This weekend M.I.A. posted an untitled new song to her blog under a post responding to a critical New York Times Magazine profile by Lynn Hirschberg, but M.I.A.'s is not the first Lynn Hirschberg diss track. With Hole, Courtney Love infamously recorded one titled "Bring Me The Head of Lynn Hirschberg" after the journalist wrote a far more damning Vanity Fair piece suggesting, among other things, Love had gone on heroin binge while pregnant. Love launched an all-out offensive against Hirschberg, joined by Kurt Cobain, who penned his own, more veiled indictment of Hirschberg for Nirvana, "Rape Me."
Ultimately history sided with Hirschberg, understandably deeming a respected journalist more credible than Courtney Love.
M.I.A. could learn a lesson from Love's failed war on Hirschberg: Cut your loses and move on, or risk calling more attention to the offending profile.
At least Love had a reason to fight. She was in danger of losing her daughter to protective services, so casting doubt on Hirschberg and her allegations was a sound, maybe even necessary legal strategy. Hirschberg's profile on M.I.A., though, was relatively tame, alleging only that the singer is perhaps a bit vain and her politics a bit underdeveloped (and at worst, maybe a bit recklessa standard charge that's trailed every major political musician, from Bob Dylan to The Clash to Public Enemy). It's an unflattering piece, taking a few below-the-belt jabs at the singer's purportedly lavish lifestyle, but nobody's going to take M.I.A.'s baby away because of it.
Instead of shrugging the New York Times article off, however, M.I.A. responded petulantly, seemingly vindicating the article's ugly depiction of her by tweeting Hirschberg's phone number and posting not particularly damning, possibly out-of-context audio clips from her interview with Hirschberg to her blog. If the profile didn't make you think less of M.I.A., the singer's petty response probably did.
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