M.I.A. made the claim in a video interview for House of Strombo.
M.I.A. has announced that she is temporarily withdrawing from the music industry, blaming “censorship”. The revelation comes in an interview published on House of Strombo in support of recent documentary Matangi/Maya/M.I.A.
In the video interview, the artist stated she feels censored by the media due to her political views. Consequently, she’s no longer “motivated” to make music: “I have been pushed out for five years or something, and I haven’t been able to successfully release a record at all within this system.”
The former Crack Magazine cover star goes on to address the music industry’s rejection of her outsider views claiming: “If I want to be bigger, I kind of have to say nothing.”
“I might have to make an anti-Trump record, but if i make an anti-anything else record, it’s not gonna wash,” she continued.
M.I.A., real name Maya Arulpragasam, also addressed the topic of feminism in the interview, describing it as much “broader” and more “worldly” concept then it’s made it out to be: “It’s so easy to say ‘I’m down for equal pay in Hollywood’, and I can discuss that in a Western context.” But she can’t “talk about Tamil women wearing uniforms and eating cyanide pills because they didn’t want to be raped by the Sri Lankan army. Without a single assault or rape conviction happening.”
She also states that if she she was and was a white woman, or white man “she’d be given awards” for being as outspoken as she is. M.I.A concludes she’s “not motivated to put music through the system” until she’s accepted by the industry.
You can watch the full interview above.
Matangi/Maya/M.I.A is in cinemas now. Read Crack’s verdict here.