Reviews (page 7 of 7)
this is so far from me than i’ll ever get 😅 only way i have made it through is background music for minecraft. ⭐️
WHY? Utter rubbish
I have to presume this album was made by people whose only fleeting contact with the concept of music was reading a reference to it in a book - probably a book with large font and lots of pictures. I don’t know how else to explain such lyrical genius such as “hey hey hey uh uh uh” or “galang a lang a lang lang” or my personal favourite “da dang duh duh da dang”.
I don't understand how M.I.A has managed to sneak two albums onto the list, but I think she deserves credit for that. Unfortunately for her, she gets no credit for the “music” would give zero stars if I could
Nope.
omg I hated this so much, I'm sorry. I did listen to "Paper Planes" after (which I heard before but didn't realize it was her, and I do like that song), but this album felt like a teenage girl making songs in her room which were about as good as the songs I'd make in my room when I was a kid. Seriously, the cantankerous bitch in me feels she got an easy pass on that album because she's a minority and female and it was a sort of "fresh voice" kind of thing--I dunno. Not impressed.
Nope.
Absolutely not for me. Sounds like random noises at times. 1.5/5
Not quite my thing but very cool vibe
Nope. Nope. Nope.
It’s somehow monotonous while also being quite varied in its flavours of rubbishness. It is short and no track is too long and I appreciated that, if nothing else. The creative influences do not lead to anything genuinely interesting for me, but quite aware I’m a few steps removed from the target audience. I know many others will have a different take (beyond this 1001 group) but I’d be grateful if this is the last M.I.A on the 1001, please and thank you.
I listened. And listened. Credit where it’s due. Not sure when I’ll receive my medal? OBE for services to music, perhaps? It’s like listening to a foreign singer trying to break into the English music market, using words out of context, incorrectly, or just outright making them up. Immature nonsense that similarly comes from my young kids. My kids drive me mad by the way and less endearing than say baby babble. Maybe Shakira could get involved (another well-known artist with a limited grasp of the English language). They could collaborate on their “Le-do-lo-le-lo-le” — you know, “my breasts are small and humble” and all that jazz. Get a child on a keyboard and boom — another entry sorted for 1002. How. Baa, naa, naaaaaaah. NO!!!
I tried hard to be open minded after the listening to Kala some weeks ago... I took a deep breath, started listening and the first song sounded like it was written and performed by a special needs Tellytubby. At 36 seconds, this was my second favourite track on the album. If you really want to lose some brain cells, do as I did, get the lyrics and read along. I kept an eye out for a particularly stupid verse to include in this review but there are so many laughably terrible ones I couldn't possibly pick one. The majority of it is utter nonsense: "My mum plays bingo, I'm watching Pingu, gimme that thang, yo. This is my gecko" (In case you go looking, I made that one up). I don't know what the process is for inclusion on this list, but I can only assume that someone was trolling when they managed to sneak not just one, but two M.I.A albums on this list. Fair play to you, you got us.
I didn't like it.
non mi è piaciuto, non nel mio genere, lei brava ma musica stile africano un po’ elettronica
not my style of music.
I was trapped in a plane for 2 hours and I just downloaded this album to hear it during the flight, what a f*ng nightmare
In a nutshell: ambitious and haphazard passion project number 1. Overall: 1/10
I can’t imagine this was popular or influential enough to justify including two of her albums in this list.
This was so not my jam.
This was stupid.
1/10
I don’t know who this album is for. Nothing stood out at all to me, just felt bland
Garbage
NOPE
i saw another review that said "in your face, a difficult but wonderful listen" and i agree with two thirds of that statement ...
Dang, this is some hot garbage. Like the other M.I.A. album, I can imagine how some people whose tastes are veeery different from me might enjoy this one. But it's absolutely unlistenable to me. Have to give up half-way through, because this playing in the background is making me angry.
Not my cup of tea
This is terrible. After reading Wikipedia, I get it. Give an amateur a drum machine and this is what you get. I can't point to a single thing I like here.
Wow! This is shit. Baby rattle noises mixed with an annoying voice repeating lines of text over and over. Truly headache inducing crap. This album actively fights its way in to the top worst albums I have heard on this platform. 1/10
Over her. 1.
15/06/2025 Words cannot describe how much I hate this and her music.
Every vocal part sounds like a 5-year-old chanting during a game of hopscotch. Repetitive and childlike. She does an affected rise in pitch at the end of each phrase. After 5 minutes of it, I want to die. There are some interesting electronic textures, but they go nowhere. Every song feels like the dentist drill.
Suggest to rather hear her song Paper planes which is a mash up of Clash «Straight to hell» that is good tune
Tidvis lyttbart, men også enkelte låter som ble irriterende og repeterende.
Berk. Nul. Rébarbatif.
Dire. Just noise
This is #day304 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and… I shouldn't forget to clean my ears very thoroughly after this. Like with her previous album, which I got on my #day255, this is a 1 out of 5. This time around, though, my last song on the tracklist was the 4th one. Anyway, you absolutely mustn't hear this before you die. Looking forward to #day305.
We let people get away with murder just cuz we like their accent.
No hate to M.I.A. but this was simply buns, had to split up listening to save my sanity
No idea what MIA was going for, maybe 2 or 3 songs were even listenable
Ass
Unlistenable...
1 - Mierda de Hip Hop
I really hated this
Went in open minded , resulted in loosing brain cells. I listened to Ms Dynamite a few weeks ago and I'm embarrassed for her that MIA is even remotely similar in genre and origin
Jestas! Aika Deuandra Brown vibat saan tästä. Ei ole omaa genreä.
Literal shit
Ugh
Who the hell did this influence other than everyone to turn the channel when they came on the radio?
This was a tough one because I hated it but I also really hated it.
Nope
I would give this a real review if she wasn't a weird anti-vaxxer
Why does she get two mentions on this list, exactly? This one is arguably worse than the last because it doesn't have paper planes which is her sole banger - the rest is mash.
I gave myself a pass after the first 2 songs... its a no for me.
This was such a terrible fucking album. I couldn't listen to any one song all the way through. I need a palate cleanser and legitimately something for my newly developed headache. I can't say enough bad things about this. While AWFUL, still not as bad as Velvet Underground 1. Whatever. Skits are lame 2. Absolutely not 3. No 4. No 5. Better than previous songs. Still not good 6. What? Useless 7. Boring AND bad 8. Not sure how this song can be monotone and boring with so much going on. But it is! 9. These songs sound like that song the Italian musician made to sound like English but was just nonsense 10. OK..? 11. No 12. Best part of this album so far is the Sanford and Son theme song sample. Bad otherwise 13. I'm developing a headache 14. Finally done. I feel like Frodo after having dropped the ring into Mount Doom.
Oh wow, the second album from this band on the list? What a treat. If you’ve ever wondered what pure, raw shit sounds like, look no further.
Junk. Didn't even have the plane song.
This was, somehow, worse than the other M.I.A. album we had to listen to. How in the world does this artist get multiple albums on the list?
Awful
nosy hip hop video game
I only really know M.I.A from Paper Planes, which seems to have dropped a few years later in her career. She seems to have become a bit controversal over the past few years, though her music, at least her early work is still getting praise online. Hope it lives up to the hype. Banana - Skit Definitely a start to the album. Seems to have some decent production. Just not what I was expected. NA/5 Pull Up The People Crunchy electronics. Mixed really loudly. Not in love with that hook. I like the experimental beat. Starts a bit rough but improves throughout the track. Okay performance. Average. 2.5/5 Bucky Done Gun Kinda goofy. Terrible trumpet sample. Abdolutely hate the hook. Obnoxious. Her performance on the verse is so low energy, I think she sounds uninterested in her own song. Rhythm at least saves the track slightly. Kinda hate it. 1.5/5 Sunshowers I really can't stand this production. I find her flow quite irritating. I don't like the hook. By the numbers performance. Disappointing. 1.5/5 Fire, Fire The beat is fine. Has a bit better energy to it. Like how rhytmic it is. The electronic "crashes" sort of overpower everything else. Repetitive, annoying. Doesn't really go anywhere. Did not like. 2/5 Dash the Curry - Skit Okay, that exists. NA/5 Amazon Again the production sucks. Terribly balanced, the mix just does not sound good. It's a shame because I think the vocal performance is pretty good. She shows a decent amount of songwriting ability. Fairly impressed with the verses. Okay hook, decently catchy. Could be a decent song but the production ruins it. 2.5/5 Bingo Steel drums suck. No this isn't good, I need to try really hard to find anything to enjoy here. Maybe there are some parts that are cleverly written, but I just can't vibe with the production and I find her sort of unlikable. Turn it off. 1/5 Hombre Sounds large. Appreciate the creative instumentation. Otherwise I kinda dislike everything else I'm hearing. The post chorus instrumental part kinda works. Not for me. 1.5/5 One for the Head Nokia ringtone type beat. NA/5 10 Dollar Promising start. For once I like the production. I don't mind her performance here. She has some charisma and sounds like she's having fun. The lyrics are questionable. Feels problematic. Don't like. 2/5 U.R.A.Q.T I feel like I've given up at this point. This is clearly not for me. This song just comes across as annoying, can't find anything positive to say. Turn it off. 1/5 Galang More of the same. Repetive. Obnoxious production. Not my thing. She is at least having fun. Like how it ends, sort of melodic. Do not like. 2/5 M.I.A Politcal song. It feels slightly confused never really landing anywhere. Has some decent bars, but repeats messaging we've heard time and time again, often executed better. The oppressed rise up, well maybe someday. Ourside of that pretty standard. Average. 2.5/5 Kinda hated that to be honest. Really don't see the appeal. Horrible production, unlikeable performances, and annoying hooks. At least most songs only had one of those at a time. Obviously I'm not the target audience for this, and I'm guessing people from similar backgrounds to M.I.A herself would find things in there that I'd completely overlook. I don't have much positive to say. Honestly had high expectations so I might've let my disappointment colour my reaction. Really didn't have a good time listening. 1.5/5 leaning towards a 1, though subject to rise upon relisten.
1. banana - 1 2. people - 0 3. gun - 1.5 4. zun - 1 5. fire - 1.5 6. curry - 0 7. amazon - 1 8. bingo - 0 9. hombre - 1.5 10. head - 0 11. dollar - 1.5 12. uraq - 0 13. galang - 1.5 14. mia - 1.5
Stylish well produced stuff. I just happened to hate almost every second of this listening exercise.
And once again we are in the zone that is out of my interest. Listening this album through was not very easy or enjoyable.
Gar nicht meins
WTAF on legs was that. Truly a dreadful, incoherent mess. Album 999 & definitely one of the 10 worst.
1 Катастрофа
this was tolerable on the beginning but as i got to the last few songs i couldnt stand it anymore, this album sucks man, how is this here?
oh ffs! There is zero, and I mean ZERO reason for MIA to take up TWO spots on this list.
Slightly less unpleasant than her other album on this list. Which means... She has TWO albums on this list. Why?!? Deduct one star because....down with that sort of thing!
Just not my thing.
After having some more 'deserving' albums popping up here recently the question has to be, what's this one doing on here? Undeserving in my opinion. Didn't get it, didn't like it
Not a fan of this album. I'll admit to steering away from rap. I can't follow the lyris, as they are often disjointed. The beat and melodies in this album are too simple to be interesting.
Not for me
headache inducing
Utter gibberish.
Crap
Nope
Oh no..
Not in my edition of the book! 2005. 1 star. Hip-hop/rap with a sarf Landan accent. Unbearable. I get the impression she is on the list because she is female, black and British.
A hodgepodge of noise as heard through one end of pvc pipe. Once I've heard all 1001 of these "must hear" albums, I'm going to go back and see how many were actually worth my time. Zero stars
K.I.A. Reminds me of being sat on a bus where some obnoxious teens are playing their crappy music through their phone.
O.B.N.O.X.I.O.U.S.
If I wanted to listen to an angry Londoner shout over dial-up Internet sounds I'd go and listen to, well, I don't actually know because recording and releasing something like that would be mental. I had the other (because for some reason there are two albums on the list) M.I.A album a while ago, and it got 1 star. This album is worse.
I was going to give it 2 stars on the grounds that you can actually listen to it but halfway through I made my mind up. If just for the sheer audacity of being on this list it's not worthy of 2 stars but nobody can in all conscious listen to this all the way through without screaming into the void. It's an album so transparent you can see straight through to the lazy drum machine programming that sits behind every tuneless yelp of this samey, boring, unmusical piece of rubbish. Make it stop.
I wouldn’t buy it. I wouldn’t even steal it on Napster.
Surprised this amateurish debut made the list.
This is horrible
я сейчас мужественно пролистаю все песни и попробую найти то, что мне нравится ... я нашла полтора песни, которые смогла дослушать. абсолютно не мое
My day is ruined and it isn't even 6am
It was terrible
Is this electronic music or hip hop? Either way, it is not good. I guess this is dance music but it's hard to imagine anyone actually dancing to it. I get why a music critic would put this on a list like this, but it's almost unlistenable. Steel drum is a hard instrument to effectively integrate into popular music. It feels like this a forced combination of world music, electronic and hip hop. This manages to be dissonant and repetitive at the same time. Galang is the hit from this album and is definitely the best track. I did not even notice the difference between Galang and M.I.A, when the album ended I was surprised.
Absolute drivel start to finish. Was painful waiting for it to end. Why dud I promised myself to listen yo every album start yo finish. This is a waste of electrons on a computer somewhere.
This album is not for me, I found myself not enjoying the album much at all, the lyrics are extremely repetitive, however the music itself can be interesting at times.
Very simple
A cool sound that's repeated through the whole album thus making it boring. She's anti vax and a 5G conspiracy whack job though. So the max number of stars is 1.
All Terrible
Shame her stance on vaccines made her unlistenable to me. This shit slaps.
Unlistenable garbage. I had to stop the belligerent assault of sonic crap on my ears halfway through, couldn't finish it. Everything about it is dissonant and unharmonious in the most obnoxious way. Hates it!
Tried but I couldn't make it through this album. Way to monotonous and annoying
I found M.I.A annoying and overrated before I heard this album and my opinion remains unchanged. Wow this was unbearable. It begins with an annoying skit in the beginning before several terrible songs play in sequence. The only respite was "Bingo" and the novelty of "U.R.A.Q.T." utilizing a sample of the Sanford and Son theme song but I would never choose to lsiten to these songs again. This honestly felt a lot like noise and frankly made me anxious to listen to this. I'd imagine this is on here for its fusion of world music and hip-hop but I do not think either of these styles is particularly well executed.I wanted to compare this to Yoko Ono's music for some of its more avant garde characteristics, but that would be unfair to Yoko.
Pass
This is not a genre I have any desire to listen to though I found the final track to be tolerable at least. Still 1 star or F for me.
I have to say, its a very different album compared to my first 70+ or so ive had on here. Some interesting sounds and samples or used. But it just isnt my cup of tea musically.
Unimpressed
The fact she’s got two albums on here really shows the British bias. The girl had 1 hit
This one is just bad. 'Provocative lyrics' or not it's not worth burning one's ears with.
Uh
Not my cup of tea. More of a Hip Hop person...
A shitty person made a shitty album. Big surprise.
genuinely could not listen to this i kept skipping and then gave up 1/5
too percussive
1.5
Meh
eh…
This is a waist of vinyl/CD/memory on any device. What a piece of crap,
Simply no -1/5
No
I don't care for this.
I cannot stand the beats in background. It feels like I'm listening to a bunch of electricity. If I wanted to listen to this album, I may as well go to the local science center and put my ear next to the electric ball. Vocals are not for me either. For me, this album has 0 redeeming qualities. My first 1/5
Hated this.
Would never put this album on again! Paper planes seems to be their only good hit
I only know her through the cash register song, which is pretty good. This album is not. This is unintelligible, repetitive, and the music/beats are not appealing at all. Fav tracks: N/A
This project has some very interesting ideas and was highly influential on artists in the internet age. Why does it suck so bad?
Not music, so bad couldn’t finish it.
Hard to get into anything outside of 'Paper Planes'
Annoying is the correct word for MIA. The lyrics just aren't there. Been a hip hop fan for decades, but this is just bad.
Well, succeeded in one thing: most boring one of the 500 in the list so far.
M.I.A. thinks she is way cooler than she is. The lyrics are repetitive and unsubstantial. The beats are all similar and quite boring. I was waiting for this one to be over.
Not a good album in the slightest. Seemed like the artist just picked random phrases to sing over random beats with the most random noises played over it. Would never recommend
This sounds overwhelmingly like the sort of skipping songs that primary school kids used to sing. In isolation some of the tunes aren’t entirely horrendous. Put together, however, this is, I’m afraid, one of the worst things I’ve listened to for a while. It might even be worse than Thriller, and I really hate Thriller with a passion. Whoever categorised this as World music is having a laugh. This is firmly routed in Saaarf London primary schools.
I mean Paper Planes is a banger but damn I don’t vibe with this album
They put this on the list over Graduation?!
Annoying noise, can’t keep up with her admittedly great famous single.
That one is good but otherwise oof
Je suis extrêmement confuse par cet album. Qu'est ce que je viens d'écouter ??
This sounds like a teenager who recorded herself with a Casio keyboard.
The musical equivalent of heart palpitations.
Trash
not for me
omg I hated this so much, I'm sorry. I did listen to \"Paper Planes\" after (which I heard before but didn't realize it was her, and I do like that song), but this album felt like a teenage girl making songs in her room which were about as good as the songs I'd make in my room when I was a kid. Seriously, the cantankerous bitch in me feels she got an easy pass on that album because she's a minority and female and it was a sort of \"fresh voice\" kind of thing--I dunno. Not impressed.
uhhh idk not for me
"Most sparkling debut since Madonna." Madonna is overrated shit, this is unlistenable shit. Fair call.
Schrecklich. Gefällt mir garnicht. 2.7/10
was looking forward to this as I liked what I heard from MIA before specifically "Paper Planes" and her feature on "FRANCHISE", but man this was a painful listen, couldn't finish the album.
Takes every wrong turn. I could probably come up with something more melodic by smashing my head on a piano. DNF
耳は燃えている あまり良い火ではない......
did not finish, style is too experimental for my tastes. an album i'd need to come back to when in the mood for it, i only like a few singles from M.I.A. and they aren't in this album
Horrible. This album is terrible and completely undeserving of any recognition. Shrill, British, female recording artists must have a special place in Robert Dimery's heart as there is nothing remotely redeeming about this atrocity. Something, something British bias and this album doesn't even have this one hit wonder's one hit...
A little repetitive for my taste.
I bet...if you played this for a baby...they'd cry waaaah waaaah 😭
Oh no. List what were you thinking adding these. oh god please no. If I wanted to give myself aids I would have taken a different route, but listening to this album in its entirety gave me aids. So I guess I have aids now
Trash. Offended my musical soul
Oh god this is terrible
Worst one yet
This is very personal taste but do not like the rap style. It sounds whiney and she often go out of key or bend on places that feels wierd. The beats are bland and sometimes annoying. Not an album for me.
Couldn't get through this album. Just when part of a song starts to get catchy, a cacophony of dissonant samples and effects are mashed into your eardrums. On the plus side you get a bit of a break with the skits.
This genre isn’t mine.
Quite exhausting to listen to. Not getting it at all. On track 5 and I am knackered. No sign of any tunes yet. Now giving me a headache. Will not be listening to this again. This one's for the kids. My brain is not wired for this.
Did not like
So wierd i dont like it
ugh, another album of hers? Ok, whatever. Ok, it's awful. 1/5.
Nee, dit werkt echt niet voor mij.
The entire time listening to this album I had that annoyed Clint Eastwood look on my face.