yeah- i totally agree with this- just as a reader from that time period- the whole thing was like “she doesn’t know how to make music! she is a gifted amateur!” i mean, my perception was that she was playing that up? but maybe it was male music journalists fault?

It’s worth pointing out that Ellen Allien’s had the same sort of issues in the minimal world, where credit’s given to Apparat or Sascha Funke or whoever she was working with. Or Björk . . .

I kid, I kid, but she needs to quit worrying about who thinks who produced what where and how. Someone who gets one of her mixes for the first time really doesn’t give a fuck about that stuff. Seriously, MIA, have a little cheese with that whine and stop freaking out about what people think. Are you an artist or what?

But, yeah, girl powa and all that. She raises fine points, but I can’t help but feel like this ultimately reads like the rich pretending to be poor. Given her music and status at this point, that kind of makes sense.

Team MIA all the way, yo.

Weird and nasty, though, that while Arcade Fire (etc.) backlash focuses on being “overrated” and derivative, all the MIA stuff seems to be about who she dated and how she’s “difficult.” Can US culture not understand female solo artists outside of the context of divas?

“I’ve been thinking about this interview–particularly these segments–all day, and they’re causing me to ask more questions than andrew them.”

“Andrew them” instead of “answer them”- I’m not a grammar stickler, nor am I a psycho-analyst, but that was clearly a Freudian slip. Who’s Andrew?

Not at all. The “Galang” single had been kicking around for months before Piracy Funds Terrorism appeared, and the single had been making plenty of waves on its own.

cf Love, Courtney. I still want to know why, if Billy Corgan wrote all her songs, he didn’t save some for himself- since pretty much anything by Hole is miles better than the third-rate Zeppelin knock-offs he cranked out for Smashing Pumpkins.

If M.I.A is so paranoid over getting credit for her songwriting skills, why does she collaborate with people? (Maybe because she has to.) Female soloists such as Peaches and Tracy And The Plastics; no one questions who deserves credit for writing their songs.

Arular by the way, this is an album that had what? One note in it? It’s basically all drum patterns with M.I.A’s quasi-rap over it. She didn’t even push the frontier of crafting original sounds; the majority of that album is made from presets. There are friends of mine who can’t listen to this album for the reasons written above.

About the interview: What a bitch! Your going to defend your musicianship while you eat pancakes? There’s nothing like defending your integrity over pancakes and syrup! Apparently her waitress served her a side of racism, because you blonde hair and blue eye folk are on her shit-list!

What gets me is that Diplo’s album “Florida” is so much better than “Arular” both in sonics and songwriting craft. Florida is very repeat friendly, but M.I.A’s monotone can become grating over repeat listens. I wouldn’t be surprised if someday M.I.A is forgotten and the critics revisit and embrace “Florida” with critical accolades.

Weird, I got MIA first on a mix and then from a friend, loved her without reading more than one scrawny interview in a free music mag somewhere, and never heard of Diplo before. Perhaps she underestimates her own value as a marketable entity? Males turn knobs in back rooms frequently, yes, but I believe her company still counts on her to strut out in the flashy outfits and sell the group’s collective work.