I’ve been a big fan of M.I.A. ever since she made her debut with Galang back in 2024. Even though she’s as mad as a box of frogs.

There are, you might say, two sides to Mathangi ‘Maya’ Arulpragasam. Maybe more than two. Then there’s her eclectic music,  the stone-cold classic Paper Planes, and the video for Born Free depicting a genocide against red-headed people.

On the one hand she has ceaselessly campaigned against the ongoing persecution of the Tamil minority in her father’s native Sri Lanka and dedicated herself to many philanthropic causes fighting racism, sexism and poverty.

There are also some increasingly out-there ideas.

During Covid she was a vocal anti-vaxxer, blaming the virus on 5G phone signals, and launched her own anti-5G fashion brand of clothes made of fabric woven with materials such as silver, copper and nickel, “blocking or shielding against electrical signals, electromagnetic radiation and radio frequency interference.”

She publicly supported Trump, albeit largely because of his own anti-vax position, and, having been born and raised Hindu, she is now a born-again Christian.

Her new album, M.I.7., is dedicated to Jesus and filled with biblical allusions. It’s also musically eclectic, including this trip-hop flavoured number, Prayer 777. It may be my favourite album of the year.