24 September 2016

top 100 of the '00s | 61. m.i.a. - "paper planes"

Art is, by nature, political, so I always love to see an artist who embraces that fact. M.I.A. goes beyond embracing; she cuddles with this fact like a body pillow.

Written in frustration in the wake of difficult treatment by the US government, the chorus is a mouthful that hits on both the difficulty of immigration to the US and the treatment and stereotyping of immigrants once they're here. M.I.A. told The Fader that she used sound effects instead of lyrics in part of the chorus to leave it open to interpretation, a call that had every chance to be awkward but works incredibly well here.

The hypnotizing beat will have you swaying side to side, snapping your fingers, and questioning your stances on a globalized economy.

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