M.I.A.’s long-awaited Christian album is bold, baffling and deeply sincere

“When you think M.I.A. is done and Satan puts a full stop, God puts a comma and says, ‘To be continued.’”

So opens M.I.A’s latest track, ‘Jesus’, taken from her new album MI7.

It’s now nine years since the rapper and agent provocateur became a Christian. Many fans of hers who are of the faith themselves have wondered what effect that would have on her art. Nine years is a long time to have to wait to find out, but an album is finally here.  

M.I.A. and controversy have always gone hand in hand. As I write this, she has just reportedly been thrown off a support slot on Kid Kudi’s tour after upsetting his audience by making pro-Republican comments onstage. In recent years her social media posts and public proclamations have been a combination of wild conspiracy theories mixed in with her testimony and words in praise of Jesus. We’ve been here before with Kanye West, so it’s understandable if one is hesitant to endorse M.I.A. for fear of getting their fingers burnt in the future. I guess what I’m trying to say here is what I’ve often said about celebrity conversions: don’t get your expectations too high too soon, and be extra diligent in separating the wheat from the chaff.   

And with that out of the way, let’s get into the album.  

While the title might sound like the name of some unknown branch of the Secret Service, MI7 is actually a reference to the seven trumpets of the apocalypse, as mentioned in the book of Revelation (and it’s also her seventh album). The trumpets form the framework for the album; seven brief monologues (‘trumpets’) are interspersed between the songs. So far, so End-Times.  

Sonically, MI7 is the sort of super-diverse music fans have come to expect in her 20-plus-year career; experimental in places and definitely not your average Gospel album.

The Sunday Service Choir (last featured on Kanye West’s Jesus is King album prior to his spectacular fall from grace) accompany M.I.A. on the tracks ‘Jesus’ and ‘Calling’. The album’s other notable guest is M.I.A.’s mother, Kala Arulpragasam, who appears on ‘Sacred Heart’.   

‘Money’ seamlessly blends Asian rhythms with Afrobeats; very percussive, almost hypnotic. “I never worship Mammon,” M.I.A, raps. “But money is a spirit, keep a light on.” Well, at least she doesn’t want to take your money any more…  

The closing track, ‘30 Minutes of Silence’, is literally half an hour of dead air. It’s based on Revelation 8:1 (“When the Lamb broke the seventh seal on the scroll, there was silence throughout heaven for about half an hour.”). M.I.A. ends the prolonged silence with one of the album’s most jubilant moments, singing: “God really blessed me, He made it all test me / Thought I’d never make it / He made the bullets miss me.” 

Uplifting, worshipful, thought-provoking, just plain weird – MI7 is all that and more. But please, M.I.A., just please, don’t do a Kanye on us.  

MI7 by M.I.A. is available now on all streaming platforms