Shazam’s Music Of The Decade: M.I.A
After releasing the fantastic ‘Arular’, former Central St. Martins design student Maya Arulpragasam set herself the unenviable target of following up one of the most well received debuts of 2005. While many artists fall into path of radio friendly singles and a more commercial follow up, M.I.A stuck to her guns and crafted another bold, assured collection of songs. Aside from ‘Come Around’, which saw the singer collaborate with Timbaland, ‘Kala’ has no predictable overblown collaborations. The album was largely co-written by M.I.A and producer Switch – who had previously worked on ‘Arular’.
‘Kala’ was written whilst the singer travelled through several countries, something that can clearly be heard throughout. Whether it’s the Bollywood sampling ‘Jimmy’ or the South African rappers Wilcannia Mob lending their rhymes to ‘Mango Pickle Down River’, M.I.A’s backpacking jaunt obviously helped her overcome any second album nerves. The album also displays many influences that are closer to home, album opener ‘Bamboo Banga’ cheekily robs the melody of Jonathan Richman’s ‘Roadrunner’ and snippets of New Order, The Clash and Pixies can be heard across the album.
Combining a mélange of influences, Kala stands out as one of the defining albums of the decade; delivered by one of our most enigmatic and endearing female artists of our time.
