Diamandis collaborated with producers including Liam Howe, Greg Kurstin, Dr. Luke, Diplo and Stargate during its recording, and subsequently transitioned from the new wave musical styles seen throughout her debut studio album, The Family Jewels (2010).

Diamandis created the title character "Electra Heart" to represent female archetypes in popular American culture (House Wife, Beauty Queen, Homewrecker, and Idle Teen).

Electra Heart performed moderately on international charts, including a peak position of number 31 on the US Billboard 200, and became Diamandis' highest-charting album in the United States at the time selling an estimated 11,000 copies.

After returning from the United States after the launch of her debut studio album The Family Jewels (2010), Diamandis considered creating a character which would become the centerpiece of her follow-up project.

[3] The final product became "a cold, ruthless character who wasn't vulnerable",[4] which she later named "Electra Heart" and detailed as a tool to represent a combination of elements associated with the American Dream and Greek tragedy, and added that visuals would merge the differing concepts into a cohesive idea.

[2] Diamandis first announced Electra Heart in August 2011; it was initially planned to become a three-piece project inspired by American culture in the 1970s, although it eventually evolved into her second studio album.

[14] Alexis Petridis from The Guardian compared the lyrical content used throughout the pop punk-inspired opener[14] "Bubblegum Bitch" to "the self-fulfilling I-will-be-huge prophecy" that was developed in The Fame by Lady Gaga.

[17] The following track "Primadonna" is a pop number that contains a "surging beat" and an "anti-chorus structure",[18] which according to James Christopher Monger from AllMusic blends styles reminiscent of Swedish singer Lykke Li and the British band Coldplay.

[19] "Lies" is an electro ballad,[20] which Michael Cragg from BBC Music felt that allowed Diamandis to "deal directly with her emotions", and opined that contributions from producer Diplo gave the song "extra gloom wobble sadness".

[11] Cragg classified "Homewrecker" as a "vampy" track which blends verses centred around spoken-word vocals with a "stompy" refrain where Diamandis declares "I broke a million hearts just for fun".

"[19] "Power & Control" was detailed as an electropop track by Emily Mackay from The Quietus,[21] while Laura Snapes from Pitchfork commented that Diamandis repeatedly delivers the lyrics "I am weak" with an "increasingly ephemeral voice" as it progresses.

[22] Snapes also felt that "Living Dead" was a more "vulnerable moment" from Electra Heart, and compared it to the "snappy [and] taut" works of English duo Soft Cell.

[22] Monger recognised inspiration from American singer Lana Del Rey in "Teen Idle" and felt that it represented "the feral blood of an army of disenfranchised high-school loners coming into their own".

[19] Bradley Stern from MuuMuse suggested that "Valley of the Dolls" drew inspiration from the 1967 film of the same name, and described "Hypocrates" as a "sparkling guitar-pop tune" that takes stylistic influences from 1960s pop music and details the power struggle between romantic partners.

[23] Electra Heart closes with its 12th track "Fear and Loathing", which experiments with electronic music styles;[24] Petridis made particular note of its minimal production, which according to him, places emphasis on Diamandis' "coolly enunciated and slightly folky" vocals.

[25] Becky Bain from Idolator complimented its "retro film stock look" and opined that it "is just a snapshot from some 1970s exploitation movie",[26] while Bradley Stern from MuuMuse jokingly referenced the album track "Homewrecker" when stating that she "looks like a proper Suzy Homemaker!

[30] A limited edition box set of Electra Heart contained the deluxe version of the record, four photo art cards, a ring, perspex, necklace, and pocket mirror.

[38] Uploaded on 18 May, the black-and-white "Part 5: Su-Barbie-A" is set to the introduction of "Valley of the Dolls" with overlapped commentary mentioning "Quick-Curl Barbie" and "Mod-Hair Ken"; it depicts Diamandis standing on the porch of a house with her back to the front door.

"[19] Michael Cragg of BBC Music felt that the recurring concept of failed romance established "a strange dichotomy" that created a sense of cohesiveness, and elaborated that it "[pulls] you sharply into her world."

He considered the second half of the disc to be mildly disappointing, although concluded that this was excusable because the overall record "[balances] the ironic and the heartfelt, the quirky and the mainstream, the real and the fake with remarkable aplomb.

"[11] Tim Stack of Entertainment Weekly complimented Diamandis for her ability to "rival Katy Perry for catchy hooks, command with the swagger of Gwen Stefani, and even come close to the ethereal vocal exhilaration of Florence Welch."

Stack opined that Electra Heart was a healthy combination of up-tempo recordings and genuinely-delivered ballads, and placed additional praise on the female archetypes explored throughout the album.

[17] Simon Price from The Independent accepted that the record was "too professional to be truly terrible", although noted that Diamandis' revamped public image as a "British Katy Perry" lacked ingenuity.

She compared the disc to the works of Perry and Britney Spears, although felt that Lana Del Rey was more successful in embodying the themes of "love, identity, femininity and America" than Diamandis' generic production values allowed.

[67] Emily Mackay from The Quietus criticised the songs' titles for being lacklustre, which she sarcastically stated caused listeners "physical pain", and was disappointed that the character "Electra Heart" was a scapegoat for expressing "all the worst parts of Marina Diamandis that she didn't want to become.

[90] In August 2012, Diamandis commented that she believed consumers in the United Kingdom had misinterpreted her comical effort with a perceived abandonment of her original musical inspiration, thus resulting in a relative underperformance in the country.