The making of Bad Girls.

March 27, 2012 10:30 AM

Behind the scenes in the making of M.I.A.'s Bad Girls video. (Previously on MeFi)
posted by Brandon Blatcher (46 comments total)

Can someone please take her aside and explain to her what "drifting" means?
posted by The World Famous at 10:37 AM on March 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

I'm on it.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:38 AM on March 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

Ah. So she's not the only one.
posted by The World Famous at 10:40 AM on March 27, 2012

Ah. So she's not the only one.

While I've seen plenty of videos of this kind of behaviour from all around the world, I cannot help but notice that a vast majority of them are from the middle-east. Is there a reason that this trend seems rooted in this region? Is it just boredom? Access to awesome sandals? Maybe there is no reason but just something I've noticed.
posted by Fizz at 10:55 AM on March 27, 2012

I'm on it.

Holy shit.

Reminds me of the school bus demo derby I saw at the Indianapolis Speedrome as a kid.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 10:55 AM on March 27, 2012

Is there a reason that this trend seems rooted in this region?

Well the theory I heard was that, 1. all other relief valves are forbidden. 2. the sand there on the roads is good for slipping. 3. (conjecture on my part) Cars there are easy to get? I mean in gulf states you see tons and tons of high quality imports?

But this was filmed in Morocco right? They certainly don't have tons of oil money and the cars in the video aren't all that nice.
posted by Chekhovian at 11:03 AM on March 27, 2012

Did anyone else notice that when MIA was actually on the car up on its side, they never showed the underside? Pretty sure they had a harness on the bottom. There's one shot where you can kind of see a little strap or something.

Ah. So she's not the only one.

It's possible that two different things might be called drifting, I don't know. I looked it up though and the official term seems to be Skiing
posted by delmoi at 11:04 AM on March 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

the official term

So what makes a term "official" anyway? Is there some sort of international automotive jackass union or something?
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 11:06 AM on March 27, 2012 [12 favorites]

Is there some sort of international automotive jackass union or something?

First rule of 'international automotive jackass union' is that YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT SANDALS!!
Second rule of 'international automotive jackass union' is that YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT SANDALS!!
Third rule of 'international automotive jackass union' is that if this is your first drift, YOU MUST BE ON YOUTUBE!
posted by Fizz at 11:08 AM on March 27, 2012

From further east, remember this great vid of a farmer lad in rural China doing some top quality drifting in a shitty agricultural-use utility vehicle. (Chinese YouTube clone, starts with a 20-second ad).
posted by Abiezer at 11:10 AM on March 27, 2012 [3 favorites]

Multi-Track Drifting!!
posted by Ian A.T. at 11:11 AM on March 27, 2012

The original
posted by M Edward at 11:13 AM on March 27, 2012

I'm not sure about this.
posted by Meatbomb at 11:16 AM on March 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

Where was the MIA video filmed? If it was in the 'making of', I missed it.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 11:17 AM on March 27, 2012

"- Now, it will be hard to make something as grandiose as this. Next video needs to be shot on the moon... shot on the moon ... with hookers"
posted by delmoi at 11:17 AM on March 27, 2012

M Edward: "The original "

Now there is a courtesy you wouldn't get in the US, the hazards are on and they let other cars pass on the left.
posted by narcoleptic at 11:17 AM on March 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

"Bad Girls" is such a stellar, classic album. So many dancefloor classics... "Hot Stuff," "Dim All The Lights,' "Sunset People" and of course the title track...

Wait. What? This isn't about Donna Summer?
posted by dnash at 11:24 AM on March 27, 2012 [3 favorites]

Did anyone else notice that when MIA was actually on the car up on its side, they never showed the underside? Pretty sure they had a harness on the bottom. There's one shot where you can kind of see a little strap or something.

Wait, so they didn't perch the multi-million-dollar-global-superstar on the top of a vehicle driving on two wheels without a safety harness? Crazy.
posted by nathancaswell at 11:42 AM on March 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

"Bad Girls" is such a stellar, classic album.

I highly recommend the remastered re-release, which includes a Disc 2 from of gems like the full 17-minute MacArthur Park Suite and Enough is Enough with Barbra.

But you're so right. Stellar is the perfect word for the original.
posted by mrgrimm at 11:54 AM on March 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

That is one of the most forgettable songs I've ever heard. Not an interesting hook in the whole thing. I was never a huge fan, but I often heard some of her stuff in the past that was at least interesting, or catchy, even if I didn't care.

That's just crap. Necklace banging on the dash? What?
posted by blackfly at 11:55 AM on March 27, 2012

That is one of the most forgettable songs I've ever heard. Not an interesting hook in the whole thing. I was never a huge fan, but I often heard some of her stuff in the past that was at least interesting, or catchy, even if I didn't care.

That would have been a germane comment in the previous thread about the video and song itself. But this one's about the making of the video. Any comment about this post?
posted by The World Famous at 12:05 PM on March 27, 2012 [3 favorites]

Careful, blackfly. You're not allowed to have an opinion about music here in the blue.

_{I learned that the hard way.}
posted by Malice at 12:10 PM on March 27, 2012

What, then, to make of a big-budget music video that depicts Gulf Arabs as anarchic, gun-toting, stunt-driving street-dancers?

I know the guy comes around at the end of the article, but jeez. The song is called "Bad Girls", this isn't a reflection of "Gulf Arabs" as a group any more than Michael Jackson's "Bad" video was a depiction of all...gangs or whatever the hell those guys were, hangin out in the parking lot. It's pretty specifically about some bad ass young kids who like to do this thing with their cars.
posted by Hoopo at 12:26 PM on March 27, 2012

[It's okay to not like things, but maybe don't get into back-and-forths about it in a thread when you can just go find something you like instead.]
posted by cortex at 12:27 PM on March 27, 2012 [6 favorites]

any more than Michael Jackson's "Bad" video was a depiction of all...gangs or whatever the hell those guys were, hangin out in the parking lot.

Dude, it was an abandoned subway station. Shamon now.
posted by The World Famous at 12:37 PM on March 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

Necklace banging on the dash? What?

Hey you have to her some credit. I don't think I've ever heard another song that referenced a trampoline.

Dylan's Mozambique isn't his best song, but when you realize he wrote it specifically because of a challenge to rhyme something with Mozambique, well it becomes more impressive.
posted by Chekhovian at 12:41 PM on March 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

These Premises Are Alarmed, I'm pretty sure the video was filmed in Morocco.

That song and video are dope. If you don't like it, that's cool. We all don't have to like the same things. That's what makes the world an interesting and amazing place. You're probably just a lamer-ass lamer, though.
posted by chunking express at 12:42 PM on March 27, 2012 [5 favorites]

If I may be so bold, I think part of the reason this video is supposed to be cool is that it challenges the long-held western belief that folks in the middle east are somehow exploiting or keeping the woman down in their societies and cultures.

Or at least in MIA's microcosm of video filming.

I know that as a budding 2nd wave feminist, I certainly got a life lesson when I, full of dogma and ideology, decided that infibulation and clitoridectomies were completely, totally and abjectly evil and didn't stop to educate myself on the cultural significance of the rituals. Or try to provide solutions to the "problem" that made sense in the culture and had a snowball's chance of being adopted in any meaningful way.

I wonder if the aim of the video was to establish that maybe we westerners tended to make that error in our cultures when thinking about the middle east.

I think the music's dope too.
posted by kalessin at 12:48 PM on March 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

Or maybe it just looks badass and crazy
posted by nathancaswell at 12:57 PM on March 27, 2012

I loved this video. Thanks for posting.
posted by KokuRyu at 1:14 PM on March 27, 2012

Drifting refers specifically to a car whose tire grip is being exceeded by the sideways inertia applied to it while the driver manipulates the steering, braking and throttle to maintain control. The trick is to maintain a specific lack of tire grip (not too much, not too little) in order to lengthen the "drift."

Driving in two wheels is just driving on two wheels.
posted by basicchannel at 1:19 PM on March 27, 2012

Also, drifting takes skill but it's pretty stupid. It's even spawned this fucking shit.
posted by basicchannel at 1:22 PM on March 27, 2012

Also, I'm probably not using my sciencey terms correctly. Forgive me and my lack of education. I hope you'll be able to divine my point.
posted by basicchannel at 1:27 PM on March 27, 2012

While I've seen plenty of videos of this kind of behaviour from all around the world, I cannot help but notice that a vast majority of them are from the middle-east. Is there a reason that this trend seems rooted in this region? Is it just boredom?

...

Well the theory I heard was that, 1. all other relief valves are forbidden. 2. the sand there on the roads is good for slipping.

Yep, it's boredom. It's absolutely, totally boredom, and lots and lots of open space. Think of it as akin to the impulse that leads Jackass fans in Fly-over-ville, USA to try to jump over moving cars or have firecracker fights or shoot things off each other with crossbows, and you won't be far from the mark. But one also needs enough money to spend on a car (and the inevitable repairs) in the first place, so this is specifically a Gulf phenomena -- not many young Moroccans have the cash to throw at hobbies like this (soccer and long distance running are popular because you can do them for cheap).

I don't really accept the "other relief valves are forbidden" theory: kids all over the region still defy their parents and listen to heavy metal and smoke hashish and all kinds of other normal stuff.
posted by Amanojaku at 1:35 PM on March 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

Necklace banging on the dash? What?

And she doesn't seem to heavily autotuned, except for those stretch out sections. For pop music, I count this as progress.
posted by Chekhovian at 2:10 PM on March 27, 2012

That's cool, but it needs more of the motherfucking horse.
posted by latkes at 2:12 PM on March 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

@The World Famous.

Oh sorry I didn't realize I wasn't allowed to comment on the musicianship at the heart of it. I clicked on the link to the video, to edify myself on what the heck the video is in the first place, I clicked on the video, and was immediately bored and annoyed to death by the music, to a point beyond caring about the fact that she has faux arab stunt drivers in the
video, or how it was made.

I'll just say something specifically germane about the making of the video, and not the video itsself, or the music, or the authoring artist.

"I loved this video. Thanks for posting."

"That's cool, but it needs more of the motherfucking horse."

"Wait. What? This isn't about Donna Summer?"

"Holy shit."

Thanks for setting me straight.
posted by blackfly at 2:40 PM on March 27, 2012

Stop oppressing blackfly people. Can't you see right!

MetaFilter is filled with people ready to tell you your favorite band sucks. It's probably the least interesting comment you can make on this site. Yes, even more boring than "holy shit". There are way too many people here who are too cool for school.
posted by chunking express at 3:12 PM on March 27, 2012 [5 favorites]

According to my Iranian friend, car racing is popular in Iran because the only way to impress and pick up women is to have a really nice expensive car. (Since you can't date them in public.) (Of course this is only a certain kind of woman.)

And then people race them because other forms of entertainment are banned, and oil is cheap.
posted by subdee at 4:33 PM on March 27, 2012

Necklace banging on the dash? What?

Actually the line goes like so:
My chain hits my chest when I'm banging on the dashboard
My chain hits my chest when I'm banging on the radio

The line is vague enough to have multiple interpretations, which is what's great about it.

At it's heart, it means she's moving so hard that her gold chain keeps hitting her chest. But what is she doing? She's "banging" not just on the dashboard, but "on the radio". Is she literally hitting the dashboard and radio 'cause she's jamming? Is she talking about jamming in her car, because she's on the radio? Is it a sexual metaphor, where banging=fucking and she's doing it so hard her chains are banging against her chest, i.e. the breasts of a beautiful woman? Or is it about striking the dashboard in joy after pulling off one of the successful stunts portrayed in the video?

Who knows. The point is she's hardcore and so into whatever she's doing, that her sweet gold chains are in moving about from all the motion. She is a personification of Nude Descending a Staircase or poetry in motion.

My personal take is that it isn't a specific thing, just an attitude conveyed by the lyrics and music. Your mileage may vary.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:14 PM on March 27, 2012 [9 favorites]

I really like MIA's music, and have so since Slumdog Millionaire, but somehow her music videos don't hit the mark for me. This one at least led to a lot of sidebar clicks, though.

Now I want to see someone write a story/screenplay about American soldiers and Moslem teenagers bonding over crazy vehicle tricks in the desert. Complete with drifting APCs.
posted by AdamCSnider at 7:39 PM on March 27, 2012

So I thought she was called M.I.A., as in Em Eye A. In the video she's called Me-uh and My-uh by people who know her. How is she called?
posted by thinkpiece at 4:24 AM on March 28, 2012

I love the music video and the imagery. A refreshing change to have people having street fun and being cool instead of the usual Arabic cliche of scary, violent terrorist types. The song itself I could take or leave. Fun to have the behind the scenes peek of "the making of", so thanks for that, Brandon.

US combine style.
posted by madamjujujive at 4:32 AM on March 28, 2012 [1 favorite]

So I thought she was called M.I.A., as in Em Eye A. In the video she's called Me-uh and My-uh by people who know her. How is she called?

Her given name is Mathangi, her nickname is Maya, her stage name is M.I.A.
posted by nathancaswell at 5:14 AM on March 28, 2012

"Wait. What? This isn't about Donna Summer?"

That album came out before I was born.
posted by delmoi at 11:01 PM on March 28, 2012

That album came out before I was born.

If you haven't seen Thank God It's Friday, you really owe it to yourself.
posted by mrgrimm at 11:37 AM on March 29, 2012 [1 favorite]