Pop oddball versus pop oddball… M.I.A. has lashed out at Lady Gaga in a new interview.
With her single ‘Paper Planes’ riding high in the United States charts, M.I.A. arrived as a global phenomenon. Taken from the feel-good film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ the singer was a Clash sampling epic, pop as rarely heard before.
Distilling global influences into one chart friendly whole, M.I.A. manages to sound commercial without sacrificing one inch of her individuality.
The rise of Lady Gaga has led to comparisons in some quarters with the Sri Lankan star, which M.I.A. categorically refutes.
Speaking to the NME the ‘Paper Planes’ star tore strips off the would-be hermaphrodite. “People say we’re similar, that we both mix all these things in the pot and spit them out differently, but she spits it out exactly the same… ” M.I.A. said.
“She’s not progressive… none of her music’s reflective of how weird she wants to be or thinks she is. She models herself Grace Jones and Madonna, but the music sounds like 20-year-old Ibiza disco.”
Phew. M.I.A. is due to release her new album this summer, ending a near three year wait for new material. Destined to be one of the year’s most talked about releases, the singer was asked to donate new material to the forthcoming ‘Twilight’ instalment – any idea she immediately kicked into touch.
“They asked me – luckily Jimmy (Lovine, chairman of M.I.A’s US label, Interscope) had beef with the ‘Twilight’ people, so he stepped in and told them to fuck off,” she said.
