Home
Authors
Tags
App
Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App
" I don't think immigrants are that threatening to society at all. They're just happy they've survived some war somewhere. "
M.I.A.
Immigrants
Think
Society
Related Quotes:
" Versace designs have always been bootlegged. Now it's Versace bootlegging the bootleg for the bootleggers to bootleg the bootleg. "
M.I.A.
Been
Versace
Always
" In 2004, I went onstage for the first time. They put a mike in my hand and pushed me out the door into the crowd. I did the three songs I had recorded and got out. It was the worst day of my life. "
M.I.A.
Time
My Life
Me
" You have to constantly redefine who you are. "
M.I.A.
You
Redefine
Constantly
" I feel like people either love me or hate me, which is good, because that was the point of what I do. The point of M.I.A. is to be - it's either to be loved or hated. At least you evoke that much of a strong opinion about music. "
M.I.A.
Music
Strong
Hate
" When I started off in England, HMV or Tower Records would come to meetings and be, like, 'We just don't know what this genre is.' I don't really fit in between Rihanna and Beyonce. "
M.I.A.
Started
Meetings
Tower
" In India, you see the way they embrace color in the culture - it's very celebratory of the existence of color. There's no rule of what color belongs together or doesn't belong together. They're not precious about it. It's very full-on. "
M.I.A.
You
Together
Color
" I have no ties to my dad. I had no communications with him; it didn't shape who I am or anything like that. I'm actually a product of my mom. "
M.I.A.
Product
Shape
Him
" Madonna did amazing songs. She had an amazing sense of style, without a stylist. And she was flawed, and sometimes she admitted it. I'll fight the fight for Madonna. I think she should send me some chocolates or something to thank me. "
M.I.A.
Style
Fight
Me
" Tamils all over the world have a sense of belonging to the world itself, but our ancient roots come from India. I would like to explore India. I will keep coming back. This is the closest I can get to home. "
M.I.A.
Roots
India
Back
" Sri Lanka is an island off the coast of India. There's two ethnicities there; one the Sinhalese, which is the majority and the government, and the minority, who are the Tamils. That's where I'm from. And my lifetime sort of began there; I spent 10 years, and I was there during when the war started and fled as a refugee to England. "
M.I.A.
Two
Government
India
" As an artist, you want to play around with mediums and see if you can get the point across in different way. "
M.I.A.
Way
Artist
Want
" I'm just so grateful for the 10 years that I had in Sri Lanka when it was in the middle of a war and I was getting shot at, because now and again I remember glimpses of those times, and I just go, 'Wow, I'll never, ever see that again in my life. And I'm never gonna feel that, and I'm never gonna feel for a human being like that.' "
M.I.A.
My Life
Remember
War
" I never pigeonhole myself into any religion, but I feel it has found me. I am trying to make sense of it... the essence of the Mathangi concept. "
M.I.A.
Myself
Religion
Trying
" Manhattan seems pretty developed, you know what I mean? Like, it has peaked in culture. "
M.I.A.
Know
Pretty
You
" Before the Greeks were the Tamils. The Tamils are one of the oldest civilizations that's still surviving. "
M.I.A.
Surviving
Still
Oldest
" Me, it was always about being able to bounce around to where I wanna be. Like, with 'Arular,' people always say it's so political, but I think 50 per cent of the album is not very political at all. It's just really a shouty, shouty girl thing. "
M.I.A.
Political
Think
Girl
" My record label always says you shouldn't talk about money because it makes people extremely uncomfortable. Refugees can't talk about money. Rappers can talk about money; refugees can't talk about money. "
M.I.A.
Talk
People
Money
" I don't like the idea of spirituality done the way it's done. The only way I could understand it was through creativity, not by going to an Ashram, or finding a guru or joining a temple. I made work out of it. "
M.I.A.
Way
Done
Creativity
" I don't support terrorism and never have. As a Sri Lankan that fled war and bombings, my music is the voice of the civilian refugee. "
M.I.A.
War
Terrorism
Music
" It's interesting, because I named my first album after my dad because I wanted to find him. My second album was named after my mom because I felt like I learned all my creative talents I learned from her. All the survival stuff, too. And then the next album is 'Maya,' which is not my real name. It's fake. "
M.I.A.
Her
Fake
Mom
" I don't intentionally go: 'Ooh, what is provocative,' and try to do that. I just do stuff, and people go: 'Ooh, that's provocative.' "
M.I.A.
Stuff
People
Ooh
" In New York, everyone's really neurotic and talks about themselves all the time. "
M.I.A.
Really
New
New York
" Human beings around the world have to be taught to go, 'Tamil equals Tamil civilians first, and the Tamil Tiger is a separate thing.' And both of those groups are different. It's like a square and a circle. "
M.I.A.
Like
Go
World
" At first, I found the music I was making really hard to find a home for. I felt like my attitude was really British, but not the actual sounds I was making. Back in 2003, when I made 'Galang,' there were no clubs that had an 'anything and everything' attitude. "
M.I.A.
Find
Music
Home
" In my head, I actually think my songs are pop songs. I think, 'Damn, that's a pop song!' I can practice in front of the mirror with my hairbrush for as long as I want to. But when it finally comes out, it sounds avant-garde to people. "
M.I.A.
Think
Practice
Song
" I am the bridge between the East and the West. I don't want to abandon one for the other. "
M.I.A.
Bridge
I Am
West
" When I first came out, I was a film student, and my mom sewed clothes. I was already doing a million things then, whatever it took to survive. If I had to braid someone's hair to get one pound for my lunch money, that's what I did. "
M.I.A.
Mom
Lunch
Hair
" Matangi's mantra is aim, which is MIA backwards. She fights for freedom of speech and stands for truth, and lives in the ghetto because her dad was the first person in Hindu mythology who came from the 'hood, but had gained enlightenment through not being a Brahmin. "
M.I.A.
Hood
Freedom
Freedom Of Speech
" My giving birth was nothing when I think about all the people in Sri Lanka that have to give birth in a concentration camp. "
M.I.A.
Nothing
Giving
Birth
" I feel like a mirror reflecting back everyone's perception of me. "
M.I.A.
Feel
Me
Mirror