On Monday, 5th October, M.I.A achieved her first ever No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with her feature on Travis Scott’s new track Franchise. M.I.A previously reached No.4 for Paper Planes in 2008 and No.10 for Give Me All Your Luvin’ in 2012. Franchise, which also features Young Thug, was recently preformed live on Jimmy Kimmel.
2020 marks a return to music for M.I.A, who has in recent years been focussing on her political activism. The 45 year old musician is vocal in critiquing the Sri Lankan government and has provided much aid to those suffering within the country. Her music is often politically charged. For instance, Paper Planes was a comment on the prejudices and stereotypes that people have toward immigrants.
The catchy chorus ‘All I wanna do is [bang bang bang bang]// And a [click ka-ching]] And take your money’ is an example of M.I.A’s lyrical ability to use irony in making commentary about social issues. Her input on Franchise is, however, not quite so serious.
Her verse sees her rapping: ‘Golf buggy, Kawasaki// Catch a fish, sushi, maki// livin’life// London city, left the town (Ah)// Thug and Travis be the fam’. These slightly random lyrics have been criticised by listeners, to the point of someone starting a change.org petition to have M.I.A’s verse removed from the track!
Others have jumped to her defence, commenting on her Instagram: ‘MIA your verse was good, don’t let the haters get to you!’ and ‘…her verse was the only good thing in this song’. Regardless of the controversy, it is good to hear new music from M.I.A, who surely deserves the No.1 spot after all this time.
On another note, M.I.A’s biopic – an intimate documentary made up of hundreds of hours of personal footage of her – is coming to Netflix later this month. It is titled MATANGI/ MAYA/ M.I.A in reference to the several facets of her identity.
Matangi is her Sri Lankan birth name that was replaced with Maya when she and her family moved to England because ‘people had a hard time pronouncing it at school’. M.I.A, of course, is her musical moniker. The documentary is hitting Netflix screens on October 15th, so be sure to check it out if you want to find out more about M.I.A and her achievements.
