want that to happen again.' So I started to develop this character and that developed into an album."
  • The raunchy video finds Marina playing a heartbreaker, working her way through a string of boyfriends. The singer Marina accused executives at her record label of delaying the release of the clip in order to alter her image. "So, someone at my record label wont let me release the video bc I look ugly in it apparently + we need more $ / time to paint out ugly parts," she tweeted.

    However, the singer told The Sun that she was entirely responsible for the clip. "I had 100% creative control over this video," she said. "I was like, 'OK, let's get six Calvin Klein models and put them in the shower and I'll be standing in the middle in PVC'."
  • Diamandis is fully clothed in the video, attired in a black top and leather skirt, surrounded by male models in their underwear. The singer told The Independent that she got a lot of flack online from men for the clip. "Afterwards, when I looked at it, I thought, 'yeah, I suppose it is subverting the norm'," she said. "I don't think it suits me to wear very little clothing, it just wouldn't feel right. I'd rather people listen to what I have to say instead of staring at my bum."

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