THIS. ohrohin: I think one of the quieter criticisms of the new Madonna single is that M.I.A. appears to “sell out” in it. It’s not that M.I.A. has sold out (and if she did, that probably happened when she lent a “Paper Planes” sample to that hip-hop atrocity “Swagga Like Us”), it’s that since M.I.A. debuted seven years ago, pop itself has refocused itself around a sound that is not unlike the noise-pop that M.I.A. peddles. But more than that, part of me is excited that in my lifetime, a South Asian performer’s going to get to perform for an audience like the captive one watching the Super Bowl’s halftime show. This is breaking archetypes in a brilliant and bold way, even if it is conforming in a smaller way. This is M.I.A. flipping the bird to the Jhumpa Lahiri-ification of South Asians in popular culture. This is her saying, “My entire career is premised on flouting the status quo, so I don’t mind giving into that status quo to flout it even more.” I grew up with no South Asian role models in contemporary American culture. There are South Asian-American kids growing up now who can at least tune into see that they don’t have to elect a career in medicine, law, or engineering. They can become artists. And they can be brash in doing so.

THIS.

ohrohin:

I think one of the quieter criticisms of the new Madonna single is that M.I.A. appears to “sell out” in it. It’s not that M.I.A. has sold out (and if she did, that probably happened when she lent a “Paper Planes” sample to that hip-hop atrocity “Swagga Like Us”), it’s that since M.I.A. debuted seven years ago, pop itself has refocused itself around a sound that is not unlike the noise-pop that M.I.A. peddles.

But more than that, part of me is excited that in my lifetime, a South Asian performer’s going to get to perform for an audience like the captive one watching the Super Bowl’s halftime show. This is breaking archetypes in a brilliant and bold way, even if it is conforming in a smaller way. This is M.I.A. flipping the bird to the Jhumpa Lahiri-ification of South Asians in popular culture. This is her saying, “My entire career is premised on flouting the status quo, so I don’t mind giving into that status quo to flout it even more.”

I grew up with no South Asian role models in contemporary American culture. There are South Asian-American kids growing up now who can at least tune into see that they don’t have to elect a career in medicine, law, or engineering. They can become artists. And they can be brash in doing so.

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