After the bland yet still somehow abrasive collection that was 2010′s /\/\/\Y/\, we can bet that M.I.A. is on a mission to make sure her next album has something that can compete with the fire she unleashed her more popular disc, Kala. While “Bad Girls” isn’t going to take the world by storm like “Paper Planes“ did, it’s every bit the dance floor banger that “Boyz“ or “Jimmy“ were. It start’s out with Maya’s repeated deadpan delivery of phrases like “live fast, die young, bad girls do it well” while Danja’s exotic beat steadily builds momentum until we’re coaxed to get back, get down, and pull someone closer… if we think you can hang, that is. And while the purposely (?) bad faux-amateur album art IS pretty awful, I can’t help but feel that M.I.A.’s ability to mug it up between the letters kinda saves it. Here’s hoping that the music video slated to drop on Friday (as well as the rest of the upcoming album) matches “Bad Girls” in dance-tensity.
Update: So the video is here, as promised, and it had me doing one of these on tumblr last night. While everyone seems to be trying to project a bunch of political meaning into the imagery, all I’m really getting out of it is that it no matter where you’re from, once you get your hands on some money most of it will probably be spent attempting to ride cars in as many creative ways as possible. If you pay attention, you can even catch a cameo of one of the gingers from “Born Free” getting in on the action. Of course, it doesn’t matter if she’s dancing in front of her keffiyeh’d crew or filing her nails while ghost riding on top of a sideways car, Maya herself is still oozing buckets of swagger.
MIO
January 30, 2012
Song sucks, Thanks for wasting my life, and all the other lives you suck 2:00 out of.
DRIPLO
January 31, 2012
LOL U MAD?
DRIPLO
January 31, 2012
For real though, listened to this like three times in a row and it’s sick. Best single she’s put out since Kala.
Heady Brosevelt
February 4, 2012
shits week. sure it’s the best to come out since kala, but it’s also like 100 times worse than the worst song on that album.