UK singer/rapper, M.I.A covers the November issue of ‘Paper‘ magazine. Gearing up to release her fourth studio album “Mathangi’, M.I.A. finally answers why she “flipped up the bird” during her Super Bowl Halftime show performance last year, the inspiration of the new album and the evolution of her music.
In the spread, M.I.A dons Versace clad along and Tom Manaston jewelry. Check out more photos of the star and few excerpts from her mag interview below:
On Why She Gave The ‘Middle Finger’ During The Super Bowl:
“I feel like people being reactionary to what I do is really on them, not on me. The media freaking out is always going to happen. It’s cultural, you know. If I stick a middle finger up in England, it’s not shocking there. It’s shocking here.”
On The Evolution Of Her Music:
”The first album is about dealing with these voiceless people in the jungle in Sri Lanka. The second one was the same situation, just extending it out to the rest of the world…and putting them on the map. The last one was me engaging with the Internet because that’s how our generation deals with shit now.”
On The New Album And The Inspiration Of The Album Title, ‘Mathangi’ :
“Matangi was the goddess of knowledge and the arts–music, art, dancing, spoken word. When they invented this mythology 4,000 years ago, the concept of someone being about all those things was normal.” She explains that the goddess’ mantra is “AIM” (or M.I.A., spelled backwards) and her mudra is, in fact, the middle finger.”
On What She’s Most Proud Of:
“I always stayed true to myself. Even on my last album when I got criticized, I knew I was sticking to something I needed to stick to. Whatever the consequences that led me to that point, the concept of somebody who fights for the truthfulness of words was my thing — telling the story, getting it out, questioning it. Information — that’s what I fought for.”
Head over to – Paper magazine to read the full article.