Background
Following her work as a photographer/graphic designer and music video director for the band Elastica, M.I.A. decided to video document the band's last tour together in 2001 to direct the music video for their single "Mad Dog God Dam". On the tour, she was introduced to the Roland MC-505 sequencer/drum machine by electroclash artist Peaches, whose minimalistic approach to music inspired her. She found Peaches' decision to perform without additional instrumentation to be brave and liberating and felt that it emphasised the artist. While vacationing together in Bequia in the Caribbean, M.I.A. began experimenting with Elastica singer Justine Frischmann's 505, having unexpectedly gaining access to it in London. She adopted her stage name, "M.I.A.", standing for "Missing In Acton" during this time, following from her documentary film in Jaffna and her art exhibition of the same name. M.I.A. used the 505 to make demo recordings in her bedroom. She initially planned to work as a producer. Composed as a song for Elastica to encourage the band to continue making music, Frischmann convinced M.I.A to record music herself instead after co-writing the composition. M.I.A. lacked confidence in making music and to this end, she approached Caribbean girls in clubs to see if they would provide vocals for the songs, but without success. She chose to perform the vocals herself, saying "I just quietly got on with it ... I didn't wanna convince anyone it was good. I felt it was much better to prove that I could be an individual."
Read more about this topic: Galang (song)
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