- I know it's like,
it's a sassy song and it can definitely be taken
as someone who's like congratulating themselves.
For me, it wasn't that,
it was that I hadn't felt like pride before in my work,
and I think it's really important to cultivate
that in yourself,
otherwise, you know,
why you're making art if you don't think it's like of value?
When I started writing the song, I had this caption,
will I be a wallflower when you can be a Venus flytrap?
And I loved that because it spoke to a habit in me,
which is to make myself small
to make other people feel comfortable.
I don't think any of us are here to do that, you know,
we're all here to live life boldly,
authentically, in whatever way that means to us.
- Beyond the song,
it's more about feeling self ownership and you know,
it's taken me five records to get to that point,
at least creatively as an artist.
I've not had a predictable career,
it's not being based really on, you know,
having radio hits or having like consistent commerciality.
It really affects the career path of an artist
when they have this like dichotomy
between being pretty much an alternative artist,
but functioning in like a pop cultural way,
and that's led to a lot of confusion,
but I'm definitely at a point where I'm at peace with that,
and I can see that it's a strength now,
it's not like a weakness.
- I think the Hollywood thing
is like feeling like you belong in your industry.
You're very much expected by record labels
and people you work with when you start out
to do things a certain way,
and that takes away your intuitive approach,
which might be a lot better.
Listing all these things that I didn't do it for,
like money famous, etcetera.
What I did do it for self-expression and freedom.
I think I realized that that nothing can change
me just through time and experience, you know,
if I'm on my fifth record and I'm still able to make
the music that I love and believe in,
it's going to be pretty much impossible
to make me into something I'm not at this stage.
- My last record was very different,
it was quite like clean, like electronic production.
And part of my fan base loved it,
and part would just like, this is not Marina,
like we want her raw, crazy,
whatever side.
The noise of the internet can feel so much bigger
than it is sometimes, but it affects people.
It's hard to operate without being affected
by what people think.
So "Don't Underestimate Me"
is definitely directed towards the internet.
- I wrote that because growing up as a young woman,
you're taught to like play down the way
that you look or your good qualities,
the way that we're born, we have no control over anyway,
but it's nice, you know,
however you look and however you are,
to appreciate that, and again,
you know, it's definitely like a new feeling for me.
I use songwriting to manifest things a lot,
I have since the very beginning.
- I feel like I sacrificed
a lot of close relationships when I was younger.
There were key relationships in my life,
which I, you know,
put my foot down about
because at the time what was at stake was
whether I was going to follow this career path or not.
And for me, I just absolutely no way
would let anything get in my way,
but there's a price to pay for that.
- I wasn't sure whether to include that line
because we have all gone through such a difficult time
and some people way more than others.
I never want to feel like I'm like braggy,
but the point of that line
is money isn't the be all end all,
it's not going to make you happy,
material stuff won't either,
but it's a kind of cultural signifier of success.
I was a little nervous about it because I feel like
when women talk about money or like celebrating it,
they get a totally different reaction to when men do.
I think people need to realize
that part of equality is having financial independence.
You know, worldwide for women.
- Shame is such an easy tool to use to get people,
particularly minorities, to shut up basically.
And you know,
that also leads to how our political system works.
So it definitely speaks to,
I don't even want to like say his name,
but the president before Joe Biden.
- I brought that line back around because it's kind of,
it's like a resolve or it's the solution
to what I'm talking about.
It like caps it off in a nice, neat way,
and I try to do that, not with every song,
but with a song like this,
it feels like satisfying to reinforce that message.
- Honestly, it's very much subconscious,
like when I'm writing,
whether I decide to end it with an ad lib,
like on this song or like a completely different melody
that hasn't occurred in the song before.
I think it's all about mood and tone,
and for myself, when I was finishing writing that song,
I wanted it to feel like foreboding and dark,
like you should be careful.
Many of us growing up,
we feel like we're not allowed to be ourselves,
or we have to behave in certain ways
to get security, or love, or validation,
and I think in adult hood, or part of adulthood,
is really ironing that out so that you can have freedom,
personal freedom.