M.I.A. has been a polarizing figure in recent years for her less-than-savory opinions. But there was a time when she was one of the most exciting new acts putting out music. She has a convoluted legacy rife with confrontation. But M.I.A. has also never shied away from speaking her mind regarding politics, immigration, and the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora. Using her platform to make real change was always her goal.
On February 11, 2008, “Paper Planes” was released as a single after appearing on the 2007 album Kala. It immediately took over the radio, gaining widespread attention and acclaim. It’s still a certified banger 18 years later, and there’s no denying that’s what M.I.A. was good at.
But “Paper Planes” was more than just “gunshot gunshot gunshot cash register sound” and all that. Despite its use in the trailer of Pineapple Express, it was a deliberate satire of America’s fear of immigrants. Additionally, M.I.A. took inspiration from her constant issues with U.S. immigration.
“They’re always giving me a hard time,” she told Entertainment Weekly in 2008. “When I wrote it, I’d just gotten into New York after waiting a long time, and that’s why I wrote it, just to have a dig.”
She continued, “It’s about people driving cabs all day and living in a s****y apartment and appearing really threatening to society. But not being so. Because, by the time you’ve finished working a 20-hour shift, you’re so tired you [just] want to get home to the family. I don’t think immigrants are that threatening to society at all. They’re just happy they’ve survived some war somewhere.”
M.I.A. On Bringing Awareness to the Sri Lankan Civil War Through the Success of “Paper Planes”
In 2009, M.I.A. dedicated herself to bringing awareness to the Sri Lankan civil war. It lasted from 1983 to 2009 between Sri Lankan Tamils seeking an independent Tamil state and the Sri Lankan government. In 2009, the government defeated the Tamil liberation group. However, in 2013, the Permanent People’s Tribunal found the Sri Lankan government guilty of war crimes and genocide in a unanimous ruling.
M.I.A. directly experienced the civil war as a child. Her family moved from London to Jaffna when she was six months old and stayed there until she was 11. This period of her life influenced her music and activism. In 2009, she used the platform gained from the success of “Paper Planes” to stay vocal about ending the war.
“The situation is systematic genocide, ethnic cleansing,” she told The Daily Beast. “I want my fans to know I’m not tryin’ to be like Bono. Someone Irish talking about what’s going on in Africa. I actually come from there, and the fact is that this is happening now. The war has been going on for a long time, but it stepped into the genocide bracket recently with the new President.
“I lived in Sri Lanka when the campaign for ethnic cleansing started, and if I could stop it and see the end of it in my lifetime, that would be amazing,” she added. “I can’t justify my success otherwise, Ican’t justify getting nominated for an Oscar or a Grammy, that to me wouldn’t mean anything if I don’t actually get to speak about this. It’s not like I’m trying to sell records, I’m trying to stop the death of 350,000 people this month.”
As for “Paper Planes”, the sound effects in the chorus went beyond surface-level interpretation, said M.I.A. Essentially, it all circled back to war profiteering.
“You can either apply it on a street level and go, oh, you’re talking about somebody robbing you and saying I’m going to take your money,” she told EW. “But, really, it could be a much bigger idea: someone’s selling you guns and making money. Selling weapons and the companies that manufacture guns—that’s probably the biggest moneymaker in the world.”
Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
The post On This Day in 2008, M.I.A. Released Smash Hit You Probably Didn’t Realize Was American Satire appeared first on VICE.
