Songs of 2013 - M.I.A - Bring The Noize

This year M.I.A released her fourth album "Matangi". It was nearly 2 years ago that the first track from that album, "Bad Girls" was released. Apparently in the intervening period there were disagreement between her and her label. M.I.A said in an interview“[Interscope was] like ’We just built you up as the public enemy No. 1 and now you’re coming out with all this positive stuff.” This was at the beginning of 2013. She went back to "figure out what this meant" and then her album came out in November. So when "Bring The Noize" came out in the summer that felt like the real jump-off for the album.

It is a track which has many of the things M.I.A has done over the years; a bumping beat that sounds energetic & exotic, rapping with a confidence and swagger and a provoking and colourful video. The beat is brilliant because all the energy is concentrated in the drums with vocal samples jumping in every now and then. It was produced by Switch & Surkin.

M.I.A is such an important artist. She stands for something and is a powerful female voice in today's music industry. She may never be an artist who sells lots of records, but I imagine she has and will continue to inspire many up and coming artists around the world.