A Quote by M.I.A.
Music that was made in the 60s and 70s did come from a really soulful place. The seed for the songs written in the 90s were planted in those songs, even though they were samples.
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My parents never planted the seed that anything was impossible. They planted the seed that things were doubly hard for a black man. My brothers and I made sure we outworked people and were better than everyone we were around.
We made it. Despite the fear and predictions of doom. We made it. Even though there were days when we were tired and there were days when we forgot who we were. We made it. And we must thank the stars for this. And the birds for their beautiful songs. And the strangers who were careful to smile. We made it.
I made songs in the late '90s and the early new millennium that didn't succeed very well, but songs that I made in the late '80s, early '90s, they stood the test of time. I respect those songs for keeping me relevant.
All those songs are totally timeless. They'll always stand up because they came from a real place. They weren't crafted songs. They were written from the heart.
I've got all of the old school vinyls from the '70s - even further back, like the jazz music in the '40s, '50s, '60s. Then I've got all the '80s stuff underground, hip-hop when hip-hop really first started. The '90s stuff. All of the good stuff, because I'm really into music, and it helps me create new songs now.
When I made 'Feed tha Streets,' those were the only 17 songs I had made, period. There was no cutting songs out or adding other songs in.
My dad's songs were really written to make certain people feel as though they had some kind of value. Because they were told from where they work and from the countries they had immigrated from that they did not.
Critics used to say that ABBA were formulaic or that our songs were rubbish. We never had time for those comments, though. We were sincere and devoted to what we did.
For me, the good songs are the ones that come really naturally. There are certain songs that you rework and rewrite and the craft becomes very evident, but a lot of times those aren't my favorite songs. The favorite songs are the ones that I can't even hear my own voice in.
And I thought about how many people have loved those songs. And how many people got through a lot of bad times because of those songs. And how many people enjoyed good times with those songs. And how much those songs really mean. I think it would be great to have written one of those songs. I bet if I wrote one of them, I would be very proud. I hope the people who wrote those songs are happy. I hope they feel it's enough. I really do because they've made me happy. And I'm only one person.
I suppose in some ways doing some of the songs in the show felt a bit like I was doing cover versions. I was covering myself. Not that they didn't feel like my songs, but the way I was approaching them was from a place so outside where they were written. The fact that these songs were in the context of a live show was a new thing.
The weirdest thing I've been fascinated with nowadays is the new contemporary country music, which to me sounds like very strange '70s pop, and sometimes like rock music. But some of the themes in there - maybe it's because I know how the songs were written, but it really does sound like it was written by two or three people, with the idea to appeal to the most general audience.
I think 'Girlfriend' in particular is definitely one of the songs that is angled towards early 2000s, late '90s, R&B pop and those kinds of songs that were prevalent in that time. I don't think I was conscious of those songs in particular, but I'd say I definitely wanted a song that had that kind of vibe era wise in tone and all the writing.
Whenever we do stuff with Die Antwoord, it's kind of like... I made a lot of music before this group that I'm kind of bored of and forgot about, and everything with Die Antwoord I really love. It's the first time I've made music where, even the first songs we made, I really adore all those songs, and I'm proud of them.
Hit songs did not come out of musicals. Pop-rock was creating the hits. There were very few songs that made the charts out of any Broadway musical.
There's nothing that hasn't happened before, guys. In the '80s we were all doing the '60s. In the '90s, we were doing the '70s. There's not one way to wear jeans anymore though. Flared, skinny, ripped, high, low, whatever. It used to be that there was one cool jean. There was a while where it was stonewashed, god forbid.
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