Idolator
The publicity cycle for M.I.A.'s recently leaked KALA is spinning faster, and today on Pitchfork there's an interview with the genre-bending singer that's been described to me at least 20 times as "contentious." It certainly starts off in heated fashion; after a pause where M.I.A., who's giving the interview while at a diner, orders pancakes, she has the following exchange with Pitchfork's Paul Thompson:
Pitchfork: So tell me a bit about Kala. I just heard it for the first time today, and—
M.I.A.: Diplo didn't make it.
Pitchfork: Uh, what?
M.I.A.: He never made Arular, but you guys keep writing it.
She later clarifies:
M.I.A.: If you read the credits, he sent me a loop for "Bucky Done Gun", and I made a song in London, and it became "Bucky Done Gun". But that was the only song he was actually involved in on Arular. So the whole time I've had immigration problems and not been able to get in the country, what I am or what I do has got a life of its own, and is becoming less and less to do with me. And I just find it a bit upsetting and kind of insulting that I can't have any ideas on my own because I'm a female or that people from undeveloped countries can't have ideas of their own unless it's backed up by someone who's blond-haired and blue-eyed. After the first time it's cool, the second time it's cool, but after like the third, fourth, fifth time, maybe it's an issue that we need to talk about, maybe that's something important, you know.
Yes, let's talk about it; right now it seems that pop music—even in the demographic of people who are talking about and listening to M.I.A.—is regressing a lot as far as gender roles go. Part of M.I.A.'s frustration may stem from her performance style. As a performer who dances around and doesn't necessarily mix or play instruments, the perception that she's the face and voice of the music, and little more, is probably nagging away at those people in the audience who still have even the most residual rockist (I apologize ten times for using that word, btw) tendencies. This despite the fact that her involvement may—and likely does—go beyond her laying down some vocal tracks while the (male) knob-twiddlers around act as svengalis. Call it the flip side of the Avril Lavigne problem, although one could say the tendency toward suspicion of Lavigne's songwriting credits (by people like me!) is of a piece with M.I.A.'s complaint here.
There's more:
Pitchfork: What is your relationship with Diplo like right now? I hear that you're not seeing each other, but are you two still speaking at this point?
M.I.A.: Yeah, I mean, we have stuff... I don't want the whole interview to be about this, I just really wanted to be like 'look, if anyone's going to get credit for helping me produce this album, it was me and Switch who co-produced this album.' Diplo has got two tracks on there, Timbaland's got one track, Blaqstarr's got two tracks, but the rest of it, the bulk of it, is built out of me and Switch. And if I can't get credit because I'm a female and everything's going to boil down to 'everything has to be shot out of a man,' then I much rather it go to Switch, who did actually give me the time and actually listened to what I was saying and actually came to India and Trinidad and all these places, and actually spent time on me and actually cared about what I was doing, and actually cared about the situation I was in with not being able to get into the country and not having access to things or, you know, being able to direct this album in a totally innovative direction. I was just kind of taking what I was given, and took the circumstances I was put in. And I wanted to make the most of it. And the only person that believed in it was Switch, and he gave me the freedom to have the space and have thinking time and have the experiences or whatever and came and shared them with me.
Pitchfork: I'm a little surprised by what you're saying, not because I don't agree with it, but because, in a way, you seem to be ceding or maybe even resigning the marquee to Switch out of frustration. All of this attention has been put on someone else in helping you make this record, and I completely understand why that would be upsetting, but at the end of the day, no matter who produced the tracks, it still says M.I.A. on the spine of the record packaging.
M.I.A.: That's what I'm saying. There is an issue especially with what male journalists write about me and say "this MUST have come from a guy." I can understand that, I can follow that, that's fine. But when female journalists as well put your work and things down to it being all coming from a man, that really fucks me up. It's bullshit. I mean, for me especially, I felt like this is the only thing I have, and if I can stick my neck out and go for the issues and go through my life as it is, the least I can have is my creativity. And I think that's probably the stupidest thing about it. I wish somebody did conjure the spirit out so I can change that, and now I'm going to spit some politics, I was going to be like this... fucking... whatever, the thing that I was, I wish that somebody did conjure it out. But I'm not going to give that credit, whatever my life is and whatever my lifestyle and whatever people in Sri Lanka feel is right, like somebody masterminded it. You know what I mean? I think that's bullshit.
I've been thinking about this interview—particularly these segments—all day, and they're causing me to ask more questions than answer them. The one question I'll throw out now is this: How similar would these writers' perceptions be if M.I.A. collaborated on her music with, say, Ellen Allien? Obviously a lot of the more lurid tabloidy "are they dating or what" chatter would be gone (and you can probably chalk that up to American culture's inherent heterosexism), but would there be as much of a rush to give equal—or in some cases the bulk of—the producing credit? I'm not sure; and, truth be told, I'm also not sure of what happened in the studio, how the creative process really broke down. But the level of frustration that M.I.A. has on this subject is palpable in the interview, and I think it speaks to something very real about how women—particularly women who are surrounded by males, and who serve as the "face" for their artist imprint—are (still, after all these years) perceived by the rock world at large.
M.I.A. Confronts The Haters [Pitchfork]
Comments
But Diplo produced the mix tape that by and large helped get her career off the ground, at least in the pitchforkian terms, no?
But, that aside, she does have a point. But I wonder if it's more of a US thing than a gender thing, where so much of our popular music vernacular is music produced by people whose names aren't on the album spine.
@Digitallofi: But even in the U.S. you hear a lot about how such and such female musician or artist did not write any of their own material, even if they are credited all over their liner notes. From Courtney Love to Li'l Kim you hear people constantly claiming that these women are just singing puppets to some male, songwriting/producing mastermind. I can't blame M.I.A. for getting to the point of frustration she's at.
great post. I completely agree that the frustration and issues she points out are valid. Dudes, don't you start taking that away from her, now.
This sort of allegation would likely not come up with a no-talent artist (i.e., a "face", who frankly feels lucky to be part of the package). It would only arise as an issue if there were a legitimately talented and dominant contributor behind it.
I think she and Diplo did date at some point. But I totally understand and agree with what she's saying. It's no secret that she's a driven, creative and intelligent person - why wouldn't she be able to write these songs? Even if men were integral in creating the beats, the feel and message of her music come from her experiences and vision as a female and a minority in a Western country. When I saw her open for LCD Soundsystem a couple of years ago, nearly half the crowd left after her set. She's a star in her own right. I think the way her personality comes out in the lyrics endears her to many of her fans.
Funny that another person related to the M.I.A. matter was herself accused of having her boyfriend help write her debut album. Justine Frischmann is perfectly capable of ripping off Wire without Damon Albarn's help, ya hear? (I kid, because I love).
This seems weird to me, because it would never have occurred to me to think that MIA didn't have complete control of Arular. Her personality is so strong, at least as it's presented on the record, that it's hard to believe she'd let anyone else have any say at all. At the time, it's impossible for me to think of someone like Rihanna (a bad comparison, I know) having any control, becasue her records are so lacking in personality or any unifying ideas. I'm probably wrong to use personality as a measure, but when that comes across, be it a woman or a man, I always assume they have a large measure of control (which is probably as much of a fallacy as the sexist belief that women can't possibly make great records on their own).
@narymary: I completely agree with you, and applaud MIA for having the, well, balls to address it so directly and pointedly. (Also, it appears the interviewer handled this quite skillfully.) The evidence is everywhere. I'm just saying that a lot of our pop music, male & female, is manufactured for them to one degree or another, from J.T. to J.Lo. And hip hop especially is a hugely collaborative genre where the real sonic architects are rarely the face on the cover.
"ask more questions then andrew them" typo in the interview.
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.
My first M.I.A experience was seeing her open up for LCD Sound System and I thought she stole the show. Who was manning the music for her that night? Diplo! But hey, she rocked it!
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.
this has been going for a long time.
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.
@digitallofi: Oh, totally, I don't disagree with you. I guess in my mind M.I.A. is so clearly her own entity who managed to have crossover success. A lot of her early stuff has a homemade/DIY feel to it so I would never doubt her as the creator of it, barring some collaborations here and there. Whereas with someone like Justin Timberlake or Jennifer Lopez it's like, a shock when you find out they wrote some shit on their own. Even lyrics. And also I don't think I've ever heard an accusation towards guys for not creating their own music, except in the case of Milli Vanilli which was clearly a legit accusation.
@digitallofi: But Diplo produced the mix tape that by and large helped get her career off the ground, at least in the pitchforkian terms, no?
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.
I knew Vulture Protein's post was suspect but it was the praise for Florida, one of the dullest, least interesting albums of the decade, that clinched it.
where is PHILLY on this post? WTF. She totally dated Diplo. I saw them. She gave interviews to Mass Appeal about how much she loved Philly etc. etc. And yeah he's cute and blonde and shit but she's fucking retarded if she thinks he, like, eclipsed her overhyped ass. Sayin.
Not to de-rail the comments about the article (10 points if I do, though) but check this quote:
"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?
MIA has a new album coming out and Diplo is posting bulletins about having to get a job at Macy's. I don't know if he's just messing around or whatever but there you go.
@Howie-Doo: Hahahaha, it was a friend of mine who was IMing me while I was writing this. It's been a long day.
I was waiting for the backlash to kick in on her, what with Kala coming out soon.
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?
Given Diplo's comments on Pitchfork about Kala ("she didn't work very hard on it"), I can understand her frustration with both him and P4k in general. Given his dismissive attitude toward the new album I would want to take a stand and just make the truth known in as unambiguous a manner as possible, which I think MIA has done as well as anyone in her situation could do. His interview with them slighted both the album and her live show, but I don't think anyone would have bothered to give his comments a second glance as being the rantings of a bitter ex, whereas that's all anyone will say about MIA the minute the fact of her having dated Diplo comes up into the conversation. I WONDER WHY.
Team MIA all the way, yo.
So who's MIA?
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?
How similar would these writers' perceptions be if M.I.A. collaborated on her music with, say, Ellen Allien.
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 . . .
To me, the weirdest thing is that when she was doing Arular press, she was nothing but up front about her nonmusicianship. She literally told me, "I don't know how to write songs." It's her schtick, the unpolished, songy quality of her music. She only really got into making music, like, a year before Arular came out and so OF COURSE she'd need collaborators. Has anyone really faulted her for this, anyway? Her perception seems to be that she's beat up, but god, last I checked, she was a fucking darling.
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.
@Richfourfour: the weirdest thing is that when she was doing Arular press, she was nothing but up front about her nonmusicianship. She literally told me, "I don't know how to write songs." It's her schtick, the unpolished, songy quality of her music.
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?
M.I.A. unloads on Pitchfork over Diplo. New album out in three weeks. [via]
Who's Diplo?
Sounds like MIA is on the rag.
@blueeyeddevil:
hhaah! That's really funny.
Comment on this post
Login with your username and password below.
Forgot your username or password? New User?