Written by: Marina Diamandis Produced by: Liam Howe Album: Family Jewels UK release: April 2010 UK chart peak: 38
OK, OK, I Am Not A Robot was technically first put out into the world in 2009, but!!! It wasn’t officially serviced as a single until early 2010, so I’m counting it as a fully-legit song of this decade.
Marina – then still Marina and the Diamonds – bears her soul on this gorgeous track; a top-drawer pop ballad with a clear sense of identity from the artist (I just read one critic comparing her vocal wobbles in the second verse to “Florence sat on a washing machine” and I am DEAD).
Fun trivia: When I saw her live at the tiny Norwich Waterfront in 2010, she stopped half-way through this song and refused to continue until the drunk guy in the audience shouting “BUT I AM A ROBOT!!!” was removed. And honestly, fair enough.
I’ll be writing about my favourite 100 pop songs of the decade; one a day for the last 100 days of 2019. They’re in no particular order, except the Top 10 – which will (obviously) come in late December.