Despite her rock star dreams, Maya Arulpragasam will always be the princess of underground music. Arulpragasam, better known as M.I.A., took the stage at Cornell University’s Barton Hall on Sunday in a show that could be considered easily forgettable. Performing about a dozen songs from her repertoire, M.I.A. seemed to struggle between her alternative roots and her brief stardom stemming from her Top 40 hit ‘Paper Planes.’
The Sri Lankan-born, British-raised beauty began creating music less than a decade ago at the suggestion of another electroclash artist, Peaches, and quickly grew in popularity on college campuses and dance clubs around the world, all before her first album, ‘Arular,’ was even released. ‘Arular’ was hailed as a risk-taking album which confronted war, terrorism and urban life all based on her experiences in the war-stricken Sri Lanka and the culture of London.
According to interviews, her ultimate goal was to inspire change and bring attention to the unfair treatment of Sri Lankan nationals, even if it meant violence.
Her sophomore album, ‘Kala,’ featured much of M.I.A.’s original contentious lyrics, but one song in particular stood out for its mainstream sound ‘ ‘Paper Planes.’
Since the release of ‘Paper Planes’ as a single, M.I.A. skyrocketed to popularity, performing larger venues and gaining more attention from other artists, including A.R. Rahman, who was producing the score for a British film about the poverty of India, ‘Slumdog Millionaire.’ The song ‘O ‘ Saya’ gained her an Oscar nomination.
Her personal life was equally successful; she gave birth to a son and married Ben Bronfman, a former singer and member of the Bronfman family, who ran the largest alcohol distillery until 2000.
But this past summer, M.I.A. was the subject of a scathing and condescending article published in The New York Times Magazine, which challenged her thoughts on foreign policy and questioned her involvement with a violent Sri Lankan militant group, the Tamil Tigers. Despite the article, M.I.A.’s third album, ‘///Y/’ (‘MAYA’), debuted at No. 9 on the U.S. Billboard charts.
However, the article brought up an interesting question: Could someone who is so anti-establishment be a successful pop star?
M.I.A. entered the stage Sunday wearing a camouflage cloak, Fendi leggings and a snarling expression, perfectly displaying the walking contradiction.
‘If they want me to be bad, I’ll be fucking bad,’ she shouted to the cheering crowd.
M.I.A.’s live performance was lackluster and brief, only lasting an hour and her energy seemed to be low, as if she was unfazed by the Ivy League crowd. She seemed most happy during her performance of ‘Paper Planes,’ which had the entire audience in an amped frenzy; it was the only time she flashed a smile during the set.
Despite M.I.A.’s apathetic performance, her message throughout the show was at least a positive one, though pretty basic ‘ share and share alike, and help out your fellow man.
Before performing her latest single ‘Teqkilla,’ M.I.A. invited members of the audience to join her on stage, but only if they helped someone else get up first.
Her logic was simple: If you help someone else, someone else will help you.
During the song, she whipped out a bottle of Patron and handed it to the crowd.
‘Share it,’ she instructed the girl she gave it to. And share she did.
Whatever the reason, her successful personal life or the bad press, the notoriously volatile Arulpragasam seemed much more mellow, though only time will tell when she will strike again.