How M.I.A went from progressive pop star to persona-non-grata ^86.7%

CBC - By CBC Arts - 5/7/2026, 8:53 PM

Negativity Bias 47.2% - Framing Effect 45.4% - Recency Bias 41.7%

When she first emerged in the mid-2000s with albums like Arular and Kala, Maya Arulpragasam – a.k.a. M.I.A. – was hailed as the ultimate progressive pop star. Both the musical and political worlds praised her forward-thinking, global-spanning sound and pointed messages about colonialism, racism and the refugee experience. But in recent... more