Born Free (M.I.A. song)

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"Born Free"
Promotional single by M.I.A. from the album Maya
Released April 23, 2010
Recorded 2009
Genre Alternative rock, synthpunk, noise rock
Length 4:13
Label XL, N.E.E.T., Interscope
Writer Maya "M.I.A." Arulpragasam, Dave "Switch" Taylor, Alan Vega, Martin Rev
Producer M.I.A., Switch

"Born Free" is a song by recording artist M.I.A., released alongside an accompanying short film/music video of the same name from her third album, /\/\ /\ Y /\. "Born Free" was released as a promotional first single from the album by XL Recordings and Interscope Records/N.E.E.T. and premiered on internet music stores on April 23, 2010, with the music video released on April 26, 2010. "Born Free" was composed by Maya "M.I.A." Arulpragasam, Dave "Switch" Taylor, Alan Vega and Martin Rev, with production by M.I.A. and Switch. The artwork for the single was released on April 25, 2010.

"Born Free" was her next release following the track "O...Saya" from the film Slumdog Millionaire and the birth of her son in 2009. The song is a guitar and drum driven track that incorporates alternative rock, synthpunk and noise rock genres, and is considered more aggressive than the other songs of the album. High Contrast provided an official remix to the song. The song was praised for its lyrics and composition as statement-making and provocatively complimentary to the artist's intentions for the piece, its artwork and accompanying video.

The music video was filmed in California, America and directed by Romain Gavras as a nine-minute short film. Presenting a genocide against red haired people, several incidents relating to the extra-judicial killing of Tamil males by the Sri Lankan Army filmed on mobile phones in Sri Lanka, some of which had been broadcast by news outlets worldwide, inspired M.I.A.'s treatment for the film-video. The video's portrayal of military force, violence and brutality met with a positive critical reception but much controversy worldwide, including a ban from YouTube in the US and UK, with some critics hailing its representation of oppression and political turmoil and others criticizing the explicit material in the video. The way the film was shot and the themes it covered drew comparisons to previous works by the artist, and other writer-directors' films such as The Hurt Locker and Punishment Park. It earned a nomination for "Best Dance Video" at the 2010 UK Music Video Awards.

"Born Free" debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number 156, the Swedish Singles Chart at number 58 and earned a position on the UK Indie Singles Chart at number 13 despite no prior promotion for the song. NME ranked the song to be the eleventh best release of 2010 and positioned the video number thirteen on its 2011 list of the "100 Top Greatest Music Videos Ever Made". The same year, the video placed at number 2 on TIME's list of the "Top 10 Controversial Music Videos" of all time.

Contents

[edit] Background

Written and produced by Maya "M.I.A." Arulpragasam and Dave "Switch" Taylor, "Born Free" opens with a frantic rhythm built around a sample from the song "Ghost Rider" by the synthpunk band Suicide, written by Martin Rev and Alan Vega, and was written as a reaction to what the singer experienced between 2009-2010.[1] Following the release and success of M.I.A.'s previous studio album Kala (2007), the singer revealed her intention to retire from the music industry and focus on starting a family. The worldwide success of the album's third single "Paper Planes" and her collaboration with A. R. Rahman, "O...Saya", for the soundtrack of the film Slumdog Millionaire, led some critics to believe M.I.A. would return to recording a third album following the birth of her son in 2009, although neither the artist or her label confirmed this. In May and June 2009, M.I.A. took to Twitter and interviews to condemn the onslaught of the Sri Lankan Government against Tamils in the Vanni, with reports that at least 50,000 civilians had been killed from government shelling in the first five months of the year. She tweeted "BORN FREE! NO FREEDOM! NO FREE !" on 4 June 2009, before debuting the song "Born Free" during her concert at San Francisco's Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in August 2009.[2][3] The song was released via iTunes and the rapper's official website page on April 23, 2010. The next day, she uploaded the lines from the song "you might try to find ways to be happier / you might end up somewhere in ethiopia / take [sic] a bite out of life make it snappier / ordinary gon super trippyer / so i check shit coz im lippyer / and split a cheque like slovakia" onto Twitter, before providing a link to the song on the N.E.E.T. official website. Its artwork sleeve was debuted by M.I.A.'s official website on April 25, 2010. "XXXO", the lead single from /\/\ /\ Y /\, was released next on May 11, 2010 via digital download. Explaining the inspiration for her new releases in 2010, she told George Stroumboulopoulos of The Hour at the end of that year, "when Paper Planes happened, I was too busy to take note, I wasn't out there promoting it and doing any of this shit because, this 25 year old civil war was coming to an end in my country, and I was making new understandings, new observations and new experiences that was happening to me which didn't add up to what was going on over here."[4]

[edit] Artwork

The single artwork depicts a still from mobile phone footage first obtained and broadcast by Channel 4 News in the United Kingdom on August 25, 2009, that shows the extrajudicial killing of Tamil males by Sri Lankan government soldiers earlier that year, underlined by an image of YouTube's customized error message.[5][6] M.I.A. tweeted a link to a Channel 4 News article on 3 September 2009, covering the United Nation's initial response to the broadcast footage. The footage would later appear in the documentary Sri Lanka's Killing Fields in 2011, exposing war crimes committed in Sri Lanka in 2009.

[edit] Composition

"Born Free" is an uptempo rock song, written in common time to a tempo of 96 beats per minute. The song's instrumentation features distorted bass guitars, keyboards, drum machine, an airhorn and heavy drums incorporating alternative rock, synthpunk and noise rock genres. Carter Maness of Spinner notes that "Born Free" opens with a loose, free jazz drum-circle stomp that gathers momentum until the track explodes into a rapid-fire punk vamp with razor-saw bass tones. The song is built around the distorted synth riff from Suicide's "Ghost Rider". Consisting of echoing M.I.A. vocals, the singer's vocal style and delivery is considered more aggressive than usual.[7][8][9]

Lyrically, the first verse begins with the lines "Yeah man made power / Stood like a tower / Higher, higher, hello! / And the higher you go / you feel lower, Oh! / I was close to the edge / staying under cover / staying under cover / And with my nose to the ground / I found my sound" and ends with "Got myself an interview tomorrow / got myself a jacket for a dolla / ... /I don't wanna live for tomorrow / I push my luck today / I throw this shit in your face when I see ya / Cause I got something to say /" before repeating in the chorus "I was born free."[7][10] She references Utopia, Ethiopia and Slovakia in the song's second verse.[11] The song's coda sees the songwriter turn the scrutiny on herself, stating "I Don't wanna talk about money, 'cos I got it / I Don't wanna talk about hoochies, 'cos I been it / And I don't wanna be fake, but you can do it."[10]

[edit] Critical reception

Slant stated that "word is that most of the record won't explore this kind of sound. Even so, it's a hell of a one-off, and it should pique expectations for the new record simply by proving that M.I.A.'s bag of studio tricks is as inexhaustible as her attitude."[12] Nick Levine of Digital Spy described the track as a "blistering statement of intent" with a result that was "an almighty racket, but the best kind of almighty racket."[13] Ryan Dombal of Pitchfork noted that M.I.A. had made a punk rock rebel anthem with the song.[14] August Brown of the Los Angeles Times felt that as a song, "Born Free" felt like a teaser with "zero ambition toward structure or development, more like intriguing mixtape fodder than any statement of purpose for her forthcoming record." He praised M.I.A.'s vocals as sounding "great... echoed out to oblivion while repurposing lyrical punk bromides from the Misfits and idle rap boasts like "I don't want to talk about money, 'cause I got it", and complimented the music direction as being in the same vein as her proteges, the band Sleigh Bells.[9] The Guardian's Douglas Haddow writes that "Born Free," " which presumably takes its title from article 1 of the UN's universal declaration of human rights, is a kick to the gut or a wink and a nudge depending on how you look at it."[15]

[edit] Promotion, cover versions and media use

M.I.A. performing "Born Free" during the /\/\ /\ Y /\ Tour at the Brixton Academy in London

The song was debuted live at San Francisco's Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in August 2009.[3] M.I.A. promoted the track with an appearance on "Late Night with David Letterman", during which she performed "Born Free" with Martin Rev of Suicide playing keyboards, backed by a group of dancers styled to look like M.I.A.[16][17] In November 2010 she appeared on "Later...with Jools Holland" on British television, performing "Born Free" and "It Takes a Muscle", the former accompanied by Victoria Smith on drums and the latter with members of The Specials.[18][19]

Speaking more about touring in support of the album and the track at the Big Day Out, M.I.A. told David Farrier of 3 News at the beginning of 2011 how it felt "amazing" to perform for fans in Europe during her Maya Tour following the reaction to the video, negative press and how it "blew out of proportion" in 2010, saying "I felt that the fans that turned up to support that and support the video, they just meant more to me, and you know, it was me and my baby was on tour as well, so the whole thing was meaningful, cause they weren't just there cause they liked the shoes I was wearing in a magazine, but they were there because of a bigger reason. I think that was really important to go and see."[20]

The song has been covered by noise rock band Boogie Monster.[21] The song's video is referenced in the intro to the song "Nando's Skank" by Example and Ed Sheeran.

[edit] Awards and accolades

"Born Free" ranked number 45 on Metromix list of the "Best Songs of 2010," comparing it favourably to the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" and describing it as a "hip hop spin on punk rock...it flat out rocks."[22] The online music service Rhapsody placed it at position 46 on their Top 50 Singles of 2010 list.[23] "Born Free" placed number 30 on the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop poll of the top singles of 2010, and ranked number 11 on NME's list of the Top Tracks of 2010.[24] German music magazines Intro and Musikexpress placed the song at number 33 in their lists of the best singles of the year while Heineken España named "Born Free" the seventh best song released in 2010.[25] The song's music video was nominated in the category "Best Dance Video" at the 2010 UK Music Video Awards. In 2011, NME ranked the song's music video number thirteen on the list of the 100 Top Greatest Music Videos ever made. It was listed number 2 on TIME's list of the "Top 10 Controversial Music Videos" ever made in 2011.[26]

[edit] Music video

Born Free
Directed by Romain Gavras
Written by Maya Arulpragasam (creator)
Starring Ian Hamrick
Music by Maya "M.I.A." Arulpragasam
Cinematography Andre Chemetoff
Release date(s) April 26, 2010 (Premiere)
Running time 9:06
Country Unites States
Language English
Budget $250,000 (estimated)

[edit] Development

The music video-short film, filmed in Los Angeles and Lancaster, California on January 15, 2010 was written by M.I.A. and directed by French director Romain Gavras.[27] Gavras, who directed the video for the song "Stress" by Justice which proved controversial after release dealt with themes of "real and fake" which complimented M.I.A.'s vision for the video. M.I.A. intended for the video to depict something real "made not real" to reach a wider audience. The video would depict the footage of the extra-judicial killing of Tamil males she had uploaded three months prior onto her Twitter feed.[4] Red haired men were used in the video following teasing of /\/\ /\ Y /\ collaborator Rusko in the studio during the album's recording. The songwriter stated it was one of those "ideas where people would beat the shit out of me because I was ginger [a natural redhead]. It has a whole double meaning. The gingers are kind of anyone who’s been oppressed...I didn't think she'd actually do it."[28] Other roles in the video are played by veterans from the U.S. Army returning from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; the video also features fake blood and ketchup imported from China.[29] Gavras went on to direct the film Our Day Will Come, a continuation of the ginger-genocide theme of the video-short.

[edit] Synopsis

M.I.A.'s dancer "WhyteBoi" from the /\/\/\Y/\ Tour appears in the film.

The film is over nine minutes long and depicts a SWAT team driving up to a building and staging a raid, during which they ignore a man sitting in a room smoking a crack pipe, beat a couple engaged in coitus, and then force a young red-haired man violently into a detainee transport vehicle. Other red-heads are rounded up. Some of the SWAT team members wear American flags on their uniforms. During the video, a mural is seen depicting armed red-headed men and the slogan "Our day will come", the historic motto of the Irish Republican Army (Tiocfaidh ár lá). Keffiya-wearing red-haired young people throw rocks and glass bottles at the armored vehicles transporting the detainees, in an apparent reference to the iconic images of the Second Palestinian "Intifada".[30] The detainees are then driven out to the desert, treated brutally, and forced to run across a live minefield.[31][32][33] During the course of events, a young red-headed boy is shot through the head, and another is blown to pieces after stepping on a live mine while the soldiers continue to chase, beat, and shoot the captives.

The "Born Free" film includes graphic violence and language, as well as nudity. Ian Hamrick, the 12 year-old red-haired actor whose character is shot in the head in the film, described the video as "showing violence to end violence." He felt a potency in the video absent from far more graphic video game media such as Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto.[34][35] Giving more details on his role in an interview to the Los Angeles Times, Hamrick said M.I.A. complimented his work on set, stating "She wanted to make sure I was OK, that I knew what was happening and why she killed [my character]. I said I did, that she really accomplished her goal of getting people to talk about something they don’t usually see.”[35]

[edit] Release and critical reaction

The music video was partly filmed at the Lancaster, California desert, imaged above

On April 26, 2010, the music video was released online and was immediately noted as political allegory, drawing parallels to genocides and many indigenous resistance movements around the world.[36] Its content elicited strong, widespread discussion across the world. Real life parallels were drawn with the issue of immigration in the American state of Arizona, the treatment of prisoners by U.S. troops at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, and, more universally, the brutal tactics used against minorities by government forces around the world.[31]

The Huffington Post stated "Whether it's a comment on the absurdity of genocide (of which M.I.A. saw plenty during her early childhood in Sri Lanka) or a challenge to the idea of "other" in Arizona's immigration law, it is startling even in the context of recent genre-bending music art-films."[37] Zach Baron, writing in Village Voice added "NSFW isn't exactly the word. More like art film? We can think of no goofier political allegory than the persecution, abuse, and murder of redheads, but then again, M.I.A.'s politics have never been of the kind you read about in the New York Times."[38] James Montgomery of MTV described it as "unflinchingly, unapologetically real" depicting "the kind of things that most nations — including the U.S., which is portrayed as the aggressor in the clip — often pretend don't happen: the rounding-up of ethnic minorities, the trampling of personal liberties, the bullying of the powerless by those with authority."[31] Ann Powers wrote in the Los Angeles Times that the video "concentrated fully" on the physical horror of gun butts and bullets hitting flesh, with the scenes giving added poignancy to the lyrical themes of the song.[39] Interpreted as a comment on desensitised attitudes towards violence, others found that the video stressed that genocide still exists and violent repression remains commonplace.[40] Some critics described the film as "sensationalist". Neda Ulaby of NPR described the video as intended for "shock value" in the service of nudging people into considering real issues that can be hard to talk about.[41][42][43] Haddow wrote further in The Guardian that particularly notable about the video was its use of red headed individuals as a proxy for anyone who has felt the brunt of a jackboot. The effect of this was that the viewer was "expected to empathise with the victim, rather than the aggressor." Haddow stated that this sat in "stark contrast" to the bulk of recent films on the subject of the Afghan and Iraq wars such as Katheryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker (2009), Oren Moverman's The Messenger (2009) and Green Zone (2010) written by Brian Helgeland and directed by Paul Greengrass, where focus was almost entirely on the psychological experiences of military personnel, continuing "Rarely do we ever catch a glimpse of the locals, whom we are supposed to be helping, unless they are being blown up or used as plot devices to heighten the suspense."[15] Other critics also pointed to differences between "Born Free" and Bigelow's The Hurt Locker but similarities between the video and Peter Watkins' Punishment Park (1971).[39]

Salon described "Born Free" as the most violent music video made in a long time and called it a nine-minute masterpiece, adding that "M.I.A. has built a career on making music that's as outspoken as it is danceable" and described the video as "undeniably powerful, a lurid parable on the systematic ethnic cleansing that goes on all over the world." [44] Eric Henderson in Slant stated "what stuck with me is the furious dignity it accords the main tracksuit-wearing prisoner, and the amount of anger it allows him to deliver....I recognized within him and the band of rock-throwing dissidents that pelt the armored bus a sense of kinship relevant to anyone who occupies a minority class." While he felt that "the clip is but a metaphor, and not entirely successfully so, when the pitbull-faced, tenement-snatched redhead boy is slammed against an iron fence and still dares to glare into the eyes of his attackers, I want to be right there by his side fucking their shit up."[45]

[edit] Aftermath

Lucy Kafanov, producer at RT America, a Russian television network, noted how several mainstream American TV news networks hesitated in covering the reaction to the video initially despite the widespread response. She said this was in contrast to their coverage of the controversy of Erykah Badu's "Window Seat" video two weeks prior, and suggested this was because the video for Born Free "hit too close to home" in the United States.[46] Billboard writer Monica Herrera stated that anyone who was "up in arms" over Badu's video would probably feel "ridiculous" after watching the video for "Born Free".[47] Journalist Alyona Minkovski of The Alyona Show noted how M.I.A.'s own experiences with genocide in Sri Lanka contributed to the themes in the video but that the silence of the artist left audience members to speculate on several connections between the video and real events.[46] Iraqi rapper The Narcicyst, Palestinian hip hop group DAM and singer Sabreena Da Witch told MTV Iggy that they saw the video as a "grander metaphor for society" and persecution in areas of political turmoil.[48]

The British network Sky News reported that Sherry Adhami, spokeswoman for the UK Beatbullying charity found the video "inappropriate" as it could "lead to more abuse against red-haired people." Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian told the network "I think M.I.A. is making the point that if we segregated all ginger people as a minority - in the same way as black and Asian people - there would be an enormous outcry, and that we don't seem to get the same reaction when black people are treated in this way." She also stated that M.I.A. depicted violence in order to make a political point, in a way different to gangsta rap.[49] Hamrick was to be prominently featured in the video for "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" by Shakira and Freshlyground, the official 2010 FIFA World Cup anthem but his appearance was allegedly recut to a crowd scene following the "Born Free" video release. "Waka Waka"'s producers responded that Hamrick was always meant to be an extra in the video and that this was not due to the controversy. Hamrick said of "Born Free" that he was really “proud to be a part of M.I.A.’s shout-out to the world” because “it was a great chance to tell everyone that bully’s [sic] suck no matter what country you are from."[50][51]

Gavras was more reassured that audiences talked about the subject by themselves, than explaining the video himself as the debate over the video heightened, although he questioned "How can you be shocked by the M.I.A. video and not shocked when Israel bombs Gaza for days and days...Really crazy stuff where people actually die, real things."[42] Vincent Cassel, star of Gavras' film Our Day Will Come, stated he found the video "scary, shocking and totally crazy" on the first viewing, and added "If it would have been with any kind of community it would have been terrible, but suddenly it's redheads, so it's like a symbol of a quest that doesn't really exist." Thus the video also seemed "strange and funny" to him.[52]

M.I.A. stated in an interview to MTV News that she found the reaction to the film "fascinating" but that she was baffled by the media's fixation on the clip when real issues were ignored, stating "I think it's interesting how we react to fiction and how we react to realism on the internet... this is mainstream media, I wish I was talking about way more underground theories, but [I'm] not, this is just me digesting what I see in the mainstream."[53] She joked to NME that she found the new Justin Bieber video "more of an assault to my eyes and senses than what I've made".[54] A few weeks later, in an interview with Angie Martinez of Hot 97 radio station in New York City, she said "I said I love Justin Bieber and everyone like went crazy. It's weird. No I said that I found his video offensive, because people said they found my video offensive [...] It got out of hand, Now I feel really bad coz I have some family members who love Justin Bieber, and now they won't talk to me, I need my little cousins to talk to me!"[55]

A week after its release on Vimeo on April 26, the video was viewed 1.8 million times on the site. From April 27 to May 2, M.I.A. remained the most blogged about artist on the internet, according to MP3 blog aggregator The Hype Machine.[56][57] The video was then re-posted on YouTube by VEVO, without users having to sign in to prove they were 18 or older. The raw video is also on M.I.A.'s website. The video has been viewed over 30 million times on the internet.[42][58]

[edit] YouTube controversy and response

Video sharing website YouTube removed the film from viewing in the Unites States within a day of its posting. Some other uploads of the video were subsequently age-gated on the site, while others were removed due to copyright claims. YouTube stated that they did not comment on individual clips on the site but said that videos were removed only after users reported videos that could "contravene guidelines."[58] Commentators proposed different reasons for the actions, from the graphic "excessive" violence depicted to political censorship. On April 27, the BBC reported that the video was being removed in some instances by YouTube, and labelled with an age-restriction in others. Neither M.I.A. or her record label XL Recordings commented on the development in the weeks following the release.[59] Lisa Respers France wrote in CNN that the YouTube block may have worked in M.I.A.'s favor as it brought more publicity.[60] M.I.A. tweeted she initially suspected her US parent label Universal Music Group to be responsible but confirmed it was not soon after.[61] The singer-rapper stated that she found YouTube's action on the video "ridiculous", citing YouTube's streaming of real-life killings.[62][63] Miranda Sawyer of the The Observer noted that although the metaphor in the video was obvious, the illustration was graphic and "some might say gratuitous". M.I.A. told Sawyer "It's just fake blood and ketchup and people are more offended by that more than the execution videos" referring to the clips of Sri Lankan troops shooting unarmed, blindfolded, naked men in the head that she tweeted beforehand, later telling French music magazine Mondomix "It’s amazing to me that is the state we're in today – people are more moved by something synthetic than something real. And as an artist that’s the decision you have to make – whether to be real or synthetic.”[62][64] Similarly, Erin Thomson of Seattle Weekly concurred that the violence in the video was not gratuitous, noting that as an artist, M.I.A. "never pretended to be anything less than radical; she's never shied away from shock value. She comes from a world where persecution and terrorism are the norm, and from day one that's been the world she's tried to portray through her music."[65]

Xinhua, the official news agency of the Chinese government and Global Times, a paper owned by the Communist Party of China noted the removal of the film on American YouTube within a week of Born Free's release.[66] M.I.A. condemned the Chinese Government's role in supporting and supplying arms to the Sri Lankan government during Eelam War IV, stating that China's influence within the UN was preventing prosecutions of war crimes committed during the conflict.[64] The coverage of the video in China was noted by Jemima Kiss of The Guardian to bring her work to the attention of more fans in the country; M.I.A. herself stated after the release she considered her child learn the Chinese language given the economic rise of the country.[58][67]

[edit] Credits and personnel

Source:[68]

[edit] Charts

[edit] Weekly charts

Chart (2010) Peak
position
Swedish Singles Chart[69] 58
UK Singles Chart[70] 156
UK Indie (Official Charts Company)[71] 13

[edit] References

  1. ^ "New M.I.A. Song: 'Born Free'". NPR. http://www.npr.org/blogs/monitormix/2010/04/new_mia_song_born_free.html. Retrieved 2010-04-26. 
  2. ^ http://twitter.com/#!/_M_I_A_/status/2023525048
  3. ^ a b "M.I.A. TAKES TO THE SKY TO ANNOUNCE ALBUM RELEASE DATE". Rap Up. 18 April 2010. http://www.rap-up.com/2010/04/18/mia-takes-to-the-sky-to-announce-album-release-date/. Retrieved October 18, 2011. 
  4. ^ a b "M.I.A.". Stroumboulopoulos, George (Interviewer), M.I.A. (Interviewee). The Hour. CBC Television, Toronto, Canada. 15 January 2011. Retrieved on 08 November 2011.
  5. ^ Munckton, Stuart (May 3, 2010). M.I.A.'s radical clip banned by YouTube in the US. Green Left. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
  6. ^ "S Lanka execution video 'authentic'". Al Jazeera. December 19, 2009. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/01/20101718331516260.html. Retrieved May 23, 2010. 
  7. ^ a b "M.I.A. Releases New Track, 'Born Free'". Spinner. 2010-04-23. http://www.spinner.com/2010/04/23/mia-born-free-new-song-stream/. Retrieved 2011-12-22. 
  8. ^ "M.I.A.: 'Born Free' - Music Singles Review". Digital Spy. 2010-04-27. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/singlesreviews/a216848/mia-born-free.html. Retrieved 2011-12-22. 
  9. ^ a b "Pop & Hiss". Los Angeles Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2010/04/snap-judgment-mias-born-free.html. 
  10. ^ a b "Pop & Hiss". Los Angeles Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2010/04/mia-makes-her-stance-utterly-clear-with-born-free-video-1.html. 
  11. ^ "M.I.A Song Born Free Leaks | M.I.A. | News | MTV UK". Mtv.co.uk. 2010-04-23. http://www.mtv.co.uk/news/mia-0/212925-mia-song-born-free-leaks. Retrieved 2011-12-22. 
  12. ^ Matthew Cole (April 24, 2010). Track Review: M.I.A.'s "Born Free". Slant Magazine. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
  13. ^ Levine, Nick (April 26, 2010). "M.I.A.: 'Born Free'". Digital Spy. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/singlesreviews/a216848/mia-born-free.html. Retrieved October 18, 2011. 
  14. ^ Dombal, Ryan (2010-04-23). "New M.I.A.: "Born Free" | News". Pitchfork. http://pitchfork.com/news/38595-new-mia-born-free/. Retrieved 2011-12-22. 
  15. ^ a b Douglas Haddow (May 1, 2010). The real controversy of MIA's video The Guardian. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
  16. ^ Vozick-Levinson, Simon (14 July 2010). "M.I.A. brings 'Born Free' to Letterman: Awesome or irritating?". Entertainment Weekly. Time Inc.. http://music-mix.ew.com/2010/07/14/mia-letterman-born-free/. Retrieved 15 July 2010. 
  17. ^ Litowitz, Drew (14 July 2010). "Watch: 10 M.I.A.s Play 'Letterman' for Album Release". Spin. http://www.spin.com/articles/watch-10-mias-play-letterman-album-release. Retrieved 15 July 2010. 
  18. ^ "Watch: M.I.A. Performs With the Specials". Pitchfork Media. 3 November 2010. http://pitchfork.com/news/40591-watch-mia-performs-with-the-specials/. Retrieved 18 November 2010. 
  19. ^ "Video: M.I.A. makes U.K. TV debut". Rap-Up. http://www.rap-up.com/2010/11/06/video-mia-makes-uk-tv-debut/. Retrieved 19 November 2010. 
  20. ^ "Big Day Out interview - MIA - Entertainment - Video - 3 News". David Farrier (Interviewer), M.I.A. (Interviewee). 3 News. 3 News, TV3, Auckland, New Zealand. 20 January 2011. 20:50 minutes in.
  21. ^ "Boogie Monster - "Born Free" (M.I.A. cover) • Click Hear •". Exclaim.ca. 2011-10-25. http://exclaim.ca/MusicVideo/ClickHear/boogie_monster-born_free_mi_cover. Retrieved 2011-12-22. 
  22. ^ "Best songs of 2010 | Our 50 favorite tracks of 2010, from LCD Soundsystem, Taylor Swift, Eminem, Cee Lo Green, Janelle Monae and 44 other artists (Kanye made the list twice) | Photo 1/51 | Metromix New York". Newyork.metromix.com. http://newyork.metromix.com/music/standard_photo_gallery/best-songs-of-2010/2365204/content. Retrieved 2011-12-22. 
  23. ^ "The Best Tracks of 2010 - Rhapsody: The Mix". Blog.rhapsody.com. 2010-12-07. http://blog.rhapsody.com/2010/12/boytracks2010.html?pcode=edt&rsrc=blog&cpath=boyalbums2010a. Retrieved 2011-12-22. 
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