Migration

Borders, M.I.A.’s last video highlights the plight of refugees

Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam, better known as M.I.A., has released the video of her new song Borders, launched last week. The videoclip, directed by M.I.A. herself and shared via Apple Music, features the British artist of Tamil origins with a crowd of refugees climbing barbed wire fences while fleeing their home countries in small boats.   The video represents

Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam, better known as M.I.A., has released the video of her new song Borders, launched last week. The videoclip, directed by M.I.A. herself and shared via Apple Music, features the British artist of Tamil origins with a crowd of refugees climbing barbed wire fences while fleeing their home countries in small boats.

 

The video represents – through a number of visual metaphors – one of the most tragic plights that is upsetting public opinion, as further proof of the fact that the singer is sensitive to such political and social issues and of her ability to combine these with pop music.

 

There’s a particularly touching scene where a human pyramid of refugees forms the shape of a ship run ashore. In another scene the bad girl is wearing a Paris Saint Germain soccer jersey with sponsor Fly Emirates logo replaced with Fly Pirates.

 

mia borders boat
The “human boat” captained by M.I.A. in her latest video for her song ‘Borders’

 

“The world I talked about ten years ago is still the same”, M.I.A posted on Twitter, where she also wrote the song lyrics. The chorus, made of rhetorical questions, reads: “Politics. What’s up with that? / Police shots. What’s up with that? / Identities. What’s up with that? / Your privilege. What’s up with that? / Broke people. What’s up with that? / Boat people. What’s up with that?”

 

After all, the idea behind M.I.A.’s fifth studio album, Matahdatah, that will include ‘Borders’, is exactly Broader than a border.

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