M.I.A.’s latest album falls far short of expectations
So that’s 40 minutes of my life I would like back. Ok, maybe 35
minutes. Listening to M.I.A.’s newly-released
”
Maya
”
is an exhausting experience and, for the first time in her short
three-album career, a worthless one. Say hello to the
disappointment of 2010.
Before 2008, a failure like this from Britain’s Sri Lankan
rapper and political diva M.I.A would have gone unnoticed
– at least from a pop culture standpoint. But with one trailer
from the 2008 movie
”
Pineapple Express,
”
she blew up fast and became the face of a generation. In
2008,
”
Paper Planes
”
was everywhere
– despite the song having been out for nearly a year before the
movie trailer.
M.I.A.’s latest album falls far short of expectations
So that’s 40 minutes of my life I would like back. Ok, maybe 35 minutes. Listening to M.I.A.’s newly-released “Maya” is an exhausting experience and, for the first time in her short three-album career, a worthless one. Say hello to the disappointment of 2010.
Before 2008, a failure like this from Britain’s Sri Lankan rapper and political diva M.I.A would have gone unnoticed – at least from a pop culture standpoint. But with one trailer from the 2008 movie “Pineapple Express,” she blew up fast and became the face of a generation. In 2008, “Paper Planes” was everywhere – despite the song having been out for nearly a year before the movie trailer.
M.I.A was praised and the song and year-old album reached gold status by 2010.
Oh and there are all those awards, including a Grammy nomination for – you guessed it – “Paper Planes.”
The single has now been downloaded nearly 4 million times after its trailer debut in July 2008. And M.I.A.’s global impact reached a peaking point last year when Time Magazine named her one of the world’s 100 most influential people.
And of course, her first two full lengths are great albums that blend hip-hop, pop and world music into a cohesive and enjoyable composition. Despite all of her political outrage and, at times, angry lyrics, the music was just fun and enjoyable.
To say there were high expectations for her third full-length effort would be an understatement. And she sure didn’t live up to them, creating an underwhelming album.
But underwhelming is not the right word to describe its sound. It’s loud – very loud.
Taking a page from her label N.E.E.T.’s newest signing Sleigh Bells, M.I.A. blows out her speakers. And unlike Sleigh Bells, whose “Treats” is one of the year’s best, M.I.A.’s “Maya” – using the symbols “// / Y /” on the cover – uses the electronic medium and thrashing guitars to overwhelm the songs and, well, the songs suffer.
The name of the album, a stylized version of her name Maya, and its attack-of-the YouTube-load-bar cover is a perfect representation of the nearly 42 minutes of music. It’s obnoxious and an annoying experience.
The ideas behind the album’s lyrics and ideals are fine. The album revolves around the idea of informational politics and the idea that all of our iPods and smart phones will take over the world. Honestly, she might already be a little behind on that one.
Regardless, the album starts with a simple motto – when we connect to the Internet we connect to the government. Oh, and Google is name-dropped here as well. Her mind goes from our headphones to our iPhones to Google and then to the Internet, which is controlled by the government. So if M.I.A. is correct, watch out for Apple. And all of this is said over a ruckus of electronics that meld and try to combine into something cohesive, but it never succeeds.
The song, or better yet intro, quickly transitions into a song that starts with a nursery rhyme “rub a dub dub.” The second track, “Steppin’ Up” spends its final minute or so making sure you know who she is with a chorus surround by her name, M.I.A.
Following M.I.A.’s turn of self-indulgence, “XXXO” represents her club track. A simple melody and chorus that sings, “You want me to be someone I’m really not.” And M.I.A. stays within her technology theme by mentioning Twitter at least a couple of times.
Oh, but it gets worse. The 6-minute “Teqkilla” might be the worst thing she has ever done. The song, which meanders through its six minutes, never finds a comfortable rhythm. With sounds of broken glass and a pulsating beat, it throws around a chorus of inaudible sounds. It’s a song of 1,000 ideas and, if she stuck with just a portion of them, she might have found something good.
Sadly, most of the album is like this – too many ideas and not enough cohesion.
But there is some good, notably track 5 “Lovealot” and track 7 “It Takes a Muscle.”
“Lovealot” has a similar sound to the rest of the record but it’s just simpler. The heavy dub-step bass of the beat and basic chorus allow this song to swell and grow.
Halfway through the song it explodes with sounds before completely cutting out – which it does three times. But at its core, the song is really the first hip-hop song of the record.
It’s a basic hip-hop song with swirling digital sounds behind it. It truly is a triumph.
And “It Takes a Muscle” is a throw back to M.I.A.’s glory days of world music. The jazz-influenced beat allows the song to swoon – it’s really hard not to get up and just move. It’s easily the album’s happiest and danceable moment. But it’s short lived because afterward the album takes a quick left turn back to its congested digital sound.
For an album of ideas and an abundance of noise, M.I.A. disappoints – despite some glorious moments.
