Karma

"Karma" is a song by Welsh singer and songwriter Marina from her fourth studio album, Love + Fear (2019). Marina's former boyfriend Jack Patterson produced the song alongside Mark Ralph. It was written by Marina, Ben Berger, Ryan McMahon, Ryan Rabin, and Patterson. The song was released for streaming in the United States as the album's fifth and final single on 29 August 2019 by Atlantic Records. Marina was inspired by the Me Too movement and the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse cases when writing the song, although she was not initially aware of the inspiration. It is a pop song with a tropical beat, which lyrically describes a woman confronting a man, insisting he will eventually receive his karma. "Karma" received mixed reviews from music critics. Some felt the song recalled Marina's earlier works, while other critics found it unmemorable. An acoustic version of the song was released on Marina's sixth EP, Love + Fear (Acoustic) (2019). A music video using the acoustic version was released in September 2019. Directed by Nikko LaMere, the video features Marina portraying a black-and-white jester who dances. The original version of the song was included on the setlist of her fourth concert tour, the Love + Fear Tour (2019). Marina also performed the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in September 2019 as part of a promotional appearance in the US. Background and release For proceeding with a new era, Marina announced via Twitter in 2018 that she would be dropping "and the Diamonds" from her stage name in order to release music as just Marina (stylised in all caps). She explained that to Dazed, "It took me well over a year to figure out that a lot of my identity was tied up in who I was as an artist... and there wasn't much left of who I was." After the announcement, Marina released "Baby" with Clean Bandit and Luis Fonsi, her first single under the new name. On 14 February 2019, she announced Love + Fear, her fourth studio album and first as Marina. The track listing for the album was unveiled the same day, revealing "Karma" as the twelfth track on the album and the fourth on the Fear portion of it. Conceptually, Love + Fear is a double album that is made up of two segments, with each one referring to psychologist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' theory that humans are only capable of experiencing the aforementioned two emotions. "Karma" appears on the Fear portion of the album, which explores themes such as "being taken advantage of" and sexism.