Paper Planes Technique

M.I.A.'s songwriting in "Paper Planes" is simple and utilitarian. She uses a basic form of rhyming couplets, and aside from a few isolated cases where she employs a kind of slant rhyme—as in...

M.I.A.'s trademark style is a cut-and-mix pastiche of diverse sounds drawn from what can seem like all the various kinds of party music that keep people dancing around the world. A little bit of hi...

M.I.A.'s calling card is a musical sensibility that combines a radical political vision with a hyper-catchy dance aesthetic. If The Clash represented "revolution rock," M.I.A. offers up progressive...