MIA has shared a new song on her Soundcloud page today (25 February) entitled ‘Boom ADD’.
Fans of the UK artist and producer will recognise parts of the song, which is an extension of ‘Boom Skit’, which first appeared on her 2013 album ‘Matangi’ and has since been re-worked into a full track.
According to Pitchfork, the track addresses the singer’s run in with the NFL after her Super Bowl 2012 appearance, where she ‘flipped the bird’ on stage with Madonna during her performance. The song opens with a sample of her lawyer explaning the lawsuit: “They’re suing you for damaging their fantastic reputation by flipping the bird”.
In 2014, M.I.A. and the NFL reached a settlement over the lawsuit. You can listen to the new song below.
Last month (January 2015), MIA spoke in an interview about her recent legal dispute with French football team Paris Saint-Germain.
The artist has claimed that the club are seeking the removal of her recent ‘Borders’ video, which was released in November and sees MIA donning the team’s jersey, altered to display a political message.
The clip sees MIA join a group of refugees as they travel across the sea in boats and climb fences, while she reels off the lines: “Politics / What’s up with that? / Police shots / What’s up with that? / Identities / What’s up with that? / Your privilege / What’s up with that? / Broke people / What’s up with that? / Boat people / What’s up with that?”
The video also shows MIA wearing a PSG shirt with its sponsor Fly Emirates changed to read “Fly Pirates”. It is this that the club seem to have taken objection to.
Speaking to Noisey, MIA said that she didn’t expect the issue to arise because she “was thinking about the bigger picture, which is that way more people are going to die at sea if we don’t do something”.
MIA also discussed her history of legal trouble, which has seen her get sued by the NFL for making a middle-finger salute during a Super Bowl half-time performance.
“I have people in higher places who hate me,” she continued. “Now and again, I feel the force. But I think it makes it interesting because I don’t really care about those things. I wish they would spend their money better. How much bad press do footballers get? All the stuff they’re involved in. It’s crazy they’re looking for trouble with me.”
“It’s not cool. Especially when I’ve had this with another sports team that are like, twenty times bigger. D’you know what I mean? The entire NFL. Not just a team, not just the Giants. The entire NFL came after me. And I won. So if they want to come after me on a t-shirt, that’s crazy to me. It’s not even a big enough fight to me this year.”
Watch MIA’s video for ‘Borders’ beneath. The song will feature on MIA’s next album ‘Matahdatah’.