(released on XL Recordings, 2010)
Review by Sean Sebastian
A lot of you out there would base your interest in M.I.A's latest on the genius of Born Free. The single's release was perfectly pitched. The visceral and explicit political themes were punctuated by Romain Gavras' gritty accompanying short film. M.I.A found herself the most blogged about artist shortly after and, to-date, the video has gotten 2,943,985 views on her website, since its release on April 26th. Critics applauded the brazen depiction of genocide, MTV calling it "unflinchingly, unapologetically real". Though the irony that the sector of society being rounded up in the film are, in fact, red-headed kids, seems to be largely overlooked in reviews.
Check out the video here.
The song itself is electrifying. Raw and energetic, the droning bass line and rattling drums mirror M.I.A's anti-political sentiment: "I was close to the ants, staying under cover, With my nose to the ground..." The tone is reminiscent of one Zach de la Roca and it’s refreshing to hear something like that in an artist like M.I.A. But the problem is the rest of her album is aurally and ideologically a sloppy mess. There are some mildly enjoyable moments in Maya, namely the light-hearted, elevator-music-sounding It Takes A Muscle. The sweeping melody and haunting choir of Tell Me Why are also particularly catchy. However, any political statement loses its credibility when placed alongside a track like
Enough said.
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