Skip to content
News

M.I.A. Says the NFL Controversy ‘Buried’ Her Last Album ‘Matangi’

M.I.A. In Concert - New York, NY
NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 01: M.I.A. performs in celebration of her new album "Matangi" at Terminal 5 on November 1, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images)

M.I.A.‘s last album Matangi — released in late 2013 on her own N.E.E.T. imprint via Interscope — didn’t exactly light up the charts, peaking at just No. 23 on the Billboard Top 200, owing at least in part to its most popular song (“Bad Girls”) having already been released two years prior on her free Vikki Leekx mixtape.

But today she alleged on Twitter that her label “buried” the record due to her unpopularity with the NFL in the fallout of her flipping off the Super Bowl, along with darkly comic turns of label politics such as her ex-manager becoming her label head. Maya Arulpragasam is no stranger to label controversy; most recently she claimed that Interscope wouldn’t allow Diplo’s version of “Bird Song” to appear on her upcoming album AIM, which arrives September 9.