Some of you may have seen the recent article about Maya Arulpragasam, AKA M.I.A., in the New York Times Magazine.This article attempted to trace the rise to stardom that M.I.A. has seen through her hit release song titled "Paper Planes." This article certainly fell short of my expectations. The author of this article, Lynn Hirschberg, after downplaying the role that Maya has had in the media about the civil war happening in her home country of Sri Lanka, says,
"What Maya wants is nearly impossible to achieve: she wants to balance outrageous political statements with a luxe lifestyle; to be supersuccessful yet remain controversial; for style to merge with substance."
Is it really that impossible for style to merge with substance? No one said this about male artists like NAS, Public Enemy, or even John Lennon! Why should it seem impossible that this woman, yes beautiful and well-dressed, can not merge her public appearance with "substance?" I disagree. In fact, I think Maya's flair and artistic genius lies in the fact she is ABLE to do both. This is why the article is able to point to the fact that she wants a stylist who can turn a document about censorship into a fashionable jumpsuit by merging the paper into fabric. She also wears the militant headgear in the photo above to signal she has a political message, and her lyrics clearly tell us about those messages. So, any claim that this artist cannot connect style and substance are hollow! Maya, hats off to you!
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