British rapper MIA has always had stunning visuals in her music videos. Long, flowing robes and a kaleidoscopic piles of coloured fabric makes for an exploratory visual wonderland. Fitting, then, that her music is just as captivating, with an interesting mix of hip-hop and electronic vibes. Her 2016 album A.I.M was just brilliant, letting her shine from both an artist (I mean, artistic) and lyrical point of view.
On her latest track, M.I.A has again shown why she’s one of the best artistic visionaries on the stage at the moment. P.O.W.A. is a statement, but not one that’s vocal heavy. The beat is a clutter of different sounds, and it makes up most of the sonic focus of the song. It doesn’t really allow much lyrical flexing from M.I.A., but that’s okay. Not every track needs to be read like a novel.
The real star of the show is the video itself. The visuals are clean and interesting, and the lineup of men dancing is phenomenal. They act as a snake, bobbing and moving as a single unit rather than a collection of individuals. Combined with the landscapes M.I.A. is seen striding around, it’s a captivating sight. Check it out below, and go spin A.I.M. a few more times while you’re at it.
https://youtu.be/Zkkr-HhnwS8
Image: Over The Edge
As one of the most provocative figures in music today, it’s hardly surprising that the prelude to M.I.A’s fifth and potentially final album wasn’t a smooth ride. Having dropped her acclaimed, controversial track Borders last year, the singer continued to court controversy in her usual style with threats to (once again) leak her new record and complaints about label clashes.
This characteristically volatile lead up from M.I.A seemed to hold the promise of something with all the confrontational power that we’ve come to expect. But with AIM, M.I.A comes very to close to missing her parting shot.
Although the album continues in the same politically charged vein that Borders channelled, something of M.I.A’s powerhouse vitriol fails to quite kick in over the record. Having stated that AIM would be her “cleanest” album to date, and would show a side of M.I.A that was more about a “glass half full”, those promises translate to an uncertain beginning.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-Nw7HbaeWY]
This record does drop the defined cultural inspirations that previous releases bounced off. But, as the scope of her commentary extends to much more global proportions, it feels fitting that AIM perhaps channels a bleaker, western world musically. Launching with Borders, swiftly followed by Skrillex collaboration Go Off, you are getting the full force of M.I.A’s punch off the bat. While that introduction doesn’t weave the lush, rich textures that we may have come to expect from M.I.A, Go Off moves towards a driving, almost meditative state.
But as the record trudges onwards, something in it really does struggle to find its way. In much the same way that M.I.A’s recent comments questioning the Black Lives Matter movement seemed blustering and unexpected from the usually razor sharp singer, the first half of AIM feels similarly bewildered. Starting with the stark, eccentric Birdsong; the Blaqstarr Remix sits M.I.A’s vocals right out in front, where her musings on ornithology fail don’t quite hit home with the subtler meaning.
Moving forward and the slightly lame quality to M.I.A’s lyrics is what’s really bugging me on AIM. Her usual talent for turning the commonplace on it’s head with a quick lash of her tongue, seems to be absent across tracks like Foreign Friend and Freedun. The latter is so nearly poised as a startling pop gem, a glittering collaboration with Zayn Malik. Gorgeous hooks and melodies, Malik’s vocal’s are pop gold meets Middle Eastern romance. However, there’s a boredom to the cliches, even the playful “People’s Republic of Swaggerstan” feels lacklustre.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_Nc1FdTD10]
There is a sense that, without her vitriol, M.I.A is lost for words. Maybe in taking on so much in this record, you get the feeling that she isn’t entirely sure where to go. Finally is sound in it’s sparse composition, but even this affirming track has M.I.A checked out already. Collaborating with Jamaican Dancehall star Dexta Daps on Foreign Friend, she’s got a killer vocal part on her hands; one which could match up to Jamie Foxx on Kanye’s Gold Digger. But again, something isn’t adding up. Even her own commentary on the inspiration behind the track fails to shed any light on what M.I.A is really trying to say with this one.
A.M.P (All My People) delves a bit deeper, with a dubstep inspired anthemic feel. And Ali r u ok? sees M.I.A touching back on that talent for taking everyday stories, and opening out those snapshots into the bigger picture. Hard going and staccato, the battering vocal sample feels like a warm up, and familiar lyrics are once again shot through with knowing irony. In fact, it’s at this point on the album that M.I.A finds her stride again.
The second half of AIM is pretty much euphoric by contrast; someone has flipped the switch and M.I.A has got her feet under her, ready to rip at the system with all her might once more. Fly Pirate keeps running at the pace set by the quick fire Visa, M.I.A pushes into the depths of dubstep without sacrificing her messy, wide reaching style.
Making a second foray into pop, Survivor somehow succeeds where Freedun falls short. Channelling dancehall in her deep vocal melodies, the touch of autotune and shimmering synths, M.I.A tries on “life affirming” and this time, finds that it fits. It’s almost a relief to hear her cry holla, and a refrain of “say my name” on The New International Sound is a conscious reference to powerhouse pop history, rather than a cliched repeat.
The brash, clashing blades on Swords ushers in a hypnotic outcry from M.I.A, full of ragged sounds that come together in a beautifully textured track. Talk is an infectious kick at the world of social media, a flat out dance beat forms the back drop and harks back to Kala era. There is a sense of nostalgia around AIM, facing down what might be her last album M.I.A is definitely returning to some old themes. Sometimes in a sort of homage to former glories, but elsewhere reinterpreting the fire of albums like Matangi.
Image via YouTube
Signing off with the thoughtful Platforms, a track that partners Borders to bookend the record. Looming and more melodic than other songs, coupled with brash vocals that find M.I.A reaching for those articulate and sharp lyrics. This isn’t M.I.A going out with a bang, but stick with AIM and it does eventually become the deep reaching, last word that does justice to her as an artist. A testament to that fact that the middle ground isn’t the right setting for M.I.A, but once she finds her feet, Mathangi is back riding high.
Image: Rolling Stone
A few weeks ago M.I.A shared one of the tracks from her fifth album AIM called Go Off, featuring Skrillex. Now it has been confirmed that she and former One Direction-er Zayn Malik have been working together on a song known as Freedun.
How did this all come together?
“We have the same publishers and they wanted me to demo some songs for Zayn. Before I started writing properly my own stuff [for AIM], I was thinking maybe I’ll write for other people instead. I really wanted to write a song for Zayn….We had a couple people in common. And that’s how it came about. I didn’t really approach him for my own record until later on. First, I thought I wanted to try writing a song for him,” she explained to Entertainment Weekly.
While discussing her visa issues over Twitter a few months ago, she described her new album as her “last”.
https://twitter.com/MIAuniverse/status/727212460013408257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
In this interview, the reality of this sad fact was once again brought up as she spoke about her wish to try something different.
“I just feel like I need to spend more periods of time somewhere. When you get into music and you get into a cycle of a record, how life goes, is very fast. You don’t get to just live things out and get involved with communities. I want to spend some time in Greece, make a documentary [there]. Something useful for a bit,” she said.
AIM will be released on September 9th.
Image: Billboard
Earlier this year, M.I.A. announced that her next album was finished, but hinted that it may well be her last. She has dropped Go Off, a single from her forthcoming record AIM (which is expected September 9 this year) featuring Skrillex and Blaqstarr. Playing out on Annie Mac’s Radio 1 show for the first time earlier this week, she was also joined by M.I.A. who spoke a bit more about the track and her future plans.
Sonically Go Off brings M.I.A.’s familiar tough, chant-like vocals as well as hypnotic melodies and a militant beat. With just an edge of Skrillex in the dark hints of jungle and dubstep, the track is still heavy with M.I.A.’s roots in Asian culture.
Speaking to Annie Mac, she confirmed that the album is likely to be her final one. Not that M.I.A. expects to stop making music, but she is looking to “go do some other stuff and take some time off”. Talking about her new record, she says how it all came together after the release of Borders.
Also mentioning “mad people” who came together to make the album, M.I.A. describes it as her “cleanest” record to date. Known for hefty political and social commentary, she maintains that AIM will show her “glass half full” side with no complaints. Following the incredible clip for Borders, she does promise a video for Go Off. But she warns that this time she didn’t want to feature any people – after working with a thousand extra and a crew of one hundred and twenty five people for Borders, she says she can’t deal with humans just yet!
Image: fuse.tv
I’m sure fans are deciding whether to feel happy or sad about M.I.A‘s newest reveal on Twitter.
The good news is, she’s finished her album.
The bad news?
She won’t be able to promote it in the US.
M.I.A says while she’s handed in the album to her “American label”, she doesn’t have a Visa and will not be able to enter the country without one. I guess that would make touring kind of difficult. She says she “might have to start writing songs [for] DJ Khaled and Selen[a] Gomez to get heard.”
She also described this upcoming album as her “last”, suggesting that she won’t be release anymore.
https://twitter.com/MIAuniverse/status/727212460013408257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/MIAuniverse/status/727218993296187392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/MIAuniverse/status/727219787852582912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Complex reminds us that she has previously struggled to get a Visa in order to record her second album Kala (read our feature about that album here), due to “her connection with her father Arul Pragasm, a former leader of the Tamil Tigers separatist group in her native Sri Lanka.”
She solved this issue by recording her album on the go, travelling all over the world to finish it.
This album will be her fifth, following Matangi in 2013. She has dropped a few singles from the album, including Boarder Than A Border, Swords and Borders. These have been a part of an audio-visual project including some influential/controversial music videos.
Let’s hope, for the fans in the US, that her Visa is granted soon so we can all hear her new album as soon as possible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-Nw7HbaeWY
Image: Billboard
Once again honing in on yet another important societal issue, M.I.A has now teamed up with Swedish retail super giant H&M for a new campaign titled “Rewear It”. Asking everyone to join a “global fashion movement for the planet”, the campaign is about giving H&M your old clothes so they can turn them into new ones, but with M.I.A’s droning hook and exotic beats, you’d easily be forgiven for forgetting this wasn’t actually her new music video.
Starting off with “Regenerate a nation” repeated over and over again after a brief spoken introduction about how climate change is everyone’s problems, the clip then quickly darts between subjects, each of whom are getting down and cutting some incredible shapes with their dance moves. There’s also stunning scenes of M.I.A standing on top of a giant tower of fabric.
In a recent interview with Vogue, M.I.A discussed what she hoped to achieve from this campaign, saying, “If all [H&M] do is go and inspire another high-street brand to get in on caring and being conscious, or if H&M gets criticized for any of their factory processes, these are all good things. We should discuss them in public and we should have this back and forth. At least they’re even stepping into the [environmentally conscious] arena.”
It’s uncertain whether or not the track in this video will be featured on her forthcoming album, Matahdatah, but it wouldn’t be the worst thing if it wasn’t as it’s certainly not her best song. That said, it still contains a powerful message and one that so desperately needs to get through to people. For more information about the Rewear It campaign, head here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhcGN9fqraQ
Image: Spin
Behind oil, fashion is the single most destructive industry. That is a fact.
It pollutes; it exploits the world’s poorest people; it uses more than 20,000 litres of water to produce one simple jeans and t-shirt outfit.
Since being exposed as one of the many fast fashion labels that casually engages in little things called slave and child labour, European clothing brand H&M have made a lot of noise about sustainable and ethical fashion. Now, they’ve recruited activist musician MIA to help tout their wares during World Recycling Week.
For just over a decade, the label has been releasing it’s Conscious Action Sustainability Report, a review of its efforts to achieve fair wages within its factories along with sustainability efforts. They also introduced a new sub-label, H&M Conscious, in an effort to show the world that they mean serious business when it comes to sustainability. With a number of celebrities on board, people got excited about a new wave of ethical fashion, seemingly able to ignore the fact that H&M’s footprint remains immense as the company continues to grow, as well as the fact that H&M fully controls the report and isn’t endorsed by any official body.
As Athit Kong, Vice President of the Cambodian Garment Workers’ Union C.CAWDU argued, “H&M’s report does not accurately reflect the reality on the ground in Cambodia or Bangladesh and their PR rings hollow to workers who are struggling everyday to feed their families… A ‘sustainability’ model that is put forth and wholly controlled by H&M but is not founded in genuine respect for organized workers and trade unions on the ground is never going to result in real change for H&M production workers and only serves as a public relations façade to cover up systemic abuse.” Shannon Whitehead adds in Huffington Post that “The success of H&M is dependent on a strategy of planned obsolescence. Fast fashion can never truly be sustainable because the business model itself is inherently unsustainable… As long as the fast fashion business model remains the same, any attempt at a more sustainable future is simply a wash.”
Perhaps these are they reasons that the brand’s newest campaign featuring MIA is focused on recycling existing garments as opposed to creating entirely new ones. Though they’ve been in the business of recycling unwanted clothes for around three years now (and with the amount of waste they create, it’s quite literally the least they can do), it appears that this is the first real effort the clothing giant has made to put its money where its mouth is and actually inform consumers of its recycling options.
The partnership between H&M and M.I.A seeks 1,000 tons of unwanted garments which will be up-cycled into new garments in an effort to raise awareness of World Recycle Week which takes place April 18th through 24th. M.I.A comes into play by releasing a new music video that will focus on the environment impact of the millions of unwanted garments that take years to breakdown in landfills. An alternative-dance/electro/hip-hop answer to the pollution, sweatshop and packing factory themed videos from bands like Rise Against.
There’s no word on whether the song will feature on M.I.A’s upcoming album Matahdatah, but the video will premier on the H&M website on April 11th and is set to feature a handful of other performers. H&M have also enlisted the assistance of popular vloggers and bloggers – many of whom found fame through the bizarrely enthralling genre of haul videos – to film “rehaul videos” in which they show the garments that they will be dropping off to H&M to be recycled.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-Nw7HbaeWY
Image: Twitter
Politics and culture have always been the cornerstone of Sri Lankan born singer M.I.A’s music. Turning a deaf ear to criticisms of appropriation and incitation (like in her album, Kala), she is unrelenting in her exploration and in her ability to call time on those things that others might shy away from talking about.
Last year’s release of a self-directed video clip for her song Borders ushered in her voice to one of the most pertinent political conversations of recent years. The refugee crisis, and surge of migrants into the West, has caused huge division between political parties and civilians alike. Though we’ve seen exceptional moments of compassion, in the worst cases, it has also given rise to examples of some of the more despicable forms of prejudice.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTMQXBQMSU0]
M.I.A recently appeared live on Al Jazeera to discuss the clip and her views on the continuing refugee crisis. Asked about the reception of the video, she commented that “”It has weeded out a lot of hate from neo-Nazi groups, and people thinking that it’s going to cause white genocide, and that’s what I’m promoting.” She makes the point that this issue is one that she has consistently addressed throughout her career, and sadly this misunderstanding and repurposing of her work is something that she has had to contend with for a long time as well.
As divisive as the problems she talks about, any artist who tackles political issues will always face this kind of criticism and extreme interpretation. But on the flip side, she also says that, unsurprisingly, she has “had a tremendous amount of support from my fans and other people who feel that it’s important for artists and musicians to speak about current affairs, and things that actually affect our society.”
As a refugee herself, M.I.A holds the topic close to her heart. Having left war torn Sri Lanka to come to England at the age of nine, few understand the problems of cultural integration as well – and are in such a position to speak out about these issues. By her own admission, she accepts her role as a kind of “poster child”. Talking about her views on multiculturalism and integration, M.I.A comes into her own as a positive influence;
“I think integration is a positive thing. Assimilation is separate, and I think integration can be a positive thing, and I’m a product of that. It has valuable contribution to culture. Creativity especially has thrived out of something like that. When I first came out as a musician, I always championed the concept of multiculturalism, and how coming from England actually helped facilitate something like that, and facilitate someone like me being able to come out and make music and be part of the music industry in the West. I think that’s only positive. I can’t find anything negative about multiculturalism.”
Many have criticised M.I.A in the past for her political ideology, or questioned how deep her concern really runs beyond the aesthetics. But no one can question that she speaks from experience, and from a point of empathy with victims of these crises and those starting again in new countries and cultures, that few of us have the privilege of really understanding. In an age of political correctness, prejudice is more dangerous than ever in it’s refusal to keep quiet. So we can only hope that global artists like M.I.A continue to make their noise as well – and keep the volume well up.