Arular is the debut studio album by British recording artist M.I.A. It was released on 22 March 2005 in the United States, and one month later in the United Kingdom, with a slightly different track listing. In 2004, the album's release was preceded by two singles and a mixtape. M.I.A. wrote or co-wrote all the songs on the album, while collaborators included Justine Frischmann, Switch, Diplo, Richard X, Ant Whiting and Greg "Wizard" Fleming.
Arular was lauded by critics for its blending of styles and integration of political lyrics into dance tunes. It was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2005 and was included in the 2005 edition of the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Although it only reached number 98 on the UK Albums Chart and number 190 on the US Billboard 200, several publications named it as one of the best albums of the year. By early 2010, the album had sold 190,000 copies in the US, Arular spawned the singles "Sunshowers", "Bucky Done Gun" and "Galang", which was released twice.
In 2001, M.I.A. (Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam) had worked exclusively in the visual arts. While filming a documentary on Elastica's 2001 tour of the US, she was introduced to the Roland MC-505sequencer/drum machine by electroclash artist Peaches, whose minimalistic approach to music inspired her. She found Peaches' decision to perform without additional instrumentation to be brave and liberating and felt that it emphasised the artist.[4][5] Returning to London, she unexpectedly gained access to a 505 owned by her friend, former Elastica singer Justine Frischmann. M.I.A. used the 505 to make demo recordings in her bedroom.[6] She initially planned to work as a producer. To this end, she approached Caribbean girls in clubs to see if they would provide vocals for the songs, but without success.[7]
21-second sample of M.I.A.'s single "Galang". First released in 2003, with its mix of 505 beats and claps, edgy vocals and lyrics, it marked M.I.A.'s emergence in underground independent music circles worldwide.
M.I.A. secured a record deal with XL Recordings after Frischmann's manager overheard the demo.[8] M.I.A. began work on the album by composing lyrics and melodies, and she programmed drum beats at home on the drum machine.[4] Having produced rough tracks via trial and error, she honed the finished songs in collaboration with other writer-producers.[4][8][9] Through these collaborations, she sought to produce a diverse style and "drag [her collaborators] out of their boxes, musically".[10]
DJ Diplo introduced elements of Brazilian baile funk to "Bucky Done Gun".[11] Fellow composer-producer Richard X worked on the track "Hombre", which featured a drum pattern created from the sounds made by toys that M.I.A. had bought in India, augmented with sounds produced by objects such as pens and mobile phones. Steve Mackey and Ross Orton, known professionally as Cavemen, worked on "Galang", which M.I.A. had initially produced with her 505 and a basic four-track tape recorder. Working with Cavemen in a professional studio, she added a bass line and new vocals to give the song "a more analogue sound" than was possible with the 505.[4] The track was co-written by Frischmann, whose input M.I.A. described as "refreshing".[10] She initially hoped to feature guest vocalists on the album, but was unable due to budget constraints and other artists' unfamiliarity with her work. She chose to perform all the vocals herself, saying, "I just quietly got on with it... I didn't wanna convince anyone it was good. I felt it was much better to prove that I could be an individual."[12]
Music and lyrics
Arular takes its title from the political code name employed by M.I.A.'s father, Arul Pragasam; she contends that her father's "revolutionary ideals" are the album's thematic base.[8][13] "In Sri Lankan, arular means 'enlightenment from the sunshine' or something", she remarked, "but a friend pointed out that it was a pun in English – 'a ruler' – which is funny because he is a politician. And my mum always used to say about my father, 'He was so useless, all he ever gave you was his name'. So I turned it around and turned that something into nothing. And at the same time I thought it would be a good way to find him. If he really was an egomaniac, he'd be looking himself up and he'd get this pop album stealing his name that would turn out to be me, and he'd have to get in touch",[14] a prediction which ultimately came true.[15] Despite reports to the contrary, M.I.A. denied that her father was a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, popularly known as the Tamil Tigers.[16]
"I found understanding hip-hop a universal thing. Not just understanding the rhythm, how they danced, their style or their attitude; there was something else, beyond song structure and language. It works on a few basic human principles, in terms of what stimulation buttons to push...It had content and struggle behind it... and because I was able to adapt to it, hip-hop gave me a home, an identity. Hip-hop was the most guerrilla thing happening in England at the time. You had Public Enemy fronting it, and that felt like home, and I could dance while I was feeling shitty. It had a whole aesthetic to it – it was being really crass with pride."
Before the album's release, M.I.A. said that audiences found it hard to dance to political songs. This made her keen to produce music that sounded like pop but addressed important issues.[21] "Sunshowers", with its lyrical references to snipers, murder and the PLO, was written in response to the Tamil Tigers being considered terrorists in some quarters. She said, "you can't separate the world into two parts like that, good and evil. America has successfully tied all these pockets of independence struggles, revolutions and extremists into one big notion of terrorism."[22] The lyrics caused controversy; MTV censored the sounds of gunshots in the song and MTV US refused to broadcast the video unless a disclaimer that disavowed the lyrics was added.[23] The BBC described the lyrics as "always fluid and never too rhetorical" and sounding like "snatches of overheard conversation". The songs deal with topics ranging from sex to drug dealing.[24]
Musically, the album incorporates elements of baile funk, grime, hip hop, and ragga. Peter Shapiro, writing in The Times, summed up the album's musical influences as "anything as long as it has a beat".[6][24] Some tracks drew on Tamil film music, which M.I.A. listened to while growing up.[4] Shapiro described her music as a "multi-genre pile-up" and likened it to her graphic art, calling it "vivid, gaudy, lo-fi and deceptively candyfloss".[6] In a 2005 interview, when asked about the difficulty in categorising her sound, M.I.A. explained, "Influences are crossing over into each other's puddles. I just accept where I'm at, I accept where the world is at and I accept how we receive and digest information. I get that somebody in Tokyo is on the internet instant messaging, and someone in the favelas is on the internet. Everybody seems to know a little bit about everything and that's how we process information now. This just reflects that."[25]
Artwork
M.I.A. and Steve Loveridge created all the album's artwork, using what Spin writer Lorraine Ali called a "guerrilla" style. The CD booklet features motifs of tanks, bombs and machine guns,[26] and depictions of tigers, which writers connected with the Tamil Tigers.[7]Village Voice critic Robert Christgau connected the album's imagery with the artist's "obsession" with the organisation, but claimed that its use was purely artistic and not propaganda. In his view, the images were considered controversial only because "rock and roll fans are assumed to be stupid" and would not be expected to ascertain their true significance.[27] Similarly, PopMatters writer Robert Wheaton observed that tiger imagery "does predominate M.I.A.'s vision of the world", but noted that the tiger is more widely associated with Tamil nationalism and that the singer's use of such imagery did not necessarily indicate her support for the Tamil Tigers.[28] Joshua Chambers-Letson determined that the imagery was perhaps "a means of negotiating the violence necessary" and described the controversy as "an attempt to disengage" from the performative intervention that M.I.A.'s album's made, through what he called "the complicated negotiation" of M.I.A.'s own autobiographical trauma, violence, and loss, as well as the geopolitical trauma, violence, and loss that her audience are engaged in from different subject positions.[29]
Release
Arular was to be released in September 2004, but was delayed.[30] M.I.A.'s record label stated that the delay was caused by problems obtaining permission to use an unspecified sample.[31] Revised release dates of December 2004 and February 2005 were publicised,[30] but the album remained unreleased; at one point, Pitchfork announced that it had been shelved indefinitely.[32] It was eventually released on 22 March 2005, when XL Recordings made it available in the US, albeit with the track "U.R.A.Q.T." omitted as the issues with a sample had not been resolved. The UK edition was released the following month with the track included,[32] and this edition was released in the US by Interscope Records on 17 May.[33]Arular sparked internet debates on the rights and wrongs of the Tamil Tigers.[34] By the time it was released, a "near hysterical buzz" on the internet had created "slavish anticipation" for the album.[35] Despite this, M.I.A. claimed in late 2005 that she had little comprehension of her prior popularity with music bloggers, stating that she did not even own a computer.[36]
The first track from the album to be made available was "Galang". It was initially released in late 2003 by independent label Showbiz Records, which pressed and distributed 500 promotional copies before M.I.A. signed with XL Recordings.[37] The song was re-released on XL as the second official single from the album in September 2004,[38] and again in October 2005, under the title "Galang '05", with a remix by Serj Tankian.[12] The first official single, "Sunshowers", was M.I.A.'s first on XL and was released on 5 July 2004.[39] It was supported by a music video directed by Indian filmmaker Rajesh Touchriver.[37] Following the re-release of "Galang", the third single from the album, "Bucky Done Gun", was released on 26 July 2005.[40] The video was directed by Anthony Mandler.[41]
In December 2004, M.I.A. independently released a mixtape titled Piracy Funds Terrorism, produced by M.I.A. and Diplo, as a "teaser" for the album. The release featured rough mixes of tracks from Arular mashed up with songs by other artists, and was promoted by word-of-mouth.[8][12][42] In early 2005, after the release of Arular, an extensive collection of fan-made remixes of M.I.A.'s work was uploaded, expanded and made available as an "online mixtape" on XL's official website, under the banner Online Piracy Funds Terrorism.[12] M.I.A. toured extensively during 2005 to promote the album. The Arular Tour included concerts in North America supporting LCD Soundsystem and appearances at music festivals in Europe, Japan and South America.[43][44] In November 2005, she appeared as the support act at a number of dates on Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Lovers Tour.[45]
Arular received widespread acclaim from music critics. Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, reported an average score of 88 based on 33 reviews, described as "universal acclaim".[46]
Julianne Shepherd of Spin appreciated the album's fusion of "hip hop's cockiness with dancehall's shimmy and the cheap and noisy aesthetics of punk" and claimed that Arular would be regarded as the best political album of the year.[55] Adam Webb, writing for Yahoo! Music, described the album's style as "professionally amateurish" and M.I.A.'s approach as "scattergun", but said that she "effortlessly appropriates the music of various cultures and filters them through the most elementary equipment". He said, "dancehall is the primary influence, but also one of many seismic collisions with several other genres."[56]
In his review for Stylus Magazine, Josh Timmermann described Arular as "a swaggering, spitting, utterly contemporary album" and went on to say, "We've not heard its like before."[30]Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield found Arular "weird, playful, unclassifiable, sexy, brilliantly addictive".[54]Sasha Frere-Jones, writing in The New Yorker, described the album as "genuine world music", based on "the weaving of the political into the fabric of what are still, basically, dance tunes".[1] Other reviewers were not as complimentary. Paste's Jeff Leven said that the album, although strong, was not as "mindblowing" as many critics were saying.[57]Q characterised the album as "style mag-cool pop-rap" and claimed that it lacked the substance suggested by M.I.A.'s decision to name it after her father.[58]
Arular was featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, where it was described as "the most sparkling debut since Madonna's first album".[67] The singer Nelly Furtado expressed her admiration for M.I.A.'s style, flow and dancing on Arular, having listened to it during the recording of her album Loose.[68]Thom Yorke of alternative rock band Radiohead cited M.I.A.'s method of music making on Arular as an influence on his own work, saying that it reminded him of "just picking up a guitar and [liking] the first three chords you write" as opposed to "agonizing over the hi-hat sound which seems to happen with programming and electronica a lot of the time".[69] In 2009, the NME placed the album at number 50 in its list of the 100 greatest albums of the decade.[70] In 2009, online music service Rhapsody ranked the album at number four on its "100 Best Albums of the Decade" list.[71] In 2011, Rolling Stone ranked the album number 52 on its list of the 100 best albums of the 2000s.[72]Clash magazine ranked the album at number 7 on their list of the "50 greatest albums of our lifetime (since 2004)".[73]Pitchfork ranked the album the 54th best album of the 2000s.[74] In 2019, the album was ranked 32nd on The Guardian's 100 Best Albums of the 21st Century list,[75] while in 2020, Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 421 in their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[76] In July 2022, Rolling Stone also ranked Arular as the 77th best debut album of all time.[77]
Commercial performance
Arular peaked at number 190 on the Billboard 200, while reaching number three on the Top Electronic Albums chart and number 16 on the Top Independent Albums.[78] By May 2010, it had sold 190,000 copies in the United States.[79] The album peaked at number 98 on the UK Albums Chart,[80] while in mainland Europe, it reached number 20 in Norway, number 47 in Sweden, number 71 in Germany and number 97 in Belgium.[81]
Justine Elinor Frischmann is an English artist and retired musician. After forming Suede, she co-founded the Britpop band Elastica before retiring from the music industry and pursuing a career as an artist.
Thomas Wesley Pentz, known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is a co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer; a member of the supergroup LSD, with Labrinth and Sia; a member of electronic duo Jack Ü, with producer and DJ Skrillex; and a member of Silk City, with Mark Ronson. He founded the record company Mad Decent in 2006, as well as the non-profit organization Heaps Decent the following year. His 2013 extended play (EP), Revolution, debuted at number 68 on the US Billboard 200. The EP's title track was later featured in a commercial for Hyundai and is featured on the WWE 2K16 soundtrack.
"Galang" is the debut single by British musician M.I.A. from her debut album Arular. It was released in 2003 on Showbiz Records which pressed 500 vinyl copies, gaining immediate international recognition via radio airplay, fashion shows, club rotations and internet filesharing. "Galang" was re-released on 1 November 2004 via XL Recordings as the second single from the album released by the label and was released for a third time as "Galang '05" on 11 October 2005 by the label and in the US by Interscope Records. It is written by Maya "M.I.A." Arulpragasam, Justine Frischmann, Ross Orton and Steve Mackey. It first appeared on M.I.A.'s six song demo tape in 2003, then on her official Myspace account on 9 June 2004 and was later reworked slightly by Orton and Mackey who received production credit for the song. "Galang" was the second song M.I.A. wrote on her Roland MC-505, intending for the piece to be performed by Frischmann's band Elastica. Inspired by her experiences and observations of life in London, M.I.A. wrote the song to encourage her friends in the band to continue to make music. However, after cowriting the song, Frischmann convinced M.I.A. to record "Galang" herself, complimenting the piece's lyrical narrative and music direction.
Piracy Funds Terrorism Volume 1, usually referred to simply as Piracy Funds Terrorism, is a mixtape produced by British recording artist M.I.A. and American DJ Diplo featuring vocal tracks intended for M.I.A.'s debut album Arular mashed up with samples of other recordings. The mixtape was produced by the two artists at Diplo's home studio in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was not officially released, but was distributed at M.I.A.'s live shows and via the internet to promote the release of her much-delayed debut album. Despite its unofficial status, the mixtape received general acclaim among critics. Several music publications included the mixtape in their listings of the best albums of 2004.
"Sunshowers" is a song by British musician M.I.A. from her debut studio album, Arular. It was written and produced by Maya "M.I.A." Arulpragasam, Ross Orton, Steve Mackey, August Darnell and Stony Jr. Browder, with additional vocals and production by Nesreen Shah and Anthony Whiting. The song was released as the second single of the album on 7 July 2004 following the 2003 release of debut "Galang" and is M.I.A.'s first official release with XL Recordings. Released in vinyl record and CD single format, with the song "Fire Fire" serving as the song's B-side, "Sunshowers" was distributed by Interscope Records in the US.
Arulappu Richard Arulpragasam, also known as Arular and A. R. Arulpragasam, was a Tamil activist and former revolutionary from Jaffna who had a part in forming the group Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS) in January 1975 in Wandsworth, England during the Tamil independence movements to secure an independent Tamil Eelam. He later left the conflict, after work as an independent peace negotiator between the two sides of the civil war. At the time of his death, he headed the Global Sustainability Initiative in the United Kingdom. He was also the father of the musician M.I.A. and designer Kali Arulpragasam.
"Bucky Done Gun" is the third single from musician M.I.A.'s album Arular. The song was composed in London in 2004 as one of the last compositions for her debut album and credited to Maya "M.I.A." Arulpragasam, Carol Conners, Bill Conti, Wesley "Diplo" Pentz, Ayn Robbins and Deize Tigrona. It was released by XL Recordings in the UK, Interscope Records in the US and Remote Control Records in Australia on 11 July 2005 in 12-inch vinyl and CD single formats. The B-side of the release is the song "Pull Up the People" from Arular. Upon release, the song reached number 88 on the UK Singles Chart.
Stephen Patrick Mackey was an English musician and record producer best known as the bass guitarist for the Britpop band Pulp, which he joined in 1989. As a record producer, he produced songs and albums by M.I.A., Florence + the Machine, The Long Blondes and Arcade Fire.
The Menace is the second and final studio album by English rock band Elastica, released in the UK via Deceptive Records on 3 April 2000, and internationally on 22 August 2000 through Atlantic Records.
Kala is the second studio album by British recording artist M.I.A. It was released on 8 August 2007 through XL Recordings. M.I.A. named the album after her mother and has stated that her mother's struggles in life are a major theme of the album. It was mainly written and produced by M.I.A. and Switch, and features contributions from Timbaland, Diplo, Afrikan Boy and The Wilcannia Mob.
"Boyz" is a song recorded by artist M.I.A. for her second album Kala (2007). The song was written and produced by Maya "M.I.A." Arulpragasam and Dave "Switch" Taylor and composed in recording sessions held in several countries. A combination of the native styles and influences of these regions and her traditional and electronic musical roots, the song sees M.I.A. mock and simultaneously praise men for various character traits. "Boyz" was one of the first songs that the artist composed for the album and was released as the album's lead single through XL Recordings and Interscope Records on 11 June 2007, in 12-inch single, CD single, digital download and USB flash drive formats. It additionally appeared in an enhanced EP format for its CD single release, and appeared on the How Many Votes Fix Mix EP edition. On 24 April 2007, "Boyz" received its world premiere on the BBC Radio 1 radio station in London.
British rapper and singer M.I.A. has released six studio albums, two extended plays, three mixtapes, forty singles and twenty-nine music videos. Born Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam, M.I.A. began her career as a visual artist and film-maker, and moved into making music after filming a documentary on the band Elastica in 2001. The band's lead singer, Justine Frischmann, lent her a Roland MC-505 sequencer/drum machine which she used to make a demo tape that secured her a contract with British label XL Recordings.
"Paper Planes" is a song by British recording artist M.I.A. from her second studio album Kala (2007). It was released on 11 February 2008 as the third single from the album. It is produced and co-written by her and Diplo. It appeared in the 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire and on its soundtrack album. The song samples English rock band the Clash's 1982 song "Straight to Hell", leading to its members being credited as co-writers. A downtempo alternative hip hop, pop track combining African folk music elements, the song has a less dance-oriented sound compared to other songs on the album. Its lyrics, inspired by M.I.A.'s own problems obtaining a visa to work in the USA, satirise American perceptions of immigrants from Third World nations.
The Arular Tour is a global concert tour by M.I.A. performed in support of her first studio album Arular (2005). It took place from 2005 to 2006.
The Kala Tour is a 2007 global M.I.A. concert tour performed in support of her studio album Kala.
Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam, known professionally as M.I.A., is a British rapper, record producer, and singer. Her music combines elements of alternative, dance, electronic, hip hop and world music with electronic instruments and samples.
Maya is the third studio album by British recording artist M.I.A. It was released on 7 July 2010 through N.E.E.T. Recordings, XL and Interscope. Songwriting and production was primarily handled by M.I.A., Blaqstarr and Rusko. Producers Diplo and Switch, alongside M.I.A.'s brother Sugu, also worked on the album. Maya was mainly composed and recorded at M.I.A.'s house in Los Angeles. The album's tracks centre on the theme of information politics and are intended to evoke what M.I.A. called a "digital ruckus"; elements of industrial music were incorporated into M.I.A.'s sound for the first time upon its release. A deluxe edition was released simultaneously, featuring four new tracks.
The Maya Tour is a 2010 global M.I.A. concert tour performed in support of her third studio album Maya. It began on 21 September 2010 in North America and was M.I.A.'s third major global performing tour following the birth of her first child. The tour was announced on 8 September 2010, with dates for Canadian, American and European venues revealed. According to photo albums on the musician's official Facebook page, the North American leg was branded the Reboot/Reboost Tour 2010, while the Sexynsofistic8d Tour formed the European leg of her 2010 concerts. M.I.A. handled costumes and stage direction, which departed from the productions of the preceding 2007–2008 Kala Tour and People Vs. Money Tours.
Matangi is the fourth studio album by British recording artist M.I.A. It was released on 1 November 2013 through N.E.E.T. Recordings and Interscope. M.I.A.'s longtime collaborator Switch primarily handled Matangi's production; Hit-Boy, Doc McKinney, Danja, Surkin, and The Partysquad provided additional contributions. The album was recorded in various locations around the world and featured uncredited input from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Its title is a variant of M.I.A.'s real first name and references the Hindu goddess Matangi. The lyrics feature themes related to Hinduism, including reincarnation and karma, and the music blends Western and Eastern styles.
AIM is the fifth studio album by British rapper and singer M.I.A. It was released on 9 September 2016 by Interscope and Polydor Records. Prior to its release, M.I.A. claimed that it would be her final album. She worked on the composition and production of the album with a range of collaborators, including Blaqstarr, Diplo, and Skrillex. The album was recorded in various countries, including Jamaica and India, and includes vocal contributions from Dexta Daps and Zayn. As with M.I.A.'s earlier releases, the album mixes Eastern and Western musical influences. Lyrically, several tracks on the album contain themes of borders and refugees.
↑ Rollefson, J. Griffith (23 October 2017). "M.I.A.'s "Terrorist Chic": Black Atlantic Music and South Asian Postcolonial Politics in London". Flip the script: European hip hop and the politics of postcoloniality. Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology. University of Chicago Press. ISBN978-0-226-49618-4.
↑ Chambers-Letson, Joshua (2006). "Reparative Feminisms, Repairing Feminism—Reparation, Postcolonial Violence, and Feminism". Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory. 16 (2). Routledge: 169–189. doi:10.1080/07407700600744287. S2CID194075331.
1 2 3 Timmermann, Josh (24 February 2005). "M.I.A. – Arular". Stylus Magazine. Archived from the original on 17 December 2007. Retrieved 23 December 2007.
↑ Shachtman, Noah; Browne, David; Dolan, Jon; Freeman, Jon; Hermes, Will; Hoard, Christian; Lopez, Julyssa; Reeves, Mosi; Rosen, Jody; Sheffield, Rob (1 July 2022). "100 Best Debut Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
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