MIA interview

In the run-up to the release of her third LP, '/\/\/\Y/\', everyone wants a piece of MIA. Her music - a dynamic cut 'n' paste, multicultural mish-mash - is only part of her hook. Before 'Paper Planes' hit it big at the tail end of 2008, MIA was all set to retire at 33. She had delivered two genre-smashing albums and was pregnant (her son, Ikhyd, is now 18 months old) by her fiancé, Benjamin Bronfman (son of Warner chief exec Edgar Jr, worth a reputed £1.64 billion). Retirement was not an option, though.

MIA came back with a bang two months ago, unleashing an arresting nine-minute viral video for her song 'Born Free', featuring redheaded youths being graphically executed as a metaphor for ethnic cleansing. The video was banned from YouTube almost instantly - but what followed garnered even more column inches. The New York Times Magazine questioned MIA's political views regarding the bitter conflict between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil rebel forces, whom MIA has vocally supported in the past. In her article, New York Times writer Lynn Hirschberg drew attention to the jarring contradictions she felt were inherent in MIA's politics - namely that her pop-star lifestyle was at odds with her anarchic stance, while suggesting her 'Born Free' video was 'politically naive'. MIA's response? To tweet Hirschberg's phone number and post recorded clips of their interview online along with a song that featured the lyrics 'Why the hell would a journalist be thick as shit?' So of course we had to bring it up…

Were you angry when you read the piece?
'I'd said “Fuck The New York Times” before [MIA criticised the paper for naming Sri Lanka as the world's Number One place to visit in 2010]. They put me on the cover [of The New York Times's Sunday supplement magazine] on Memorial Day weekend and the last person they'd had on the cover was Bill Clinton. They were putting me on the cover with eight extra pages than Clinton got. You knew something was about to go down.'

Is that why you recorded the interview?
'The media always had the “We'll build you up and break you down” thing - they've had that power over musicians, celebrities and people for a long time and those times are changing. It's possible to fight back. The only thing the media can do to discredit someone is say that they don't stand for anything, so that was the only argument they could get me with.'

Hirschberg mentioned you eating a truffle-flavoured French fry. The media took that to be a deliberate metaphor for all the contradictions she was ascribing to you.
'I'd never heard of a fucking truffle fry before. When [Hirschberg] came to England, I took her to all these Muslim kebab shops on Edgware Road - some Somalian place or a Turkish place in east London - and all that got edited out.
'I thought my cover was gonna be a part of… America's campaign to soften the “them” and “us” thing. That's what I thought I was being used as a tool for. That's what I'm fucked off about: it felt like they were embracing the other and stabbing the other in the back at the same time.'

Last time we met you were about to go to the Met Ball in New York, one of the US fashion world's biggest events. How was it?
'It was amazing! The best bit was me and Pharrell [Williams] having a fight… He was just telling me off like crazy: “You can't just keep beating people up…” I thought he'd seen the “Born Free” video, so I was actually listening because I thought he must be saying my video's too violent. He was like, “You know you can't just keep giving people that shit, you have to hand out the sugar.” I was a bit offended because he was talking about the shepherd and the sheep, and I was like, “I never think I'm making music for sheep, I'm making music for shepherds… people who think like individuals and who want to be their own fucking leader.” '

Who else did you see?
'Diddy was like, “Oh my fucking God, last time I saw you, you were so fat!” '

It's called being pregnant, isn't it?
'I know! He was like, “I never knew what you looked like because I never met you when you were skinny.” He was just like, “I love you, we need you.” And I was like, “That's so good to hear because Pharrell just told me I was shit.” Diddy went and found Pharrell and made him come to my table, apologise and kiss my hand and shit, which was awesome. Oprah seemed like she was giving me the cold shoulder.'

What do you mean?
'She was with Iman [Bowie]. Iman was always dancing with me, hugging and kissing me, but Oprah seemed really pissed off with me. Also she made this huge speech at the ball praising Lady Gaga and about how she [Lady Gaga] is helping Americans to be the best of themselves. There's millions of other Americans who represent that for me. Is [it] about numbers? About how much you're selling? Is it truly about the journey? Because [Lady Gaga's] journey isn't that difficult: to go from the fucking Upper East Side to a fucking performing arts school and on to a stage at the museum of fucking wherever. That journey's about four miles.'

Are you more ambitious since having Ikhyd?
'Ikhyd makes me be more hardcore about what I am, but that's not necessarily ambitious. I don't think I'm ambitious enough when it comes to work. I cancelled two days of press in Amsterdam because Ikhyd was ill, so I just flew home.'

The album '/\/\/\Y/\' is out now on NEET/XL.
MIA headlines the Underage Festival in Victoria Park on Aug 1.