M.I.A. Brings the “Noize” on New Single

Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam has been lying relatively low since she flipped the bird at 114 million people during the Super Bowl halftime show last year. Matangi, her first album since signing with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation management, has been delayed several times, but it looks like M.I.A. is finally ready to “Bring the Noize.” Following 2010’s divisive Mayaand last year’s “Bad Girls,” which many heralded as a “return to form,” M.I.A. claims her new material is an amalgam of all of her previous releases, coining it “Paul Simon on acid.” The minimalist “Bring the Noize” certainly lives up to that description, though it’s less “Paper Planes” or “Bad Girls” than “Bird Flu.” M.I.A.’s delivery is quick but surprisingly not very forceful (the final bridge is downright Janet-grade) and the beats stutter and ping like BB bullets hitting sheet metal. M.I.A. shared a clip of the forthcoming music video on Vine over the weekend.

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