It's funny to imagine that she would write a track that is somehow not about her. I mean, sure you could look at it as a character study, but it is M.I.A.'s personality that comes through the strongest. To me, she isn't trying to educate us about an interesting person, but rather using that person's story to bolster the image of M.I.A. as lyrical terrorist or whatever.
― Moodles, Tuesday, 3 August 2010 14:07 (thirteen years ago) link
That ties into something I saw a lot in Maya reviews - the tendency to make assumptions based on an incredibly low opinion of MIA's intellect and motives and to present them as fact rather than float them as theories. Like "It's hard to believe this idiotic egotist could write a song that wasn't about being an idiotic egotist."
― Haunted Clocks For Sale (Dorianlynskey), Tuesday, 3 August 2010 14:11 (thirteen years ago) link
I had no idea the track wasn't about her and unless I'm missing something the track itself offers no clues.
― Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 3 August 2010 14:11 (thirteen years ago) link
Did you ever read the lyrics to "$20", Moodles, specifically the first verse?
― Mayor Hickenlooper and the liberal agenda (HI DERE), Tuesday, 3 August 2010 14:12 (thirteen years ago) link
That's the problem with it. I think if she'd thrown in one specific name, of a person or a place, to distance herself from the narrator it could be read as she (presumably) intended, as opposed to scattershot sloganeering.
― Haunted Clocks For Sale (Dorianlynskey), Tuesday, 3 August 2010 14:13 (thirteen years ago) link
I just think it is a safe assumption to think that when someone writes a song, no matter what the subject is, it is as much a reflection of themselves as it is of a larger subject matter. I don't see any reason to think this wouldn't be the case on this particular track.
― Moodles, Tuesday, 3 August 2010 14:14 (thirteen years ago) link
In terms of MIA's self-awareness, it's worth nothing Hussel, where she allows Afrikan Boy to trump her own claims: "You think it's tough now? Come to Africa." I think she's well aware of the distance between her and genuine developing world hustlers, terrorists, etc.
Moodles, that assumption is bizarre - have you not heard of first-person character songs?
― Haunted Clocks For Sale (Dorianlynskey), Tuesday, 3 August 2010 14:16 (thirteen years ago) link
Of course I have, but why would you assume that those songs are completely divorced from the person who wrote them?
― Moodles, Tuesday, 3 August 2010 14:17 (thirteen years ago) link
I think the lyrics on Kala are generally stronger than on Maya, but that's only a matter of degree. I don't really think any of her tracks have truly great lyrics. The tracks on Kala are more clearly situated outside of her own internal world, but even in those cases it would be odd to me to think they aren't an expression of her personality on some level.
― Moodles, Tuesday, 3 August 2010 14:20 (thirteen years ago) link
Should say "Many of the tracks on Kala are more clearly situated..."
― Moodles, Tuesday, 3 August 2010 14:21 (thirteen years ago) link
Well they can't be completely divorced but it doesn't mean the artist identifies with the characters. In many cases (Holiday in Cambodia, Pet Shop Boys' Shopping), the singer hates the narrator. In many others (Steve Earle's John Walker's Blues) it's an attempt at empathy. Songwriters don't just pick characters they agree with.
― Haunted Clocks For Sale (Dorianlynskey), Tuesday, 3 August 2010 14:22 (thirteen years ago) link
Sure, but whether their position is pro or con, their songwriting and lyrics are a reflection of their personality to some extent.
― Moodles, Tuesday, 3 August 2010 14:31 (thirteen years ago) link
tweeting me like tweetie bird on your iphone
^^^this is basically the exact lyric a nicki minaj hater would come up with in order to parody minaj's worst qualities
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Tuesday, 3 August 2010 14:31 (thirteen years ago) link
That line is terrible but I still like that song a lot.
― Mayor Hickenlooper and the liberal agenda (HI DERE), Tuesday, 3 August 2010 14:31 (thirteen years ago) link
In the case of M.I.A., I don't know how you can listen to a song like Lovealot and not hear her personality coming through at all.
― Moodles, Tuesday, 3 August 2010 14:32 (thirteen years ago) link
I think "you want me to be somebody that I'm really not" is the overarching message of MIA's career, let alone this album
― Mayor Hickenlooper and the liberal agenda (HI DERE), Tuesday, 3 August 2010 14:32 (thirteen years ago) link
But would you deny that she feeds into the misinterpretations of who she is?
― Moodles, Tuesday, 3 August 2010 14:34 (thirteen years ago) link
well seeing as that is what has made her famous... no?
― Mayor Hickenlooper and the liberal agenda (HI DERE), Tuesday, 3 August 2010 14:35 (thirteen years ago) link
"you want me to be somebody that I'm really not"
...vs. Eminem's "I am whoever you say I am"?
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 3 August 2010 14:38 (thirteen years ago) link
you really lovealot?
― Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 3 August 2010 14:40 (thirteen years ago) link
but I fight
― Mayor Hickenlooper and the liberal agenda (HI DERE), Tuesday, 3 August 2010 14:58 (thirteen years ago) link
Well done MIA. Or her press folks or whoever:
http://www.theeastsiderla.com/2010/08/music-promtion-covers-up-silver-lake-mural/
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 3 August 2010 18:52 (thirteen years ago) link
okay the outrage over that is amazing
― Mayor Hickenlooper and the liberal agenda (HI DERE), Tuesday, 3 August 2010 18:57 (thirteen years ago) link
I mean I am completely certain that not living there means I don't "get it" but the person complaining about the glue ruining the mural when like 3 seconds of looking at the picture makes the giant metal rod at the bottom really obvious is really cracking me up
― Mayor Hickenlooper and the liberal agenda (HI DERE), Tuesday, 3 August 2010 19:00 (thirteen years ago) link
thing is, lovealot is not a voice piece. it is presented in MIA's standard persona & language, therefore must be read (at least in part) as a self-portrait. and i don't think it's really meant to be "about" dzhennet abdurakhmanova anyway, no matter what anyone's said about it.
like a taliban trucker eating boiled-up yuccai keep my eyes down like i'm in a black burkabeen through shit yeah it's a fuckernow i say shit like shaka laka laka
this is simply maya being herself, presenting herself as she always has, and only in passing associating herself with a teenage suicide bomber like she's "in a black burka." and this is the only lyric in the song that can even be stretched to reference DA. all maya's doing here is casually associating herself with the oppressed and/or dangerous in order to present a tough & exotic image. nothing wrong with this.
― a CRASBO is a "criminally related" ASBO (contenderizer), Tuesday, 3 August 2010 19:05 (thirteen years ago) link
is boiled-up yucca like khat?
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 3 August 2010 19:14 (thirteen years ago) link
are we really debating MIA's singing through a 'character'? Um, like most artists, she probably uses project her persona into Dzhennet to make a point. This could be to a way to humanize her, and to view her from a different vantage point than most people are used to, or it could be to clarify and focus on certain elements in MIA's own artistic persona while still maintaining an artistic detachment. Likely, it's some of both.
― demons a. real (Drugs A. Money), Tuesday, 3 August 2010 19:46 (thirteen years ago) link
i like this interpretation of the song, but it's hard to find any real support in the lyrics. "like a hand-me-down sucka throwing bombs out to mecca" is the only other line that might possibly connect. so you have, what? one taliban-approved black burka and one throwaway phrase about bombing mecca, and that = a song about DA? i don't buy it. rest of the lyrics concern: unicef workers, bob marley, the FBI, poultry processing, duking foes, making tunes, saying something cool, etc. seems more like she was half-inspired by the idea of DA while writing this, but didn't quite follow through on that inspiration. so the originating idea's almost (but not quite) there in the finished song.
― a CRASBO is a "criminally related" ASBO (contenderizer), Tuesday, 3 August 2010 20:02 (thirteen years ago) link
I can totally buy that for M.I.A., the lyrics are from the perspective of DA. For me however, it comes across mostly like word salad with some vague allusions to suicide bombers and some other stuff thrown in to show that M.I.A. has a passing knowledge of current events.
― Moodles, Tuesday, 3 August 2010 20:49 (thirteen years ago) link
am i wrong in assuming that the "a bomber has to love up dzhen" line is supposed to sound like "obama has to...", the same way lovalot sounds like love allah?
― a tenth level which features a single castle (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 3 August 2010 20:56 (thirteen years ago) link
i mean, no reason to namedrop obama there, but neither is there any reason to say hu jintao.
― a tenth level which features a single castle (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 3 August 2010 20:57 (thirteen years ago) link
i had no idea (and don't really care) about the backstory but "lovalot" is my favorite song on the album mostly cause of the awesome awesome dancehall sample
― ballerrr (The Reverend), Wednesday, 4 August 2010 05:49 (thirteen years ago) link
the way that "Yamaha" sorta sounds like "you're my heart" in The-Dream song real drives home how shitty and lousy the "Lovealot" pun is
― I think I'm Princess Peach... King Koopa (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, 4 August 2010 05:54 (thirteen years ago) link
that is one gigantic stretch u are making
― ballerrr (The Reverend), Wednesday, 4 August 2010 06:01 (thirteen years ago) link
listen to the song, dude
― I think I'm Princess Peach... King Koopa (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, 4 August 2010 06:02 (thirteen years ago) link
if it was intentional or coincidence, it's still 800x better then MIA's 12th-grader punnery
― I think I'm Princess Peach... King Koopa (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, 4 August 2010 06:03 (thirteen years ago) link
comparison doesn't add or take anything to/from either song. no connection.
― a CRASBO is a "criminally related" ASBO (contenderizer), Wednesday, 4 August 2010 06:29 (thirteen years ago) link
agree w/ whiney -- my roomate assumed it was 'youre my heart'
― blap...tremendo (deej), Wednesday, 4 August 2010 06:39 (thirteen years ago) link
sorry, don't hear that at all
― ballerrr (The Reverend), Wednesday, 4 August 2010 07:26 (thirteen years ago) link
i never heard "you're my heart" in "yamaha" either, but it makes total sense to me tbh
the thing with "love a lot"/"love allah" is that "i love a lot" is a phrase that barely makes sense, so i think it lends itself to being heard a different way, i.e. "i love allah", which actually makes sense
― righteous lecoq (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, 4 August 2010 08:23 (thirteen years ago) link
i don't think one pun is particularly better than the other, altho dream's fits better in the context of the song
― righteous lecoq (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, 4 August 2010 08:24 (thirteen years ago) link
not you're my ho? isn't that more his style?
― a CRASBO is a "criminally related" ASBO (contenderizer), Wednesday, 4 August 2010 09:25 (thirteen years ago) link
not at all, really
― ballerrr (The Reverend), Wednesday, 4 August 2010 09:29 (thirteen years ago) link
okay. heart is sweeter.
― a CRASBO is a "criminally related" ASBO (contenderizer), Wednesday, 4 August 2010 09:36 (thirteen years ago) link
I guess MIA wasn’t satisfied with just burning her bridges with Switch and Diplo, she’s gotta burn them with Echo Park too, both hipster and regular EP folk alike.Ironic considering she’s such a champion of minorities rights.
Ah, the Echo Park Hipster, a tragically forgotten minority.
― shakiraghmac (onimo), Wednesday, 4 August 2010 12:46 (thirteen years ago) link
so in less than ten words, can someone sum up why M.I.A.'s newie is getting less critical love than Kala? I have it coming ground from UPS today, just curious to see if my initial reaction is similar....
― San Te, Wednesday, 4 August 2010 12:47 (thirteen years ago) link
she ate truffle fries; people have it in for her
― ballerrr (The Reverend), Wednesday, 4 August 2010 13:11 (thirteen years ago) link
backlash was gearing before then imo, neither "xxxo" nor "born free" really got a consensus-positive reception. real answer = she made an abrasive, "difficult" and uncatchy album.
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Wednesday, 4 August 2010 13:19 (thirteen years ago) link
Don't let the bad press fool you, it really is a shit album.
― Beach Pomade (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 4 August 2010 13:40 (thirteen years ago) link
Rev, did you sleep last night!? You've been all over the place the last eight hours.
― Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 4 August 2010 13:42 (thirteen years ago) link