"Paper Planes" is a song by British recording artist M.I.A. from her second studio album Kala (2007). It was released on 11 February 2008 as the third single from the album. It is produced and co-written by her and Diplo. It appeared in the 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire and on its soundtrack album. The song samples English rock band the Clash's 1982 song "Straight to Hell", leading to its members being credited as co-writers. A downtempo alternative hip hop, pop track combining African folk music elements, the song has a less dance-orientated sound compared to other songs on the album. Its lyrics, inspired by M.I.A.'s own problems obtaining a visa to work in the United States, satirise American perceptions of immigrants from Third World nations.
Its accompanying music video, filmed in Bedford-Stuyvesant, depicts M.I.A. as an undercover dealer and features images of paper planes flying overhead. While the video proved popular on MTV, the network censored the song's cannabis reference and gunshot sounds. The song was M.I.A.'s biggest commercial success, entering the top 20 on charts in several countries including Denmark and the UK. It peaked at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming M.I.A.'s first and only song to chart in the US top 100 as a lead artist. The song was certified multi-platinum in Canada, the UK and the US and gold in New Zealand.
The unexpected success of "Paper Planes" paralleled M.I.A.'s condemnations of the Sri Lankan government's war crimes against the Tamils, with whom M.I.A. shares ethnic and cultural backgrounds, generating accusations that she supported terrorism. The song received widespread acclaim from contemporary critics, who complimented its musical direction and the subversive, unconventional subject matter. It won awards from the Canadian Independent Music Awards and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), and earned a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year. The song has received praise in publications such as NME, Pitchfork and Rolling Stone, each naming it among either the best songs of the 2000s decade or of all time. Notable cover versions include ones by Street Sweeper Social Club, the Clientele, Lowkey, Dizzee Rascal, Built to Spill and Rihanna.
Background and production
M.I.A. (Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam) released her debut studio album Arular in 2005 to critical acclaim. The album, inspired by her father Arul Pragasam's involvement in the Tamil independence movement in Sri Lanka, heavily incorporates themes of conflict and revolution into dance songs. While M.I.A. wanted to work with American producer Timbaland for Arulars follow-up album Kala (2007), her application for a long-term US work visa was rejected. This was allegedly due to her family's connection to the Tamil guerrillas, commonly known as the Tamil Tigers, a claim M.I.A. denied. Her visa problems were also attributed to her criticism of the Sri Lankan government's discrimination and alleged atrocities committed against the Tamils, with whom M.I.A. shares an ethnic and cultural heritage. She expressed this on her politicised album Arular.
M.I.A. began work on "Paper Planes" with American producer Diplo and English DJ Switch in London. The track's downtempo production sets it apart from the rest of Kala, which features dense electronic sounds. Diplo came up with the idea of sampling English rock band the Clash's 1982 song "Straight to Hell" and produced the instrumental track with assistance from Switch. As a result, all members of the Clash were credited as co-writers. M.I.A. said that she recorded her vocals without paying much attention to her singing and finished the song in one take. She drew inspiration for the lyrics from her own troubles gaining a work permit to the US, complaining that the issue was probably "them thinking that I might to fly a plane into the Trade Center". From her frustration with US immigration policy, M.I.A. developed "Paper Planes" as a satire of American perception of immigrants from war-torn countries.
M.I.A. invited street kids she came across in Brixton to sing the song's chorus. After regaining entry to the US, M.I.A. finalised the track at her home in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a Brooklyn neighbourhood with a high concentration of African Americans, in mid-2007. She recalled that her time living there prompted her to think, "People don't really feel like immigrants or refugees contribute to culture in any way". She added the sound effects of gunshots and a cash register to the chorus. Saying these sounds symbolise stereotypes of immigrants, M.I.A. refused to elaborate and wanted listeners to interpret the song for themselves noting, "America is so obsessed with money, I'm sure they'll get it". She told The Daily Beast that the gunshots embodied political refugees' experiences in war-torn areas, which she described as "a part of our culture as an everyday thing". Revisiting the song in 2013, M.I.A. expressed to Rolling Stone that "Paper Planes" was "a really Baltimore/Brooklyn song for me", partly inspired by her immersion in New York and Baltimore street culture.
Composition
"Paper Planes" is a downtempo alternative hip hop and electro hop song with a duration of three minutes and 24 seconds. The song takes a musical approach which incorporates elements of hip hop and African folk music. "Paper Planes" follows what M.I.A. characterised as the "nu world" music style of Kala. It contains a sample of the Clash's song "Straight to Hell". According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Universal Music Publishing Group, it is written in the time signature of common time with a moderate tempo of 86 beats per minute. The song is composed in the key of D major while M.I.A.'s vocal range spans one octave, from the low-note of F♯3 to the high-note of F♯4. The musical composition incorporates verse-chorus form, with a bridge preceding the fourth and final chorus, where a distorted guitar riff provides accompaniment to the piece playing out the coda. The chorus features children chanting and singing, and sound effects of gunshots and a cash register, and was compared to the chorus on Wreckx-N-Effect's 1992 song "Rump Shaker". BBC Radio 1's Fraser McAlpine commented on the discordance between M.I.A.'s "icy, distant" vocals and the "calm and serene" backing track.
The lyrics, epitomising Kalas central theme, satirise American perceptions of visa-seeking foreigners and immigrants from Third World nations. Billboard commented that the content is about class conflict, in which M.I.A. plays the role of a "revolutionary". M.I.A. explained that the "paper planes" in the title and opening lines—"I fly like paper, get high like planes / If you catch me at the border I got visas in my name / If you come around here I make 'em all day"—are counterfeit visas made by the immigrants. The Stranger described the chorus's sound effects as "rock'n'roll swindle, anti-colonial cash register liberation", which complements the song's meaning. The lyrics "No one on the corner had swagger like us / Hit me on the burner prepaid wireless" encapsulate the restrained living conditions of immigrants struggling with monthly mobile phone bills. At the bridge, M.I.A. jokingly plays with her alleged connection to the Tamil militants and the visa problems stemming from it, "Some I murder, some (a some) I let go".
Release "Paper Planes" is the eleventh track on Kala, which was released in August 2007 by XL Recordings in Europe, Oceania, and through Interscope Records in the US.Kala releases: On 11 February 2008, an extended play (EP) containing "Paper Planes" and five remixes of the song, titled Homeland Security Remixes EP, was released digitally in Europe through XL Recordings,Homeland Security EP releases: and physically (in 12-inch vinyl format) in the US through Interscope Records. The following day, the remixes EP was made available online in the US. The song was released as a digital single on 15 September through iTunes Stores in Europe."Paper Planes" digital releases: Another EP containing three tracks was released in the UK on 13 October. On the same day, "Paper Planes" was re-released as a two-track CD single in the UK following the song's unexpected commercial success; it contains a remix subtitled "Diplo Street Remix" featuring American rappers Bun B and Rich Boy. The CD was distributed in Australia five days following its UK release. A 7-inch single, featuring a remix by DFA as the B-side, was distributed on 18 November.
Critical reception "Paper Planes" received widespread acclaim from contemporary publications. The Strangers Eric Grandy selected the song as Kalas highlight, calling it the album's "most exciting synthesis of the political and the pop, a playful dig into the real, dirty business of rump shaking". Andy Kellman of AllMusic, Michael Hubbard of musicOMH, Jon Pareles of Blender and Emma Warren of The Observer named it a standout on the well-received Kala. Stylus Magazines Ewen McGarvey described the song as "narcotic, gorgeous". Alex Miller from NME commented that "Paper Planes" was Kalas only radio-friendly track, but still reflected M.I.A. as "the inheritor of true rebel music in an era of corporate punks". The Houston Chronicles Joey Guerra complimented the song's gunshot and cash register sounds that showcased M.I.A.'s "stunning international flow" and joked that the US should "immediately extend an open-door policy" to welcome the artist. BBC Radio 1's Fraser McAlpine awarded the song a five-out-of-five-stars rating, labelling it a "clever song" that demands listeners pay attention.
Writing for Clash, Colm Larkin characterised "Paper Planes" as a "downtempo masterpiece that's like a torch song for the world's disaffected and poor" and said of M.I.A.'s seemingly "meaningless" lyrics about visa problems: "When the music is this profound she doesn't need to make sense". For Pitchforks Mark Pytlik, the track's "island-tinged nursery rhyme" epitomised M.I.A.'s combination of "island patois and Westernized slang", which "always leads her to interesting places". Tom Breihan of The Village Voice noted the song included M.I.A.'s trademark political overtones in her music, and lauded it for employing "layers of implication". Karim Maksoud from DIY praised the song's theme of "coarse fatalism, superficiality and backstabbing acerbity of the modern urban life" and dubbed the track a "tuneful amalgam of influences and exotic dynamic". Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times called "Paper Planes" the epitome of the album that conveys multiple layers of meaning. The Independents Andy Gill was less complimentary, opining that the track's gun and murder references blemished "an otherwise fine album".
At the end of 2007, "Paper Planes" was named one of the year's best songs on contemporary publications' lists, including rankings at number 44 (Stylus Magazine), number eight (PopMatters) and number six (Fact). The Diplo remix featuring Bun B and Rich Boy was ranked at numbers 27 and four by Vibe and Pitchfork, respectively. The song placed at number six on the 2007 Pazz & Jop poll, an annual mass critics' poll conducted by The Village Voice. Following its single release in 2008, "Paper Planes" continued to appear on multiple year-end lists, being placed at number 26 (NME), number eight (Mixmag), number three (Entertainment Weekly), number two (Blender) and number one (Spin, Slant Magazine and Rolling Stone Brasil). It topped the 2008 Pazz & Jop poll by The Village Voice. "Paper Planes" received a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year at the 51st annual ceremony in 2009. The track won a 2009 PRS Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Favourite International Single at the 2009 Canadian Independent Music Awards.
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