Two days after claiming the Sri Lankan government is pulling her videos from YouTube, M.I.A.'s new video for "XXXO" pops up, of course, on YouTube. The clip finds Ms. Arulpragasm trapped in what looks like the landfill where all of those GeoCities websites went to die. This of course means that there is an abundance of sparkling graphics, clip art swans, and computer generated unicorns. Her recent fixation on all things internet also pops up with a few MySpace and YouTube references. Despite the visual madness, it's strangely one of M.I.A.'s more sedate videos to date.
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Wow, Maya has really fallen off a cliff!!! Not only is this song/video absolutely terrible it makes all her shots at Lady Gaga ring a little false seeing as this looks/sounds like a cheap version of Gaga herself.
okay, so, wow. In one way, this vid is sort of a natural progression of her video Blingee style, going all the way back to Galang, but just like with an eye to being SLIGHTLY more popular. In another, though, this feels a lot like a hard-fought compromise with the label - I don't think I've ever seen MIA so heavily made up. Or, even really seen her face this much, ever, in anything. She looks pretty bored and uncomfortable every time she's supposed to look "sexy." And all the "zany" stuff is more like a 50-year-old commercial director's impression of her aesthetic than, like, a real expression of it. Compicated!
well, i think it's safe to say that, even when maya wirtes a 'love song', she'll be able to insert her political views in it somehow, even if only visual. props for her.
the visual kitsch and overloading 'cheap' feeling come out as amazing propaganda for her ideals.
a tamed tiger? not really, look again.
http://www.thedrowninghorses.bandcamp.com
thiago