Mathangi Arulpragasam aka M.I.A. has given us her fifth studio album ‘AIM’, with the aim of addressing the refugee crisis and giving us an insight into her own experiences as a Tamil refugee, having fled Sri Lanka early on in life. Unfortunately, I felt that it fell short of expectation. Having heard some of her earlier work, seen her powerful film clip to Born Free and then having read the press release for this album, I was so excited to hear what she had to say, especially given the refugee crisis here in our own backyard (well not quite in our backyard, which is a major part of the issue); but she didn’t quite deliver the influential masterpiece that I thought she was capable of.
• kate • carnell • 