For an artist with as much commercial acceptance as M.I.A., it’s startling how consistently idiosyncratic and complex her music is. Much like Kanye West – a kindred spirit, sharing an outrageous self-styled celebrity persona – she seems to give off the air of a pop superstar while making serious, committed art.
Of course, for any artist as earnest and confrontational as M.I.A., her persona inevitably meddles with her music, leaving people at a bit of a loss. The unrestrained, somewhat unrefined political strain on 2010’s “MAYA” caused it to be severely underrated.
A few years removed and that album’s clunky, abrasive energy seems to prefigure Kanye West’s “Yeezus” with perhaps even a few shades more of sophistication. “Matangi,” M.I.A.’s long-delayed new album, shoulders expectations of a comeback. But those looking for another “Arular” will have to reckon with disorder first: “Matangi” goes hard.
In fact, the marketing behind “Matangi” represents a bit of a feint. “Bad Girls,” the album’s first single, flooded public consciousness, establishing once again M.I.A.’s skill at putting together a club banger. “Bad Girls,” coupled with statements from M.I.A. that the album was being held back for being “too positive,” seemed to imply a return to more standard pop pleasures. The second single, “Bring the Noize,” while amazingly layered and constructed, still seemed to signal a lighter, commercial experience.
Perhaps the nature of the album’s slight rug-pull can be gleamed, then, from the changes made to “Bring the Noize” from its single version to its album incarnation. For one, she holds out the intro longer, delaying the rancorous beat and letting the vocals haunt. Secondly, she drags out the outro and removes a countermelody, leaving us with a more confrontational tone as she sings: “Freedom’s just another word/ Choose/ Nothing left to lose.”
The manifesto here is really not all that different from the refrain of “Bad Girls:” “Live fast, die young, bad girls do it well.” This sentiment prevails throughout the album, but it’s presented in a much more serious way than the “YOLO” crowd might be used to – there’s an urgency to M.I.A.’s command to live that’s bracing and off-putting.
The title track, “Matangi,” is especially unexpected, starting out with what appears to be a reference to Kanye West’s “I Am a God” before diverting into a yelping rhythm reminiscent of “Bird Flu” from 2007’s “Kala.” For a good half of the song, she lists off the countries of the world, as if asserting, “This is for all of you.”
Then, as an uncomfortable, rollicking drum line struggles to keep up with attacks of shrieks and yells, she stops, restarts and gets raw: “It’s so simple/ Get to the floor/ Do you want more?/ Do you know what I got in store?” The bass line hits so sinisterly that it may as well be a threat.
“Matangi” is the most abrasive song on the album, although only by a slight degree. “Only 1 U” comes close, bursting out bare-fisted, drum-like punches, though there’s a nice chorus for reprieve. Past the midway point of “Bad Girls,” M.I.A. seems sufficiently satisfied in establishing her bona fides and gives us her most sincere, personal songs. The two that stand out are both about the failings that come with the “Bad Girls” mindset. “Y.A.L.A.” might be the most poignant, though “Know It Ain’t Right” might be more forthright. Both harbor a wise suspicion and tempered enthusiasm for the impulsive, righteous freedom she craves.
Not that M.I.A. would ever think of backing down. Everything about the album is designed to overwhelm the senses, to never let up the urgency of youth. As menacing and seductive as her proclamations of liberty and life are, she’s definitely on the positive. You only live once, but M.I.A. lives again and again, always trying to go somewhere new.