"Born Free" is a song by English Tamil recording artist
M.I.A., released alongside an accompanying short film/music video of the same name from her third album, ''
Maya''.
XL Recordings
XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been ran and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group.
Although only releasing an average of six album ...
and
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...
/
N.E.E.T. released "Born Free" as a digital download from the album on 23 April 2010, with the music video released on 26 April 2010. "Born Free" was composed by Maya "M.I.A." Arulpragasam,
Dave "Switch" Taylor,
Alan Vega
Boruch Alan Bermowitz (June 23, 1938 – July 16, 2016), known professionally as Alan Vega, was an American vocalist and visual artist, primarily known for his work with the electronic protopunk duo Suicide.
Life and career
Boruch Alan Berm ...
and
Martin Rev, with production by M.I.A. and Switch. The artwork for the single was released on 25 April 2010.
"Born Free" was her next release following the track "
O... Saya" from the film ''
Slumdog Millionaire'' and the birth of her son in 2009. The song is an organ and drum driven track based on a sample of
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
's "
Ghost Rider", and is considered more aggressive than the other songs of the album.
High Contrast provided an official remix to the song. The song was praised for its lyrics and composition as statement-making and provocatively complementary to the artist's intentions for the piece, its artwork and accompanying video.
The
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
, which depicts a
genocide
Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...
against
red-haired people, was filmed in
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and directed by
Romain Gavras as a nine-minute short film without the prior knowledge of M.I.A.'s record labels. Several incidents relating to the
extrajudicial killing
An extrajudicial killing (also known as extrajudicial execution or extralegal killing) is the deliberate killing of a person without the lawful authority granted by a judicial proceeding. It typically refers to government authorities, whether ...
of
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nati ...
males by the
Sri Lankan Army filmed on mobile phones in Sri Lanka, some of which had been broadcast by news outlets worldwide, inspired M.I.A.'s
treatment for the film-video. The video's portrayal of military force, violence and brutality met with a positive critical reception but much controversy worldwide, including a temporary ban from YouTube in the US and UK, with some critics hailing its representation of oppression and political turmoil and others criticising the explicit material in the video. The way the film was shot and the themes it covered drew comparisons to previous works by the artist, and other writer-directors' films such as ''
The Hurt Locker
''The Hurt Locker'' is a 2008 American war thriller film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal. It stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Christian Camargo, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, and Guy Pearce. The film follo ...
'' and ''
Punishment Park''. It earned a nomination for "Best Dance Video" at the 2010
UK Music Video Awards.
"Born Free" debuted on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
at number 156, the
Swedish Singles Chart at number 58 and earned a position on the
UK Indie Singles Chart at number 13 despite no prior promotion for the song. ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' ranked the song to be the eleventh best release of 2010 and positioned the video number thirteen on its 2011 list of the "100 Top Greatest Music Videos Ever Made". The same year, the video placed at number 2 on ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine's list of the "Top 10 Controversial Music Videos" of all time.
Background
Written and produced by Maya "M.I.A." Arulpragasam and Dave "Switch" Taylor, "Born Free" opens with a frantic rhythm built around a sample from the song "
Ghost Rider" by the
synthpunk band
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
, written by Martin Rev and Alan Vega, and was written as a reaction to what the singer experienced between 2009–2010. Following the release and success of M.I.A.'s previous studio album ''
Kala
Kala or Kalah may refer to:
Religion Hinduism
*Kāla, a Sanskrit word meaning ''time''
*Kāla, a Hindu deity of time, destiny, death and destruction closely related to Yama and Shiva.
*Kalā, a Sanskrit word meaning ''performing arts''
* Kala Bo, ...
'' (2007), the singer revealed her intention to retire from the music industry and focus on starting a family. The worldwide success of the album's third single "
Paper Planes
A paper plane (also known as a paper airplane in American English or paper aeroplane in British English) is a toy aircraft, usually a glider made out of single folded sheet of paper or paperboard. A simple nose-heavy paper plane, thrown like ...
" and her collaboration with
A. R. Rahman
Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...
, "
O... Saya", for the soundtrack of the film ''
Slumdog Millionaire'', led some critics to believe M.I.A. would return to recording a third album following the birth of her son in 2009, although neither the artist or her label confirmed this. In May and June 2009, M.I.A. took to Twitter and interviews to condemn the onslaught of the Sri Lankan government against Tamils in the
Vanni, with reports that at least 50,000 civilians had been killed from government shelling in the first five months of the year. She tweeted "Born Free! No Freedom! No Free !" on 4 June 2009, before debuting the song "Born Free" during her concert at San Francisco's
Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival
The Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival is a music festival held annually in San Francisco, California, at Golden Gate Park. The festival is produced by Another Planet Entertainment, Superfly Presents, and Starr Hill Presents. It is the l ...
in August 2009.
The song was released via
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
and the rapper's official website page on 23 April 2010. The next day, she uploaded the lines from the song "you might try to find ways to be happier / you might end up somewhere in ethiopia / take
ica bite out of life make it snappier / ordinary gon super trippyer / so i check shit coz im lippyer / and split a cheque like slovakia" onto
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
, before providing a link to the song on the
N.E.E.T. official website. Its artwork sleeve was debuted by M.I.A.'s official website on 25 April 2010. "
XXXO
"XXXO" is a song by English recording artist M.I.A., released as the lead single from her third studio album, ''Maya'' (2010). The song was written by M.I.A., Charles "Blaqstarr" Smith and Cherry Byron-Withers, and produced by Blaqstarr and ...
", the lead single from ''Maya'', was released next on 11 May 2010 via
digital download. Explaining the inspiration for her new releases in 2010, she told
George Stroumboulopoulos
George Mark Paul Stroumboulopoulos (; Greek: Γεώργιος Μάρκος Παύλος Στρουμπουλόπουλος; born August 16, 1972) is a Canadian media personality. He is one of Canada's most popular broadcasters and best known as fo ...
of ''
The Hour'' at the end of that year, "when Paper Planes happened, I was too busy to take note, I wasn't out there promoting it and doing any of this shit because, this 25-year-old civil war was coming to an end in my country, and I was making new understandings, new observations and new experiences that was happening to me which didn't add up to what was going on over here."
Artwork
The single artwork depicts a still from mobile phone footage first obtained and broadcast by
Channel 4 News in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
on 25 August 2009, that shows the extrajudicial killing of Tamil males by Sri Lankan government soldiers earlier that year, underlined by an image of
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
's customised error message. M.I.A. tweeted a link to a Channel 4 News article on 3 September 2009, covering the United Nation's initial response to the broadcast footage. The footage would later appear in the documentary ''
Sri Lanka's Killing Fields
''Sri Lanka's Killing Fields'' was an investigatory documentary about the final weeks of the Sri Lankan Civil War broadcast by the British TV station Channel 4 on 14 June 2011. Described as one of the most graphic documentaries in British TV ...
'' in 2011, exposing
war crimes committed in Sri Lanka in 2009.
Composition
"Born Free" is an
uptempo rock song, written in common time to a tempo of 96
beats per minute. The song's instrumentation features distorted
bass guitars,
keyboards
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
,
drum machine, an
airhorn
An air horn is a pneumatic device designed to create an extremely loud noise for signaling purposes. It usually consists of a source which produces compressed air, which passes into a horn through a reed or diaphragm. The stream of air cause ...
and heavy
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
incorporating
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
,
electropunk and
noise rock
Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise music, noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimal music, minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, a ...
genres. Carter Maness of
Spinner Technology
*Spinner (aeronautics), the aerodynamic cone at the hub of an aircraft propeller
* Spinner (cell culture), laboratory equipment for cultivating plant or mammalian cells
* Spinner (computing), a graphical widget in a GUI
* Spinner (MIT Med ...
notes that "Born Free" opens with a loose, free
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
drum-circle stomp that gathers momentum until the track explodes into a rapid-fire
punk vamp with razor-saw bass tones. The song is built around the distorted synth
riff
A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accompani ...
from Suicide's "Ghost Rider". Consisting of echoing M.I.A. vocals, the singer's vocal style and delivery is considered more aggressive than usual and is at times reminiscent of Alan Vega's vocal delivery in "Ghost Rider".
Lyrically, the first
verse
Verse may refer to:
Poetry
* Verse, an occasional synonym for poetry
* Verse, a metrical structure, a stanza
* Blank verse, a type of poetry having regular meter but no rhyme
* Free verse, a type of poetry written without the use of strict me ...
begins with the lines "Yeah man made power / Stood like a tower / Higher, higher, hello! / And the higher you go / you feel lower, Oh! / I was close to the edge / staying under cover / staying under cover / And with my nose to the ground / I found my sound" and ends with "Got myself an interview tomorrow / got myself a jacket for a dolla / ... /I don't wanna live for tomorrow / I push my luck today / I throw this shit in your face when I see ya / Cause I got something to say /" before repeating in the
chorus
Chorus may refer to:
Music
* Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse
* Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound
* Chorus form, song in which all verse ...
"I was born free".
She references Utopia, Ethiopia and Slovakia in the song's second verse. The song's
coda
Coda or CODA may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* Movie coda, a post-credits scene
* ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television
*''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...
sees the songwriter turn the scrutiny on herself, stating "I Don't wanna talk about money, 'cos I got it / I Don't wanna talk about hoochies, 'cos I been it / And I don't wanna be fake, but you can do it".
Critical reception
''
Slant Magazine
''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...
'' stated that "word is that most of the record won't explore this kind of sound. Even so, it's a hell of a one-off, and it should pique expectations for the new record simply by proving that M.I.A.'s bag of studio tricks is as inexhaustible as her attitude." Nick Levine of
Digital Spy
Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...
described the track as a "blistering statement of intent" with a result that was "an almighty racket, but the best kind of almighty racket." Ryan Dombal of ''
Pitchfork'' noted that M.I.A. had made a punk rock rebel anthem with the song. August Brown of the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' felt that as a song, "Born Free" felt like a teaser with "zero ambition toward structure or development, more like intriguing mixtape fodder than any statement of purpose for her forthcoming record." He praised M.I.A.'s vocals as sounding "great ... echoed out to oblivion while repurposing lyrical punk bromides from the Misfits and idle rap boasts like "I don't want to talk about money, 'cause I got it", and complimented the music direction as being in the same vein as her proteges, the band
Sleigh Bells Sleigh Bells may refer to:
* Sleigh bells, a type of bell which produces a distinctive 'jingle' sound, especially in large numbers.
* Sleigh Bells (band)
Sleigh Bells is an American musical duo based in Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2008 and ...
.
''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' Douglas Haddow writes that "Born Free", "which presumably takes its title from article 1 of the
UN's
universal declaration of human rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal De ...
, is a kick to the gut or a wink and a nudge depending on how you look at it."
[Douglas Haddow (1 May 2010)]
The real controversy of MIA's video
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
Promotion, cover versions and media use
![Miao2brixton2010Mayaalbum](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Miao2brixton2010Mayaalbum.jpg)
The song was debuted live at San Francisco's Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in August 2009.
M.I.A. promoted the track with an appearance on the ''
Late Show with David Letterman
The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...
'', during which she performed "Born Free" with
Martin Rev of Suicide playing keyboards, backed by a group of dancers styled to look like M.I.A.
In November 2010 she appeared on ''
Later... with Jools Holland'' on British television, performing "Born Free" and "It Takes a Muscle", the former accompanied by
Victoria Smith
Victoria Smith (born 8 January 1983) is a New Zealand netball player in the ANZ Championship, who has played in both Australia, New Zealand and international competitions. Representing the Wellington-based franchise, Central Pulse team in the ...
on drums and the latter with members of
The Specials
The Specials, also known as The Special AKA, are an English Two-tone (music genre), 2 tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall (singer), Terr ...
.
Speaking more about touring in support of the album and the track at the
Big Day Out, M.I.A. told David Farrier of
3 News
''Newshub'' (stylised as ''Newshub.'') is a New Zealand news service that airs on the television channels Three and Eden, as well as on digital platforms. It formerly operated across radio stations run by MediaWorks Radio until December 202 ...
at the beginning of 2011 how it felt "amazing" to perform for fans in Europe during her
Maya Tour
The Maya Tour (stylized as /\/\ /\ Y /\ Tour) is a 2010 global M.I.A. concert tour performed in support of her third studio album ''Maya'' (see 2010 in music). It began on 21 September 2010 in North America and was M.I.A.'s third major global p ...
following the reaction to the video, negative press and how it "blew out of proportion" in 2010, saying "I felt that the fans that turned up to support that and support the video, they just meant more to me, and you know, it was me and my baby was on tour as well, so the whole thing was meaningful, cause they weren't just there cause they liked the shoes I was wearing in a magazine, but they were there because of a bigger reason. I think that was really important to go and see."
The song has been covered by noise rock band Boogie Monster. The song's video is referenced in the intro to the song "Nando's Skank" by
Example
Example may refer to:
* '' exempli gratia'' (e.g.), usually read out in English as "for example"
* .example, reserved as a domain name that may not be installed as a top-level domain of the Internet
** example.com, example.net, example.org, ex ...
and
Ed Sheeran. The song was also featured during the
E3 2010 teaser trailer for ''
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit'', but it was replaced with "
Tainted Love" in the YouTube version of the same trailer.
Awards and accolades
"Born Free" ranked number 45 on ''
Metromix'' list of the "Best Songs of 2010", comparing it favourably to the
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys were an American rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1978. The group was composed of Mike D, Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (voca ...
' "
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...
" and describing it as a "hip hop spin on punk rock ... it flat out rocks." The online music service
Rhapsody
Rhapsody may refer to:
* A work of epic poetry, or part of one, that is suitable for recitation at one time
** Rhapsode, a classical Greek professional performer of epic poetry
Computer software
* Rhapsody (online music service), an online m ...
placed it at position 46 on their Top 50 Singles of 2010 list. "Born Free" placed number 30 on the ''
Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...
''
Pazz & Jop
Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...
poll of the top singles of 2010, and ranked number 11 on ''NME''s list of the Top Tracks of 2010. German music magazines ''
Intro
Introduction, The Introduction, Intro, or The Intro may refer to:
General use
* Introduction (music), an opening section of a piece of music
* Introduction (writing), a beginning section to a book, article or essay which states its purpose and g ...
'' and ''
Musikexpress'' placed the song at number 33 in their lists of the best singles of the year while ''
Heineken España'' named "Born Free" the seventh best song released in 2010. The song's music video was nominated in the category "Best Dance Video" at the 2010
UK Music Video Awards. In 2011,
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
ranked the song's music video number thirteen on the list of the 100 Top Greatest Music Videos ever made. It was listed number 2 on ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' 2011 list of the "Top 10 Controversial Music Videos" ever made.
Music video
The
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
for "Born Free" was directed by
Romain Gavras. The video, which depicts a
genocide
Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...
against
red-haired people, was filmed in
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and directed by
Romain Gavras as a nine-minute short film without the prior knowledge of M.I.A.'s record labels. Several incidents relating to the
extra-judicial killing of Tamil males by the
Sri Lankan Army
ta, இலங்கை இராணுவம்
, image = File:Sri Lanka Army Logo.png
, image_size = 180px
, caption = Emblem of the Sri Lanka Army
, start_date ...
filmed on mobile phones in
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
, some of which had been broadcast by news outlets worldwide, inspired M.I.A.'s
treatment for the film-video. The video's portrayal of military force, violence and brutality met with a positive critical reception but much controversy worldwide, including a ban from
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
in the US and UK, with some critics hailing its representation of oppression and political turmoil and others criticizing the explicit material in the video. The way the film was shot and the themes it covered drew comparisons to previous works by the artist, and other writer-directors' films such as ''
The Hurt Locker
''The Hurt Locker'' is a 2008 American war thriller film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal. It stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Christian Camargo, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, and Guy Pearce. The film follo ...
'' and ''
Punishment Park''. It earned a nomination for "Best Dance Video" at the 2010
UK Music Video Awards.
Credits and personnel
*
Songwriting –
Mathangi Maya "M.I.A." Arulpragasam,
Dave "Switch" Taylor,
Alan Vega
Boruch Alan Bermowitz (June 23, 1938 – July 16, 2016), known professionally as Alan Vega, was an American vocalist and visual artist, primarily known for his work with the electronic protopunk duo Suicide.
Life and career
Boruch Alan Berm ...
,
Martin Rev
*
Production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
– M.I.A., Switch
*
Mixing – Switch
*
Artwork
A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...
– Mathangi Maya "M.I.A." Arulpragasam
Source:
Charts
Weekly charts
References
Further reading
MIA by Romain Gavras''
Interview
An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" ...
''
External links
"Born Free"music video on
Vimeo
Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Born Free (M.I.A. Song)
2010 songs
N.E.E.T. Recordings singles
M.I.A. (rapper) songs
Songs written by M.I.A. (rapper)
Songs written by Alan Vega
Interscope Records singles
Songs written by Switch (songwriter)
XL Recordings singles
Protest songs
Songs written by Martin Rev
2010 singles