1. Quotes
  2. Authors
  3. M.I.A.

M.I.A. Quotes

Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam , better known by her stage name M.I.A. , is an English rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. She is of Sri Lankan Tamil origin. Her stage name M.I.A. is wordplay on her name as well as a reference to the abbreviation Missing in Action. Her compositions combine elements of alternative, dance, electronic, hip hop and world music.

M.I.A. began her career in 2000 as a visual artist, filmmaker and designer in west London before beginning her recording career in 2002. Since rising to prominence in early 2004 for her singles "Sunshowers" and "Galang", charting in Canada and the UK and reaching number 11 on the Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales in the US, she has been nominated for an Academy Award, three Grammy Awards and the Mercury Prize.

She released her debut album Arular in 2005 and her second album Kala in 2007, both to wide critical acclaim. Arular charted in Norway, Belgium, Sweden, Japan and the US, where it reached number 16 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart and number three on the Dance/Electronic Albums chart. Kala was certified silver in the UK and gold in Canada and the US, where it topped the Dance/Electronic Albums chart. It also charted in several countries across Europe, in Japan and Australia. The album's first single "Boyz" reached the Top 10 in Canada and on the Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales in 2007, becoming her first Top 10 charting single.

Her single "Paper Planes" peaked in the Top 20 worldwide and reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100. "Paper Planes" was certified gold in New Zealand and three times platinum in Canada and the US where, as of November 2011, it was ranked the seventh best-selling song by a British artist in the digital era. It has become XL Recordings' second best-selling single to date. M.I.A.'s third album Maya was released in 2010 soon after the controversial song-film short "Born Free". This became her highest-charting album in the UK and the US, reaching number nine on the Billboard 200, topping the Dance/Electronic Albums chart and debuting in the Top 10 in Finland, Norway, Greece and Canada. Her single "XXXO" reached the Top 40 in Belgium, Spain and the UK. M.I.A. has embarked on five global headlining tours and is the founder of her own multimedia label, N.E.E.T. Her fourth studio album, Matangi, was released in 2013, followed by AIM in 2016.

M.I.A.'s early compositions relied heavily on the Roland MC-505 music sequencer and drum machine. Her later work marked an evolution in her sound with rare instruments, electronics and unusual sound samples. Critics have acclaimed a distinctive style to her music, which lyrically incorporate a range of political, social, philosophical and cultural references. M.I.A. was one of the first acts to come to public attention through the internet. She posted many of her songs and videos from 2002 onwards on platforms such as MySpace.

In 2001, she received an "Alternative" Turner Prize nomination for her visual art. In 2005 and 2008, M.I.A. was artist of the year by Spin and URB, and she was named one of the defining artists of the 2000s decade by Rolling Stone in its "Best of the Decade" list in December 2009. Time named her one of the world's 100 most influential people in 2009. Esquire ranked M.I.A. on its list of the 75 most influential people of the 21st century in January 2010.



✵ 18. July 1975
M.I.A. photo
M.I.A.: 38   quotes 0   likes

Famous M.I.A. Quotes

“Kala is about my mum and her struggle–how do you work, feed your children, nurture them and give them the power of information?”

M.I.A.

Interview http://www.urb.com/features/183/MIAWorldParty.php?PageId=2 to URB (2007)
Sourced quotes

“I bongo with my Lingo,
Beat it like a wing yo
From Congo to Columbo,
Can't sterotype my thing yo”

M.I.A.

Sunshowers
Lyrics, Arular (2005)

“GAVRAS: Well, he’s bigger than a pop star. I mean, when he came to Paris in 2007, he was supposed to stay at the Hôtel de Marigny, which is the best hotel. But Gaddafi came with a tent. It was this huge flagged tent—just him and his army guards, who were all girls. They were in these crazy leopard outfits. I mean, Gaddafi is way better dressed than any pop star in the world.”

M.I.A.

Sourced quotes, Interview with Romain Gavras for Interview (2010)

“As soon as I came to England, really, I must have about spent two or three months bouncing around the pop world trying to get an idea of what England was. I wasn't really motivated by anything else. And nothing really inspired me. I was really confused about who I was and where I stood in society, you know what I mean? You come there and you just don't know what the hell is going on. And then I remember the first house we stayed in and I watched 'Top of the Pops' and it was like- woah! It was the first music show that I saw on TV. I saw Madonna, Whitney Houston. It was amazing”

M.I.A.

Interview http://www.desiclub.com/desimusic/desimusic_features/music_article.cfm?id=202 (2006)
Sourced quotes

“I was never really affected by it because I don’t have the time to go up to every grime kid and explain the ideology and the lifestyle. It’s too hard…. Look at Afrikan Boy, he still has that problem. You have this talent to see something and articulate something new, but you can’t because the arena to do that doesn’t exist. It’s easier to breed movements in England than really support one artist, especially in urban culture.”

M.I.A.

Interview http://web.archive.org/web/20080108025702/http://www.rwdmag.com/articles/6188/MIA-Flying-High.html to RWD magazine on the rejection of her first album Arular by the UK grime scene (2007)
Sourced quotes

“When I come back to London, I feel really safe and familiar. But sometimes I feel like I'm on standby, waiting to go somewhere else – where something else is happening.”

M.I.A.

Interview http://www.metro.co.uk/metrolife/62231-a-new-global-gathering#ixzz1iETO5ryn to Metro (2007)
Sourced quotes

M.I.A. Quotes about people

“The Third World deserves freedom of speech just like everyone else. We want to fight the battle to say what we want, whether to be serious or just make fun of ourselves. That's what "Worldtown" is about, that's what "Paper Planes" is about. It's what people in the third world live through.”

M.I.A.

Quote reprinted http://www.nme.com/photos/in-her-own-words-mias-20-sharpest-quotes/172930/16/4 in NME
Sourced quotes

“Can I get Control?
Do you like me Vulnerable?
I'm armed and I'm equal
More fun for the people…”

M.I.A.

Bucky Done Gun
Lyrics, Arular (2005)

“OK, let's go and explore the rest of the world, and how easy is it to put together music through found objects and stuff, and people, and ideas and certain electricity, certain environments.”

M.I.A.

Interview http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/m-i-a-s-global-party-the-futuristic-pop-star-on-her-decades-journey-20091229#ixzz1i1EWoIDV on Kala to Rolling Stone (2009)
Sourced quotes

“It's good. You know, it's nice coming out and actually meeting all your fans - you make this thing in your bedroom and you don't really know who is going to get it or relate to it or anything, you know? And you just pour your heart out kind of thing, and then you find out you relate to people and that's the final process of it. You know, to meet people who are actually like you and that you connect with, you know what I mean? That's kind of cool. That's the best thing about touring.”

M.I.A.

On touring during Interview http://web.archive.org/web/20070926225407/http://www.muchmusic.com/music/artists/transcripts.asp?artist=1213 on MuchMusic's MuchonDemand (September 2005)
Sourced quotes

“I feel the reason why I'm really like outspoken and stuff is because all of these things were inflicted upon me, and I never went and caused any trouble, you know? I just feel like I was kind of skipping along in some country and somebody decides to drop a bomb and shake up my life and then it's all been survival from then on. And that's the reality for thousands - and millions - of people today. Why should I get censored for talking about a life that half the time I didn't choose to live?”

M.I.A.

Interview http://www.popmatters.com/music/interviews/mia-050506.shtml with PopMatters, 2005
Sourced quotes

“I'm here for the people”

M.I.A.

Interview http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jun/13/mia-feature-miranda-sawyer, quote to Miranda Sawyer of The Observer (2010)
Sourced quotes

M.I.A. Quotes about music

“Nobody wants to be dancing to political songs. Every bit of music out there that’s making it into the mainstream is really about nothing. I wanted to see if I could write songs about something important and make it sound like nothing. And it kind of worked.”

M.I.A.

Interview http://niralimagazine.com/2004/10/not-so-missing-in-action/ with Nirali magazine (October 2004)
Sourced quotes

“I saw firsthand where the music we made ended up. It turned up in sterile bullshit clubs in LA, separated from the spirit we made it in.”

M.I.A.

Quote on her decision to ditch party music on /\/\ /\ Y /\ http://www.nme.com/photos/in-her-own-words-mias-20-sharpest-quotes/172930/16/4#6 reprinted in NME (2010)
Sourced quotes

“I haven't heard honesty in music for so long and this is how I feel, and this is what I think. You don't even have to say words … I was just being as raw as possible. I wanted to make music that you felt in your gut.”

M.I.A.

Archive Interview http://tamilnation.co/diaspora/unitedkingdom/mia.htm to Eye Weekly (January 2005)
Sourced quotes

“I can sing about songs with gunshots in the background because I heard them. It's almost like my music has been a way to smoke out the hatred that's been bubbling underneath what's going on in Sri Lanka. If there's 300,000 people who are trapped and they're dying, it should be talked about, it should be brought to the table, and I don't see anything wrong in sticking up for 300,000 dying people.”

M.I.A.

Video Interview http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1894410_1894780_1894784,00.html to TIME (2009)
Sourced quotes

“I'm not sure, but music now should be like sonic massage. You want to really feel it, internally. The police [sic] use sound cannons at public protests that explode people’s insides with a single note – human beings have to come up with the opposite of that.”

M.I.A.

Quote http://www.nme.com/photos/in-her-own-words-mias-20-sharpest-quotes/172930/16/4#10 from interview with NME (2010)
Sourced quotes

“I think I just kind of thought about all the artists that I really respected throughout the - just any genre of music really and I think everybody that I respected and liked. They were just them. You know, they're people who always stuck to who they were, and were true and honest about who they were. So I think that kind of gave me a real like confidence to just stick at it. Just thinking about people like Bjork - you know, I don't know, Bob Dylan, you know artists that truly were strong in themselves.”

M.I.A.

M.I.A. Interview http://web.archive.org/web/20070926225407/http://www.muchmusic.com/music/artists/transcripts.asp?artist=1213 on MuchMusic's MuchOnDemand (September 2005).
Sourced quotes

M.I.A. Quotes

“Yeah manmade power
Stood like a tower
Higher Higher, Hello
And the higher you go
you feel lower, oh
I was close to the edge
Staying undercover, staying undercover
And with my nose to the ground
I found my Sound”

M.I.A.

Born Free
Lyrics, /\/\ /\ Y /\ (2010)

Feeling

“M. I. A.: I’d love to raid his wardrobe.”

M.I.A.

Sourced quotes, Interview with Romain Gavras for Interview (2010)

Love

“He asked my mum, 'Why would I devote myself to one woman and three children when I could be helping thousands?' She said: 'If you even have to ask that, you should go.'One of those times, when he came home, he didn't even know what I was called.”

M.I.A.

Interview http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jun/13/mia-feature-miranda-sawyer, quote on her father to The Observer (2010)
Sourced quotes

Children , Home , Time , Help

“They wanted me to be the face of Coca Cola. I was like 'Wow. Have you guys got any idea what you’re talking about?' Then Pepsi called me the next week. My mother-in-law called me and said 'Oh my God, Maya, they’re offering you so much money.”

M.I.A.

Quote on corporate sponsorship http://www.nme.com/photos/in-her-own-words-mias-20-sharpest-quotes/172930/16/4#5 reprinted in NME (2010)
Sourced quotes

Money , God , Law , Guy

“I think I'm the edge finder”

M.I.A.

Video of Interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swd4L4CU9GU to Dazed & Confused magazine (2010)
Sourced quotes

Thinking

“GAVRAS: Yeah, he’s the best-dressed man on the planet.”

M.I.A.

Sourced quotes, Interview with Romain Gavras for Interview (2010)

“I don't know which is worse. The fact that I saw it in my life has maybe given me lots of issues, but there's a whole generation of American kids seeing violence on their computer screens and then getting shipped off to Afghanistan. They feel like they know the violence when they don't. Not having a proper understanding of violence, especially what it's like on the receiving end of it, just makes you interpret it wrong and makes inflicting violence easier.”

M.I.A.

Interview http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=253248 to Complex magazine (2010)
Sourced quotes

Life , Feeling , Understanding

“M. I. A.: If he were a pop star, he’d be, like, Prince or something.”

M.I.A.

Sourced quotes, Interview with Romain Gavras for Interview (2010)

Star

“M. I. A.: No. My fashion icon is Colonel [Muammar al-] Gaddafi, and he always has been. He’s rock ’n’ roll.”

M.I.A.

Sourced quotes, Interview with Romain Gavras for Interview (2010)

Fashion

“Google’s more powerful than any government now – people think it’s God. They’re storing all our data and one day they’re going to turn against us.”

M.I.A.

Quote reprinted http://www.nme.com/photos/in-her-own-words-mias-20-sharpest-quotes/172930/16/4#11 in NME
Sourced quotes

God , People , Thinking

“GAVRAS: So let’s talk a little bit about being a fashion icon. Do you think, for example, that Saddam Hussein was a fashion icon?”

M.I.A.

Sourced quotes, Interview with Romain Gavras for Interview (2010)

Fashion , Thinking

“My approach to politics is that I never said I'm smart. But why aren't I allowed to write about my experience?”

M.I.A.

Interview to Rolling Stone (2010)
Sourced quotes
Source: [2010, August, M.I.A. Radical Chic, Rolling Stone]

“I call bullshit on any system that holds me down. If the system changed my life the way it did and it totally abused my life and my family, then I’m willing to stand up against it. My goal is to bring people into the system. If I have to use some shocking imagery or if I have to use some honest up-front language to get in and wake people up, so be it. At least, it has sparked up some discussion and young people feel like they have the right to talk. That’s all you can hope for, to induce discussion and then make people feel like they have the right to discuss political issues.”

M.I.A.

Interview http://web.archive.org/web/20081013151929/http://www.egothemag.com/archives/2005/04/mia.htm to EGO Magazine (2005)
Sourced quotes

Life , People , Family , Hope

“I used to see songwriting like editing a film or something. You can edit music like you can edit a film. Or if I was painting or making a picture or something, that night I could sit down and write a song. I think it really helps to break things up. Sometimes when you sit down to write songs, you write three or four songs in a row feeling the same sort of vibe. But if you stop in-between that time and change something, you break the pattern – you prevent yourself from unconsciously falling into a format.”

M.I.A.

Interview http://blogs.westword.com/backbeat/2008/05/qa_with_mia.php to Westword (2008)
Sourced quotes

Music , Feeling , Thinking , Change

“I'm more of a realist, than a theorist”

M.I.A.

Video of Interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swd4L4CU9GU to Dazed & Confused magazine (2010)
Sourced quotes

“M. I. A.: He looks like he always has gel in it. Hold on. [to taxi driver] Can you pull over, please? I’m at Notting Hill Gate station.”

M.I.A.

Sourced quotes, Interview with Romain Gavras for Interview (2010)

“I have to be true to that - I can't take certain things away. I do have a political background. I’m only in England, learning this language and building a life in this society, because of political reasons. Why would I deny that?”

M.I.A.

Sourced quotes

Life , Learning

“I performed at a show at the MoMA. There was this big dinner there, and I was seated in this hall with the mayor of New York and all these extremely wealthy art-supporting and art-buying people. There was a piece of work hanging in the hall-it was a fan. This fan was supposed to swing by the momentum of its own propeller. So, while we were having dinner, the fan was stopped, and the guy next to me, a curator at P. S.1, said, "Look, this is what art symbolizes today." Like, that piece of art is supposed to be moving, but just to have dinner we've stopped the art. That's what New York is like today. You can't have real art happen in an institution because rich people can make the world stop. The stuff on the street is a lot more interesting.”

M.I.A.

Interview http://www.interviewmagazine.com/art/kehinde-wiley/#page2 with Kehinde Wiley on the "recycled object" for Interview magazine (2008)
Sourced quotes

People , World , Art , Guy

“GAVRAS: I’d love to have his hair. He has very good curly, shiny hair.”

M.I.A.

Sourced quotes, Interview with Romain Gavras for Interview (2010)

Love

“Who the hell is huntin' you?
In the BMW
How the hell they find you?
1 4 7'd you
Feds gonna get you
Pull the strings on the hood
One Paranoid you
Blazing through the Hood.”

M.I.A.

Galang
Lyrics, Arular (2005)

Hell

Similar authors

Justin Bieber photo
Justin Bieber 35
Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor
Tyler Joseph photo
Tyler Joseph 6
American singer-songwriter and record producer
Rihanna photo
Rihanna 15
Barbadian singer, songwriter, and actress
Lady Gaga photo
Lady Gaga 56
American singer, songwriter, and actress
Chester Bennington photo
Chester Bennington 1
American singer-songwriter
James Hetfield photo
James Hetfield 9
American musician, songwriter and record producer
Courtney Love photo
Courtney Love 66
American punk singer-songwriter, musician, actress, and art…
Vasco Rossi photo
Vasco Rossi 18
Italian singer-songwriter
Avril Lavigne photo
Avril Lavigne 17
Canadian singer-songwriter and actress
Eminem photo
Eminem 140
American rapper and actor