M.I.A.'s new video for "Born Free"

Whoa, that's awesome.

Shame about the song though.

Bit of a different tone for MIA though, her videos usually don't go for that sort of thing

I didn't like it. The video pits an insistently-paced rock song (that will surely be remixed and danceable) against footage of an invented atrocity. It made me uneasy in a way unintended by M I A and Gavras. The video and the song clash against each other, which isn't inherently bad, except the story is an exercise in misery. I think it's time to retire some of this imagery, of the riot police cracking down on innocents and hip young dissidents. (!) It's tired and has encouraged a pointless video like this.

Is this directed by Eric Cartman?

What's M.I.A. have against Gingers?!

Jesus, I hate doing this but...I agree. It's simple, boring and easy.

I like that motherhood seems to have made M.I.A totally pissed off instead of turning her into a sentimental wussy.

Pissed maybe, but definitely not one of her better songs.

She's been pissed off for quite some time. Most of the songs on Arluar are particularly angry.

M.I.A isn't like your typical pop diva. She grew up with civil war, displacement, refugee-ism and government raids (the Sri Lanka government destroyed her school during a raid when she was little).

I don't really like the video, but to write her off as a "hip young dissident" sells her a bit short. The woman is an artist, through and through.

Not a "hip, young dissident," maybe, but definitely not one of her better songs...

Like I said, I don't really like it either. But at least she's still not afraid to take risks.

Totally.

More egregious than the song's poppiness clashing against the video's "hard-edged European"/Greengrassian realism is that the song is told from the freedom fighter's perspective while the video is mostly from the (admittedly unsympathetic) perspective of the oppressive authority. (The director's earlier video for Justice is overall stronger--despite substantially less sure-handed direction--as the song itself is intentionally and compatibly assaultive and chaotic.) So the video and song are riling you up in opposite directions toward frustratingly heavy-handed and pedantic ends.

Of course I recognize that the video is supposed to be a comment on the pointlessness/arbitrariness of genocide but the metaphor isn't apt and the particulars are ludicrous to the point it loses meaning. Structurally and even just in terms of the unlikely machinations of the culminating execution scene the whole thing feels terribly implausible and cheapens the already-obvious message, rendering it both exploitative and preachy.

I get that MIA's trying to bring some third-world edginess to America and attempting to raise awareness of genocide worldwide--but this video feels more like one-upping Lady Gaga's "controversial" (and dreadful) Telephone video than it does like spreading awareness about anything other than her upcoming album.

In sum, the video is very well-made and quite effective. I'm totally sympathetic to its important message--but I really don't like it. Then again, I just hate the even-better-made Funny Games. So maybe I just don't like being talked down to.

Why did you edit out your comment about FUNNY GAMES? It was the best part about your post.

I fixed it for you because that's how much I care. And now a post you/certain others may love even more: I'm leaving the site for like a few months because I want my 500th post to be special.

I didn't call M I A a "hip young dissident" I was talking about the imagery of riot police beating said young people up.

I saw her live and it was a good show. Preferable to hearing her records, even. She's trying, but she failed this time, is all.

EDIT: But the concert disturbed me in how her music served as escapist entertainment for most of her audience, when she wants to influence social change. It wasn't like seeing Bob Dylan play in his folk period. Were Bob Dylan fans of the 60s more genuine or sincere about the artist's concerns, than today's fans of an artist like MIA? I think she's struggling with this, as other musicians are, in our consumerist society - the medium of the message is party music. I was entertained at her concert, but I knew I wouldn't do anything to change the shit that inspired her music. Merely buying the folk artist's music should be considered stopping far short of actually making a difference, if she is a folk artist. On that, I don't think she knows.

Oh, you blew it. No 500th post will ever live up to the hype. So you might as well not bother coming back.

To be honest, I think Dylan fans were overly concerned about being sincere about the artist's concerns, to the point where they were looking to him to be something of a leader, and rejected him when he refused. At least that's seemingly Dylan's take on it. The irony of course is that Dylan is the antithesis of sincerity. Not that his music can't be "honest" but that he doesn't want to be seen as a statesman, or even a "folk musician."

So, in one sense, what's worst? Someone hearing "Blowin' in the Wind" and going out and protesting something the writer didn't exactly intend them to be against (while simultaneously still being entertained, which is the overall point of any music). Or someone dancing to an awesome beat while getting a global or political message through the lyrics? Do you really think everyone is just blinded by the beats? I think you're selling a fair share of her audience a bit short.

The juxtaposition of living in a world where genocide is happening on one side of the world while you want to go out and dance the night away is what makes M.I.A's music so exciting. It's global in the truest sense of the world.

One doesn't need to be a folk artist to be sincere or make a statement. I'm not exactly sure what the hell you're saying at the end, there, or what kind of a point you're trying to make.

I was using the term 'folk' loosely, to describe an artist who's interested in social activism through the music. If I think about M I A's music at all, even though it's good, it sounds crass in a bad way to me, what with the dance beats against the lyrics.

The original form, of traditional folk music, may be the best way to express earnest folk messages about serious topics, at least those that are rooted directly in the real world. But this may be because I find nothing entertaining about original folk music.

I kind of like the music video up until the end. It feels like there's no point to it, like the director said "Hey, you know the bit at the end that's meant to be the most powerful and affecting? Lets film it in slo-mo and make it look AWESUM!!"

I just don't understand this sentiment in the slightest. It sounds like you're saying the only way to convey important social topics in music is through folk based earnestness, but at the same time you don't enjoy folk music.

No wonder you're so miserable all the time. You don't like anything.

This also explains why you snub your nose at anything pulpy, even it contains really great social commentary. I bet you hate Night of the Living Dead, don't you?

How is what M.I.A singing about not rooted in the real world? In the real world, she enjoys going to clubs and having a good time, like any normal young person who goes to clubs. In the real world, her school house was destroyed in a government raid. That's the point, that's why her music isn't "crass" but refreshingly modern. We're not living in the 60's Louse. We're living now in a globalized world where everybody wants to get high and party, even in the middle of hunger, genocide, war, corruption, you name it.

What's the difference between what she's doing and a good hip hop song that examines life on the corner? She's taking it to a global level, but there's still a killer beat with important lyrics at the center

What the hell are you talking about? Are you suggesting that Bob Marley or The Clash or Michael Frenti and Spearhead or NWA are all crass for bringing social issues up through non-traditional forms?

I think I understand what Mr Louse is talking about, because I had alot of education in folk music and protest songs. It would be cool to see someone write one for our current troubles.

With that said, I think the person most likely to do that is a political activist with a side interest in music, not the for profit musician behind PAPER PLANES

PS There was a story about MIA on HuffPo today, FYI

Yes, what the world needs now is more non-profit musicians.

Most clunky Cracker lyric ever.

Songs like "Bread and Roses" (Louse may know what I'm talking about) were not created by pop stars. They were created by clever but aggrieved people with musical inclinations.

I love you guys!

Yeah, you better call in college boy!

Kate, I know what "Bread and Roses" is. I know it's a protest song about women in the workplace in the beginning of the early 20th century, inspired after an incident in which a building burned to the ground with many women workers still trapped inside. I also know that despite the fact that it originated as a protest song, many people have recorded it and profited off of those recordings.

Try not to be so condescending while you're being stupid.

Cuz Billy Bragg never, ever made money on a song. Or Pete Seeger. Or Dylan. Or Henry Rollins.

I liked this video better the first time, with NIN playing over it.

I don't know where I'm going with this, one digression lead to another, and if I had stuck to a couple ideas about the video, perhaps I wouldn't sound very confused. I'll just say it's a video that's at odds with itself (she wants you to dance, and also make you feel miserable - imagine the video containing Auschwitz footage, which would be the same idea).

I think Bob Marley is OK, I don't like Spearhead, and I like Public Enemy a lot. I like Suicide as well. (the band M I A sampled!)

And yes, Ryan, another example of my backpedaling, but shit I said was stupid.

Excuse me while I bash my head against a rock.

Yes, Suicide! Another band that features electronic music (you could even say that sometimes it boarders on dance music) that tackles serious subjects through their lyrics. I mean, shit, they're called Suicide for Christ's sake!

I don't think the song in question is particularly "dance-y." It's also not very good, but it's not like people would be going "woot-woot, killing Gingers!" while listening to it.

And yeah, in typical Louse fashion, you blurted out a whole bunch of bullshit pseudo-intellectual arguments that you can't begin to support and then immediately retracted them when everyone cries shenanigans. Why do you do that?

I was not attempting condescension. I just didn't think people knew that one. Also, I'm not sure (off the top of my head) that BREAD AND ROSES has anything to do with the triangle factory fire. I think it's just about asking for free time and more humane conditions (where as the triangle factory fire was more a case of locking the doors and burning to death). "Bread" representing the necessities of life, such as food. "Roses" representing the luxuries that make life worth living.

Because I'm wrong.

And I am socially inept on the internet.

Tried to work through some thoughts on here. They were misguided. I'm not trying to be an elitist though.

You're right, my mistake, it was the textile strike that inspired Bread and Roses and they were faced with fixed bayonets when they marched with the slogan.

I was thinking of that other protest song inspired from the triangle fire, "Our Bread is Burning and So Are We"

Louse, I know I come down hard on you all the time, but you do have some good things to say from time to time and you're clearly interested in certain genres of film and music. It's when you fly into over compensation mode to make a point that drives everyone bananas. I'm honestly just trying to understand where that comes from.

Or you could, like, look it up.

Ah right, that's what I thought

Frankly, Ryan, I think I displayed an impressive grasp of the subject matter, and did it all off the top of my head. I'm constantly accused of being "Princess Wiki" (a charge I still don't fully understand) so I didn't just want to provide a link proving I was right. I wanted to be right in a conversational and pleasant way.

Fair enough. OTOH, not so pleasant to toot your own horn. Just a piece of advice for the future.

Sorry. I'm not doing so great right now.

Can you come back and post your picture please

Did Policar lose his fucking mind or what?

New album streaming on her MySpace page.

Pleasantly surprised...her best work yet.

If either 'Tell Me Why' or 'It Iz What It Iz' get a big push as singles they could be the next 'Paper Planes'. Mind you, when Kala was initially released, the mainstream appeal of 'Paper Planes' was apparent to me immediately.

'It Takes A Muscle' is pretty awesome, especially that reggae bounce. Love her distorted vocals, too.

Pitchfork hated it.

I wonder if there's some correlation between not liking Kala and loving the new album? Because most of the criticisms that I'm reading about the new album are the exact same ones I had about Kala.

Well, I hate 'em both so there's that.
Then again, I thought the first album was only so-so, and I'm of the opinion that MIA is the most overrated artist of the '00s, so it could be just me.

ETA that Letterman appearance was kinda funny though.