I’m in Los Angeles, but I’m not a big Grammys watcher. This year, I might just let CBS run in the background.
I first listened to the music of M.I.A. in 2005, when Asia Pacific Arts took an early bet that she would become big news for the music industry. This year, her second album, Kala, has become a staple in my musical diet. It is absolutely layered and filled with unexpected sounds and lyrics. Maybe that’s why Paper Planes, nominated for record of the year, gave such great character to the most entertaining scenes of Slumdog Millionaire, and made a really great trailer (just the end part) for Pineapple Express.
She’s got guts, and not just with her music. She’s slated to take the Grammy stage this year, very pregnant, for a performance on the day her baby is due. It’s certainly garnered her a lot of attention. She wrote (in hot pink) on her MySpace blog:
I want you to know that , everyone has been asking me on the shows to talk about the sudden popularity im experiencing, the babies, the grammies the oscars etc
and i want you to know that this has been part of the plan from day 1.
Indeed, M.I.A. has a plan; she’s got something to say, and it will be interesting to see if a show like the Grammys, not well known for its risk-taking, will let her say it. And what the last hours of pregnancy looks like on stage.
Here are a few interviews, if you’re unfamiliar with M.I.A.’s story. The first is another great interview by Tavis Smiley, the second a basic CNN interview, a quick sum-up of the Sri Lanka conflict in between M.I.A. soundbites, that is getting some flack.
(I am also intrigued by Radiohead’s reported Grammy night plans.)