M.I.A.

So, Rolling Stone has revealed their list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007, with the M.I.A.'s Kala nabbing the top spot. I agree with most things on the list, on at least the idea that they belong on the list, but the ordering, especially of the top 10 or so, I don't agree with as much. Kala is my biggest gripe. It's a very good album, definitely belongs somewhere on the top 50, but number 1? It's nowhere near that good, because it simply isn't Arular.

Everything that made Arular, M.I.A.'s debut, the amazing, avant-garde album it was has been downplayed in Kala, in many places so as to completely fade away. Arular was full of great beats and M.I.A.'s fantastic lyrical prowess, and was only as produced as required to make it work. In comparison Kala has been overproduced to the point of almost losing itself, the breakthrough minimalism of Arular replaced with more sound, for no reason other than to make the album more saleable and serving only to drown out M.I.A.'s voice and message itself. It feels to me like she was so critically successful with Arular that she ended up comprising with herself on Kala in order to meet the high crossover expectations.

The first track on the album, Bamboo Banger, would be delightful, except that it has unneeded sound effects that would be better left implied. And on every single downbeat in the song we have a male voice going "Come on." Think of Timbaland's ubiquitous vocal snippets in many Aaliyah songs. But instead of a nice break during the bridge or an intro at the beginning that those songs have, they permeate the entirety of the track. The are simply on. Every. Single. Downbeat. It's reminiscent, and to be expected, of any number of late 90s Puff Daddy "remixes" of Mariah Carey songs, but from someone who came out with such a minimal and powerfully driven debut it completely escapes me why M.I.A. thought she needed to use this device to drive a track that was already driving itself. The rest of the album is equally full of other unnecessary production artifacts that give the tracks a wider appeal, but suck the soul out of what the songs could have been - less crowd pleasing but truer to the avant-garde sound M.I.A. is more than capable of.

Maybe I'm being a bit unfair, maybe the album is simply M.I.A. trying out different styles, not to be more commercial, but to expand herself and her music. If this is the case there are a few tracks were she more than succeeds. The disco riffs and beat of Jimmy are lovely and meld well with her style. But for every Jimmy there are many more tracks like $20 which feels like it's channelling Justice or Daft Punk, but the sound feels muddy and without any of those artist's finesse, and drowns out the great lyrics . Funnily enough, while I think that Bamboo Banger's late 90s, Diddy and Timbland-esque vocal stabs ruin the song, the final track on the album, Come Around, is one of the better tracks, and is produced by and features Timbaland himself. I think the lesson is to leave someone else's style to them, unless they'll come do it for you. Don't be afraid to try out new styles, it worked with Jimmy, but don't be afraid to let stuff hit the cutting room floor either.

I still like Kala. It is very listenable, and is very fun, but it's not evocative the way Arular was. It deserves to be a top album of the year, but not the top album. My friend Clio pointed out that the top spot on these lists is always going to be a committee decision, and in that respect the choice makes sense, it's the best album this year that a diverse range of critics are all going to like. She satisfies the hip-hop community with her style, satisfies the indie rock critics because of the cred earned by Arular, and she satisfies everyone else with the crossover of styles that I find water it down - they are what make it more easy to swallow for people not willing to go in for her particular brand of offbeat delivery.

It's good. I really do like it. It's just not the evolution from Arular it could have been.