Kala

M.I.A.’s sophomore album, 15 years onward

i was originally gonna share a new series this week. but then i was reminded that Kala by M.I.A. was released 15 years ago and i thought that was a little more pertinent!

i briefly mentioned this record in a write-up last year, where i revisited a slew of albums that celebrated their anniversaries during this week in history.

retrospective

this year, let’s take it a step further with a track by track recollection of Kala.

i can’t recall how i first encountered this album, but i’m sure it would have been via a blog or TV. however it happened, buying this CD absolutely awakened something in me regarding electronic music.¹ i hadn’t dug in the crates quite yet.

to show just how much i embraced this sound, here’s my heavily used copy of the CD.

i’m not sure if this is the original jewel case — but it very well could be based off the fact it’s broken in half.

sonically, there were a few themes and topics from this album that may have went over my head as an adolescent. at the time, you couldn’t tell me that Kala wasn’t conceptually and aesthetically tied to my identity.

this was the beginning of my exploration into colorful fashion & maximalism — i even wished i could dress in all the patterns on this cover. i also really enjoyed the various visual interpretations of the songs throughout the album booklet. i’ll feature them throughout the piece.

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M.I.A. (born Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam) has always been a spitfire. she definitely doesn’t hold her tongue. that coupled with some of her interesting political views has made her a somewhat controversial figure. still, the influence of this album and era of music cannot be overstated.

sure we all know “Paper Planes.” it’s her most commercial song. but if Kala came out today, various songs from the album would be all over TikTok. and i’m sure in some pockets of that vast app, they already are.

onto the play-by-play:

“Bamboo Banga” - starting off with a banger, this is a stellar first impression if there ever was one.

“BirdFlu” - now this wasn’t one of my favorites per se, but the beat still goes hard.

“Boyz” - one of the catchiest songs of the 2000s. if the first two songs on this album didn’t set you up for the high energy that’s to come, then this one surely will.

“Jimmy” - this is where my CD usually skips, as this song entranced me the first time i heard it. every re-listen is just as nostalgic, especially when i played it today.

imagine 13/14 year old me spinning around in my bedroom, channeling ‘80s fashion and dancing like i’m at a discotheque. i know deep in my heart that i wasn’t the only one!

“Hussel” - i loved this track, but i mainly had to listen to it so often because i always skipped my CD to “Jimmy.” so it would obviously play right after. this is a song that i think would do well on TikTok.

i also grew fonder of this track when Vampire Weekend sampled it in my favorite song of theirs (“Diplomat’s Son”).²

“Mango Pickle Down River” - i honestly forgot how hard this bumps until today.

“20 Dollar” - M.I.A. was heavy on the autotune with this one. not a bad track, just not as memorable in the concept of the whole album. but it is one where she reasserts her understanding of fraught geopolitics. and even though her success is so well tied to the blogging days and internet age, she’s also been an outspoken critic of the digital landscape as evidenced by this track and more.

“World Town” - i wouldn’t usually opt to listen to this song on its own. whenever it came up on shuffle, it was always a vibe.

“The Turn” - this song literally signaled a shift in the tone of the album. it’s the calm before the raucous standout track “XR2.”

“XR2” - this song opens with the catchiest refrain: “where were you in 92?” well, to answer the question, i was merely a concept as i was born two years later.

the best part of this song is when she just starts rambling off what initially seems like random acronyms until you realize she’s describing a definitive cultural moment defined by the media and parties of 1990s.

“Paper Planes” - as a young hipster, it was kinda strange when this song blew up in the ways that it did. but i’d like to think that no one can forget where they were when they first heard “Swagga Like Us” and perhaps we are all grateful for it. this song is a modern classic.

“Come Around” - it’s not hard to love this closing track as it follows the hit song. but also the chorus is such an endearing vignette of that time.

not only do we get Timbaland’s production, but a verse that solidified “Come Around” as a bridge between the iconic Y2K sound he pioneered and the electronic wave that would follow in the 2010s.

honorable mention: “What I Got”

this very ‘80s hip-hop track from the deluxe edition was also one of my favorites. but mainly for bragging rights…were you really there if you didn’t know the deep cuts?

1. i felt the same way when i first heard Santigold. what an era!

2. actually, someone get the mashup folks on the phone. i need these songs put together immediately. maybe i’ll do it myself.