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M.I.A.'S NEW DOCUMENTARY TRACES HER RISE FROM REFUGEE TO POP STAR
BY MADELINE ROTH • MADELINE ROTH
If ever there was a pop star impossible to pigeonhole into one particular box, it's M.I.A., the musical maverick behind hits like "Paper Planes" and "Bad Girls." That's exactly why the upcoming documentary about her life, identity, and career, MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A., is so eagerly anticipated — and on Thursday (July 19), the film got its first official trailer.
The doc, directed by Steve Loveridge, chronicles M.I.A.'s life growing up in civil war-torn Sri Lanka. She eventually fled to Britain with her family at age 11, using art as "medicine" along the way.
"I had to deal with the fact that I was different and I was an immigrant," the 43-year-old recalls in the trailer. "Music was my medicine. It just blew up so quickly. I lived through war, came as a refugee that is now a pop star. What are the goal posts?"
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