M.I.A. was on the Late Show with David Letterman last night for an interesting performance of "Born Free" that included a clan of clones... and it sounded like most of them couldn't sing. M.I.A. would have been better with a choral effect on the microphone instead of having a bunch of women around her. ... of course, that says nothing about the industrial music mess going on behind her.
Horrible song? Maybe not. However, I expect this more from a garage band performing at The Milestone or Snug Harbor on a Tuesday night as they try to "discover themselves" and not from some major-label artist that people rave about. I'm guessing her new album won't quite match the sales of the last one.
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I can appreciate unique qualities in the interest of artistic integrity... and then there's crap. For me, I find nothing of substance in this performance. It comes across as amateur hour and I've heard better musical and lyrical compositions from 6th-graders.
As Letterman says, "Happy Halloween!"