M.I.A. - Drama Queen

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“London! Quieten down I need to make a sound!” Maya Arulpragasam demanded on her 2005 debut. She yelled over bongo beats and we listened. Now she is fully in command of the limelight, is she happy? “I’m a reactionary,” she tells Gigwise just after the release of her latest album, Kala. “Drama will always follow me around. But it’s ok… it’s all part of growing up, you just accept who you are.” The girl that goes by the alias of M.I.A has matured into her 30 years. She’s still making a noise, but in a different way. “When I was 18, I was like cocky, bitchin’ this, fuck that… I wanted to blow up the student loans authority; I had beef to shout about. Now I’m calmer… like a quieter storm. I fight in a different way, I’ve learnt to be aware.”

Consciousness is a major factor of being M.I.A. We may have assumed that her pool of influences couldn’t grow any futher, as ‘Arular’ saw electro, hip hop, dancehall, grime and baile funk contribute to the sound of the UK’s most unique artist. With roots in Sri Lanka, India and London, grabbing inspiration from various corners of the world has come easy to M.I.A, and this time round she presents an even more varied pot of cultures in her material. Rather than sit back and take calls from some of the most in demand producers around, she found a new love in the shape of Liberia. Meeting those affected by war and former child soldiers, she filmed a documentary about the state of the country with activist Kimmie Weeks. “Being in the music industry is a blessing and a curse. You have the chance to create, but you also have a responsibility because you affect people,” Maya says thoughtfully. “It’s all about doing good every day and spreading positive vibes.”

And what about events like Live Earth and Live 8, aren’t they sending out good messages? “I dunno… We wouldn’t need that stuff if we built those things into our daily living,” she muses. “Live Aid and all that stuff was good in the 80s. It’s hard for charities… but it’s the celebrities that I have a problem with. People should just help!” She recalls her recent experiences supporting a fellow headstrong female - Bjork. “She has a weird energy about her as a woman. We were in this town to do a show and she spread such positive vibes. There were birds singing and rainbows – we could even see a tornado going on! We could actually see it!” Maya exclaims. “I think that every artist has an aura and persona that develops and Bjork spreads such a positive energy. You can just feel it.” She recounts the part of the show where the Icelandic princess allowed her to get involved in the finale, clearly ecstatic at the trust the legendary songstress placed in her to play her instruments. “Now I wouldn’t even let myself play instruments!” she laughs. “But it was so good that she wasn’t afraid of me messing her show up. I suppose its something that you learn when you get older.”

With age came a higher calibre of collaborators. This time round Timbaland, Blaqstarr and Switch were just a few of the names that pitched in with ‘Kala’. “Blaqstarr makes club music and we made something different, it’s cool and exciting to open someone else’s mind up,” Maya says. “He’d never met a Sri Lankan from London before and I’d sit in his studio pad eating chicken and bailing him out of jail. He’d be like ‘why are you here?’ and I’d be like ‘but I like your music!’ It was a funny connection.” She is certainly one fearless female - especially after she reportedly allowed her Polish hairdresser friend cut her bobbed mane whilst he was on ketamine. 

Her father, a Tamil activist turned militant was the inspiration for the title of her debut, whilst her mother’s name was used as the name of her latest effort. It makes sense really, considering ‘Arular’ was the voice of someone struggling to get heard and make their mark on the world, whereas ‘Kala’ is a more controlled progression, even though it still holds that sabretoothed wildness that makes M.I.A so original. She’s not the type to surrender to anything – other than the notion that she’ll never have a quiet life. “Even when I settle down and have babies, there’s going to be baby shit drama going down at school!” she giggles. It’s not the only thing that she’s realised since her debut either. “I’m evolving as a female artist. I got less shouty and kind of growing into my own skin. I was listening to a lot of immigration - a lot of no’s… where else musically in our scene, kids were trying different things. I listened to a lot of Bat for Lashes, Bollywood, old skool. I got into Mayhem too. I’m just a really curious person.”

The Indian drama of ‘Jimmy’, the trippy drum beats of ‘Bird Flu’ and ‘Boyz’ and the simple groove of ‘Mango Pickle Down River’ are the work of a woman truly in control and worldy-wise, with a dash of sexiness. M.I.A really is a bit of everything you can think of poured into one personality. She’s pioneered to bring baile funk from Brazil and now even skinny jeaned indie kids’ ears are twitching after acts like CSS and Bonde Do Role are dabbling in the sound we all want to know more about. “It’s just really raw,” Maya explains. “It’s instant and cheap, it’s primitive in a digital way… It’s a good combination. It’s just sex! Baile funk is straight up sex.”

M.I.A may be the pinnacle of cool these days, as is baile funk. But what does she consider to be cool? “I think cool nowadays has changed and what I want cool to be is to be someone who is aware of shit,” she says as she waits for her Nandos. “When I was younger, cool was wearing the right clothes, going to the right shops. I think now doing that, and being aware and still being nice is cool. I think things considered not to be cool is cool. The way we interact now, the way you can shag a different person on MySpace every day is cool and how we have this in excess. It changes every day, depends on your environment. If I was 18 now, there would be trouble!” Maya laughs before adding, “but I’m not 18, so I’ve got to advise the 18 year olds.”

Once an ardent clubber, it’s getting increasingly difficult for Maya to bust a move alongside the rest of us as she becomes more recognisable. “I used to be always at the club, I’d just follow the music,” she says. “I remember going on holiday for the first time and I used to leave my mum and follow the music. It’s the best way to meet people, gatecrash a party and that’s when you get to know people. Where there’s sound, there’s life.” And M.I.A is bursting with it.