M.I.A. - "XXXO"

Since the last blog had mentioned M.I.A, I thought it was about time we featured her on Hits and Myths. I'm sure you all know about M.I.A but here is a quick overview... she is a British singer/rapper of many styles and a lot of her material is politically charged. Often the activist for oppressed people the world over... particularly the Tamils, Palestinians and African Americans. She was born to parents of Sri Lankan Tamil descent. Her three albums to date are consistently good and worthy of the critical acclaim. Her third and more recent album 'MAYA' was possibly the weakest critically... but for me I couldn't find much fault at all. Admittedly it doesn't have another "Paper Planes" but the material is very strong. Maybe the political messages were wearing thin with the critics, especially with her move to an affluent part of Los Angeles. I'm a fan of political/protest songs and of musicians using their art as a vehicle to express their strong feelings or of oppression... but less so with the artist's themselves ranting and raving on at their concerts (anyone that's been to a U2 concert must have cringed or shouted out to Bono to "shut the fuck up"). I remember a concert in Auckland years ago by 'Public Enemy' which was going fine until 'Flavor Flav' started telling us how fucked up our race relations are and our miss-treating of the Maori people here.... I wasn't there to get a lecture from some guy that just stepped off a plane and was probably flying out the next day. Sorry, I've digressed a bit but my point here is that politics and music fit together well but that's where it should end... and that is where I fit with M.I.A. I love her music and respect her politics within the music. "XXXO" is an unlikely catchy pop song with an angle possibly about the naivety and exploitation of teenage girls. The line "You want me be somebody who I'm really not" speaks volumes in that context. Nice pop from an anti-pop star.