M.I.A. Terrible on Letterman

M.I.A. Well, at least it wasn't Britney Spears bad. Anyone out there who's been reading all my posts on rapper M.I.A., but hadn't really heard her music, and decided to check her out on Letterman tonight, now you think I'm nuts. Yes, you're right, it was terrible. I stayed tuned in all the way through Martha Stewart's segment just to see M.I.A. make her Letterman debut, and to say it was disappointing is an understatement, but I don't know if it was necessarily her fault. She performed "Paper Planes," a Clash-sampling highlight from the new album Kala, but something was wrong with the mix, and you could barely hear her or the backup vocalist. I get the sense that maybe they were running her mic through the DJ rig, because his scratching on the gunshot FX was so loud it seemed to knock the sound out a few times. Even worse, when the prerecorded backup vocals came in during the chorus, they were so much louder than M.I.A.'s live vocals they made her seem like she was, well, relying on prerecorded vocals. Poor M.I.A.! And if you've never heard her before, please give her another chance.

[update 9/17] Video below. People are reporting that she was not allowed to use gunshot sounds during her performance, so those are apparently just gunshot-like percussive noises.

Comments

Are you kidding me? Did you ever consider that there was a problem? Like not being able to hear the music right, like maybe she could only hear some sound from the DJ behind her. I thought it was a pretty good performance overall.

Posted by: KaW on 09/14/07 at 9:02 PM Respond

I recorded the video off of my HDTV with my digital camera. It's not the best, but it'll do for now.

http://www.veoh.com/videos/v11459222zrD5zQN

Posted by: Michael on 09/15/07 at 1:01 PM Respond

M.I.A.'s Letterman performance was my first exposure to her and her music. I thought she was so bad that I was embarassed for her and insulted that this was passing for talent and entertainment. I have no intention of seeking out more of her music and hope she attains the obscurity she deserves sooner rather than later.

Posted by: tee on 09/15/07 at 9:30 PM Respond

I saw M.I.A. open for Bjork in Detroit just before the Letterman appearance, and she told the crowd that she was going to be flying to New York to appear. She also said that she was told to omit the gunshot samples from the song, and was contemplating not doing it. I didn't see Letterman, but I wouldn't be surprised if that were the root of the "technical difficulties".

Posted by: Jesse on 09/15/07 at 10:57 PM Respond

how funny ? i thought the performance was great, i didn't know the song and now i'm addicted to it.

Posted by: rockdamic on 09/16/07 at 11:34 AM Respond

how funny ? i thought the performance was great, i didn't know the song and now i'm addicted to it.

Posted by: rockdamic on 09/16/07 at 11:34 AM Respond

Yeah, the DJ scratching out the gunshot sounds seemed like a pretty last-minute fix (it wasn't an edited version of the beat with the shots removed, he was doing it live...), which is probably why it was louder than it should have been and not always exactly on beat. Sucks for her, but what the hell is she doing on Letterman anyway? And re: tee, I beg you to check out the album, don't judge her based on this performance, which was butchered by no fault of hers (and who the hell ever heard of not allowing gunshot sounds on network TV? There are gunshots on network TV all the time.)

Posted by: Louis S on 09/18/07 at 4:19 PM Respond

they fuckin censored it.
not only the gunshots but also at the end when she is suppose to say: some, some, some, i murder.

if you watch closely, you can see that she tries to sing in the mic and notices that its not working. makes her look really bad.
if she was a true pop artist a la britney, im sure she could sue them haha. but who cares about the money. it just pisses me off that they ruined her performance because of the censoring.

America! land of the free!

ps. TEE. honestly, check her album out. its really not the same as the performance.

Posted by: DaDa on 10/06/07 at 9:35 AM Respond