Is fame power? The short answer is yes. But the more accurate answer would probably be "It's complicated". Fame and the things we imagine it comes with - money, a voice, control (of yourself and over others), visibility and access to, well, everything - is a powerful currency to possess. Yet it also means someone can be just as powerless as they are powerful.
British-Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A. (who will be performing in SA in June) is a good example of this. While she's not Beyoncé or Bieber famous, she gets plenty of press coverage and has performed on some of the world's biggest stages (Super Bowl, Grammys) alongside some of the world's most famous people (Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Kanye West, Jay Z).
The daughter of a Tamil political activist father, she's one of the most vocal musicians today and has been unapologetically outspoken about sociopolitical and socioeconomic issues in and outside of her music since releasing her debut album Arular 13 years ago.
But while M.I.A. (real name Matangi "Maya" Arulpragasam) is known for her outspokenness, she - like many famous women, especially - has often found herself at the mercy of journalists who define her as they see fit, rather than letting her define herself (she's often been accused of sympathising with "terrorists").
Of course, how you present yourself vs how you are perceived will hardly be the same thing whoever you may be, but the stakes are that much higher when you're famous. Your image is everything and to let someone else control it can be ruinous.
Case in point is the infamous May 2010 8,000-word hit piece by legendary profile writer Lynn Hirschberg in the New York Times. The article - which, in a nutshell, depicted M.I.A. as an out-of-touch, hypocritical celebrity exploiting a cause for attention - evoked such ire in the rapper that she posted Hirschberg's phone number on Twitter.
M.I.A.'s image hasn't quite recovered (and she's had a few PR missteps since, such as flashing a zap sign during Madge's Super Bowl performance).
This is probably why it's a good thing that the artist is trying to wrest back control of her image - through a documentary about her life. Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. will be screened at the Encounters South African International Documentary Festival, taking place from May 31 to June 10 in Joburg and Cape Town.
WATCH | The trailer for Matangi/Maya/M.I.A.
Critics have been heaping praise on the film, with The Atlantic writing that it "is a fantastic and kinetic fulfilment of [her] desire, back then, to be heard as more than an entertainer".
Good on M.I.A. for once again choosing how she wants the world to see her.
• M.I.A. will perform in Cape Town on June 7 and in Joburg on June 8.
