Froot

“I’ve seen seasons come and go
From winter sun to summer snow.
This ain’t my first time at the rodeo.
Nature ain’t a fruit machine,
She’s gotta keep her credits clean.
Good things come to those who wait
But I ain’t in a patient phase.

It’s summer time and I hang on a vine,
They’re gonna make me into sweet red wine.
Hanging around like a fruit on a tree,
Waiting to be picked. Come on, cut me free.

Come on, fill your cup up
Looking for some good luck,
Good luck, good luck to you.
Hanging like a fruit
Ready to be juiced,
Juiced, juiced.

Living la dolce vita,
Life couldn’t get much sweeter.
Don’t you give me a reason
That it’s not the right season.
Babe, I love you a lot,
I’ll give you all I’ve got.
Yeah, you know that it’s true,
I’ve been saving all my summers for you,
I’ve been saving all my summers for you
Like fruit, like fruit.

Baby, I am plump and ripe,
I’m pinker than shepherd’s delight,
Sweet like honeysuckle late at night.
Leave it too long, I’ll go rot
Like an apple you forgot.
Birds and worms will come for me,
The cycle of life is complete.

I’m your carnal flower, I’m your bloody rose.
Pick my petals off and make my heart explode.
I’m your deadly nightshade, I’m your cherry tree.
You’re my one true love, I’m your destiny.

Come on, fill your cup up
Looking for some good luck,
Good luck, good luck to you.
Autumn – I’ll be gone,
Birds will sing their mourning
Song, song.

Living la dolce vita,
Life couldn’t get much sweeter.
Don’t you give me a reason
That it’s not the right season.
Babe, I love you a lot,
I’ll give you all I’ve got.
Yeah, you know that it’s true,
I’ve been saving all my summers for you,
I’ve been saving all my summers for you
Like fruit, like fruit.

Oh, my body is ready,
Yeah, it’s ready, yeah, it’s ready for your love.
Oh, my branches are heavy,
Yeah, they’re heavy, yeah, they’re heavy.

Living la dolce vita,
Life couldn’t get much sweeter.
Don’t you give me a reason
That it’s not the right season.
Babe, I love you a lot,
I’ll give you all I’ve got.
Yeah, you know that it’s true,
I’ve been saving all my summers for you,
I’ve been saving all my summers for you
Like fruit.”

[ Froot – Marina & The Diamonds ]

Alright, I really love Marina & The Diamonds: her lyrics might as well be pulled out of my head and they always give me a huge lot of inspiration. Froot, title track and first single off her third album, is no exception and I’ve been toying with the idea of taking a photo inspired by it pretty much since I first heard the song and seen the visuals associated with it. It took me a while to codify the final idea as you can see it – a rainbow-coloured halo made of fruit encircling my head – but I’m positive I already had by this time last year, as my first take included the fruit-halo laying on my fanned out, then-long hair. While not taking the photo before I had it cut short was one of the two or three regrets I had, in hindsight it was a true blessing because taking a self portrait with fruit lying on my hair would have been totally unpractical, as I found out when I came down to actually shoot the photo. Also, a nice Forties-inspired pompadour allowed me to experiment with make up to get a goth-yet-posh look which would complement the chromatic variety of the photo.

As this picture is very meaningful to me, I was pretty eager when I finally came down to shooting it, so I documented part of the process / kept teasing about it on my Instagram: first biting the apple which would be left to rot; then, assembling (most of) the halo, having my nails done and shooting; and finally, eating up the props with some delicious whipped cream by my favourite ice cream maker. If you pay attention to the dates, though, you will notice this photo was shot, like, months ago: why is that, you may wonder?

Well, first off, I had to wait for the apple to rot away, which took a few weeks. Then, as Marina put it, “nature ain’t a fruit machine”: despite globalisation, I couldn’t have all the fruit I needed at one time. Before I could get figs, strawberries, cherries and loquats would have run out; oranges are from a totally different season, no way I could have them and plums together; blueberries are grown in greenhouses so they’re out there pretty much all year long, but I wanted them to taste good, too, for my private afterparty and I’d rather have them in the right season. So, I resolved to get the bulk of the halo when most kinds of fruit were available, shoot the main photo and then fill it in as soon as I got the rest. Technically, it wasn’t particularly hard, as I chose a spot on my wooden floor, laid my camera on the clotheshorse to have it perfectly horizontal (as I did with Over You), so I kept the same focal distance and light direction for every shot until cherries, plums, pears and figs – the last addition – were available. The hardest part was reaching for the camera and clicking the button, which gave a nice contribution to my abs, and is the reason why I could have never pulled out this photo with long hair.

Now, in the YouTube audio file for the song, as well as on the album booklet, you can see that the fruit rainbow is a prominent part of Marina’s Froot Era aesthetics and she picked her own colour-coded sequence. I deliberately decided to create one of my own so that it would be a tribute rather than directly copy of hers, even though there is some overlapping with cherries, oranges, lemons and, especially blueberries. Cherries are kind of unavoidable, but I added strawberries too to give different shades of red; oranges and lemons, too, are the most immediate association with, well, orange and yellow, but I put loquats in-between to make the transition more gradual; as for blueberries… well, there is no other edible blue fruit that I can think of. As for purple, I deliberately avoided grapes because I’ve already used them recently, and I opted for plums instead, with figs providing the indigo shade in-between. I also preferred to keep apples out of the halo for other purposes, so I used limes for green; I though I would put a green fig as an intermediate shade between green and yellow, but I was lucky enough to get purple figs this early and “I ain’t in a patient phase”, so I ultimately decided that pear it is.
One final mention for the apple: I decided to go with a visual apple / heart motif to recall the lines from the second verse, and to add some more layers of personal depth to the image. And… well, that’s basically it: I worked hard on this photo and I’m really satisfied with how it turned out. I hope you enjoy it too and… all praise to our lady, Saint Marina the Evangelist, and her three Gospels: The Family Jewels, Electra Heart and Froot. Amen.