Dropped on Saturday night, the M.I.A. has been in heavy rotation round are way. A not untypical syncopated beat with a bleepy computer and a smooth rap by M.I.A., a good chorus and a catchy hook where all background musics drop out completely at the end and M.I.A. sings “na na na na”.
It appears to be a sort of political derring do self-help book and it is a pleasure to hear even if it sounds like, well, it sounds a lot like M.I.A. She wrote this when posting the song on Soundcloud: “DEMOCRACY CONVERSATIONS ! TAMILS ARE STILL WAITING! AND NO MY BEATS ARE NOT BETTER WITHOUT MY POLITICX”
The truth is M.I.A. is absolutely a political astute, light years ahead of everybody about the loss of privacy the internet has caused, a friend of Wikileaks, and about as angry as a woman who went hungry as a young girl should be, once she broke through as a pop (and became one of the most influential EDM maven and electronic rapper over the past ten years), M.I.A. has been as confusing and polarizing figure as the pop scene has thrown up.
If musical she seems to be running in place, and if “Canseecando” is M.I.A. sounding just like “Canseecando” it is still still the woman doing what she does as only she can do it. Her first post-roc nation is promised for this summer!
Grade: B+