"The Message", the opening track on M.I.A.'s 2010 record *///\Y/* caught a lot of flack for lines perceived as politically juvenile: "Headbone connects to the neckbone/ Neckbone connects to the armbone/ Armbone connects to the handbone/ Handbone connects to the internet/ Connected to the Google/ Connected to the government" and "Headbone connected to the headphones/ Headphones connected to the iPhone/ iPhone connected to the internet/ Connected to the Google/ Connected to the government."
Now, presumably in light of the recent news about the N.S.A.'s surveillance program, M.I.A. has taken to her Tumblr to revisit the three-year-old criticisms of those lyrics (including ours, which called the song "a bad demo with a simplistic, paranoid rap that's as rhetorically effective as someone in a dorm room ranting about the C.I.A. inventing A.I.D.S.").
Other descriptions used for the song include "would-be narcissism and paranoia," "awful/obvious/incoherent," "neither a pleasure to listen to nor think about," "horribly paranoid rant," "unremarkable and... perilously tied to a transient time," "half baked paranoid ramble," "clumsy, ham-fisted" and more.
M.I.A.'s Tumblr collage shows that in retrospect, the criticisms of M.I.A.'s politically charged words and alleged paranoia can seem just as silly as her lyrics once might have.
Above, listen to the first taste of Matangi, called "Bring the Noize", and watch a 2008 interview with M.I.A.: