M.I.A.‘s debut album Arular was released on March 22, 2005. The project featured the songs “Galang,” “Sunshowers,” “Hombre,” and “Bucky Done Gun.” Arular was very successful in the mainstream arena, and it was named one of the best albums of 2005. M.I.A. said that everything was moving really fast, and she didn’t know a lot about the music industry. She basically went from making demos, to having a record deal with XL Records. “XL took notice and gave me a record deal, and that was like the most liberating thing on the planet. To have somebody care that your work is any good, that they would give you a check,” the rapper told Rolling Stone magazine. M.I.A. said the whole experience was liberating; she was able to pay her own rent, and buy her things with her own money. “To have that independence and freedom was amazing,” the rapper stated.
M.I.A. was invited to perform at one of the music industry’s biggest music festivals, Coachella. Coachella rarely invites newcomers to the event, and being on the bill meant M.I.A. was well on her way to become music royalty. One would think the rapper would be riding high from the success, but M.I.A. said her unhealthy relationship with Diplo halted her excitement. “I was dating Diplo and he basically just shat on every good thing that was happening to me, and I just didn’t enjoy it,” she told Rolling Stone. The rapper continued,”If I was on a cover of a magazine he’ll be like, ‘What do you want to do, like be on the dentist waiting room table? Is that what a magazine is for? It’s corny. Don’t do magazines.'”
M.I.A. told the magazine that Diplo destroyed her hotel room, and broke all of the furniture, because he was so angry that she signed a deal with Interscope. “He was so angry I got picked up by a major label and [Diplo felt] it was the corniest thing in the world that could possibly happen,” she stated. The rapper said that the couple also got into a massive fight because Missy Elliott wanted to do a record with her.
Diplo didn’t want her to work with anyone in the music industry who was popular. M.I.A. said during their entire two year relationship, Diplo dictated everything she did. Therefore, she didn’t collaborate with big name artists, she didn’t do magazine covers, and she didn’t do interviews either. The rapper said when she finally left him, it was empowering. “It’s only now when I look back at it in 2015, I can see that he was just jealous and he couldn’t wait to be Taylor Swift’s best friend and date Katy Perry,” M.I.A. stated to Rolling Stone.
FDRMX Eyes: Mark T. Smith of Explosions in the Sky and Matthew Cooper of Eluvium form the rock project Inventions. Inventions has released a new music video, which is animated by Dan W Jacobs and is called “Springworlds.”
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