AIM (album)

Untitled

AIM is the fifth studio album by English recording artist M.I.A, released on 9 September 2016 by Interscope and Polydor. Prior to its release, the rapper claimed that it would be her final album. M.I.A. worked on the composition and production of the album with a range of collaborators, including Blaqstarr, Diplo and Skrillex.

AIM received generally mixed reviews from music critics, some praising certain songs but commenting on the album's lack of focus.

Composition and recording

M.I.A. released her fourth album Matangi in November 2013. Although it received generally positive reviews, it failed to match the commercial performance of her previous two albums. The rapper's next album was originally going to be titled Matahdatah and have the concept of an audio-visual series filmed around the world, but on 14 July 2016, M.I.A. confirmed the new title of the album, AIM. She considered it her most positive work, saying that there were "no complaints" on it, and claimed that it would be her last album.

The track "Swords" was recorded during a trip to India.

Music and lyrics

The track "Swords" uses the sound of clashing swords as percussion.

Lyrically, a number of tracks on the album contain themes of borders and refugees.

Release and artwork

The official track listing of the deluxe edition was announced on 18 August 2016. The album's cover artwork was revealed on the same day and features a cropped photograph of the rapper on an orange and black background.

Promotion

Producer Diplo, who had collaborated with M.I.A. on her first three albums, returned to working with the rapper following a personal dispute.

A number of the songs from the album were made available ahead of the album's release, either as singles or through other media. The first teaser of the project came in May 2015, when M.I.A. shared the demo version of the track "Platforms" on her SoundCloud page. "The New International Sound Pt. 2" was first released in June 2015, as part of French producer Surkin's project GENER8ION. "Swords" and "Borders" were both released later the same year. In March of the following year, M.I.A. debuted "MIA OLA" (later renamed "Visa") via her SoundCloud. The song originally sampled Elton John's song "Circle of Life" from the film The Lion King, but she later announced via Periscope that she had replaced the "Circle of Life" sample with a sample of her own early single, "Galang". The complete album, consisting of 12 tracks, was previewed on Periscope on 17 May 2016.

"Go Off" was released on 15 July 2016 as the lead single from the album. The Blaqstarr-produced version of the next single "Bird Song" was released on 12 August 2016. The Diplo version of the song was released on 18 August 2016. The fifth single from the album, "Freedun", was released on 2 September 2016.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	65/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The A.V. Club	C–
Consequence of Sound	B–
Entertainment Weekly	B+
Exclaim!
The Guardian
The Independent
Pitchfork	5.9/10
Rolling Stone
Slant Magazine

AIM received generally mixed reviews from music critics. Writing in The Guardian, Harriet Gibsone noted the album's "vision, scope and experimentation" but described it overall as "frustratingly unfocused". Greg Cochrane of the magazine Loud and Quiet praised several individual tracks but described the album as sounding "disparate, like a collection of ideas rather than songs". El Hunt, in DIY, said that the album is "colliding jangling rhythms with brash, lane-switching pop parps", and described the album as "abrasive" and "divisive".

A more positive review came from Stephen Carlick of Exclaim!, who was slightly critical of the album's length but noted that there was "plenty here to love" and stated that overall it was "focused and purposeful, a loose collection characterized by sticky-hot swagger, political awareness and, most importantly, urgency."

Commercial performance

Upon its release, the album debuted at number 1 on the iTunes Electronic albums chart. Five of the album's songs charted on the iTunes Electronic music chart upon its release. "Freedun", "Go Off", "Borders", the Diplo version of "Bird Song", and "Visa" charted at numbers 13, 19, 32, 47 and 60 respectively.

Track listing

Credits adapted from Universal Music and Tidal.

AIM – Standard version

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Borders"	Maya Arulpragasam Amish Patel Levi Lennox	M.I.A. ADP Lennox	4:11
2.	"Go Off"	Arulpragasam Sonny Moore Charles Smith	Skrillex Blaqstarr M.I.A.	3:04
3.	"Bird Song" (Blaqstarr version)	Arulpragasam Smith Gnanathesikan	Blaqstarr M.I.A. ADP	3:01
4.	"Jump In"	Arulpragasam Smith	Blaqstarr M.I.A.	2:23
5.	"Freedun" (featuring Zayn)	Arulpragasam Keisha Hollins Jamal Jones	Polow da Don M.I.A.	4:41
6.	"Foreign Friend" (featuring Dexta Daps)	Arulpragasam Louis Grandison Craig Harrisingh David Harrisingh	M.I.A.	4:23
7.	"Finally"	Arulpragasam Patel João Barbosa Théo Le Vigoureux	Fakear ADP Branko M.I.A.	3:00
8.	"A.M.P (All My People)"	Arulpragasam Moore	Skrillex M.I.A. Leo Justi	3:21
9.	"Ali R U OK?"	Arulpragasam Smith Richard Philips	Blaqstarr M.I.A. Richard X	3:30
10.	"Visa"	Arulpragasam Ross Orton Stephen Mackey Justine Frischmann	MC Renee	2:51
11.	"Fly Pirate"	Arulpragasam Smith	M.I.A. Blaqstarr	2:25
12.	"Survivor"	Arulpragasam Justus Arison	M.I.A. Justus	2:59
Total length:				39:49

AIM – Deluxe version (bonus tracks)

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
13.	"Bird Song" (Diplo version)	Arulpragasam Smith Gnanathesikan	Diplo Blaqstarr M.I.A.	3:22
14.	"The New International Sound Pt. 2" (featuring GENER8ION)	Arulpragasam Cédric Steffens Benoit Heitz	Surkin[a]	3:28
15.	"Swords"	Arulpragasam Jerry Leembruggen Ruben Fernhout Hirdesh Singh Tevin Plaate Kaushal Sahil	M.I.A. Spanker The Partysquad	2:25
16.	"Talk"	Arulpragasam Plaate	M.I.A. Skrillex Blaqstarr	2:14
17.	"Platforms"	Arulpragasam Leembruggen Fernhout Tevin Plaate	M.I.A. Spanker The Partysquad	2:55
Total length:				54:13

Notes

• ^{^[a]} credited as part of the project GENER8ION.