However, she recently experienced a religious conversion that alienated her from many fans. The Daily Wire explains that her troubles started when she became a Christian.
M.I.A. explained in a tweet that her conversion caused her to become off-brand from what many people would prefer her to be. “The fact that the biggest backlash (sic) in my career and life I’m facing after saying ‘Jesus is real’ is such a revelation to me. People who control these apps rather me be a bad girl then [sic] a good one.”
She elaborated on the troubles she experienced during an interview with Zane Lowe. Her conversion started with a vision she experienced that she said: “saved her.”
January 06, 2023
“Basically, all of my fans might turn against me because they are all progressives who hate people that believe in Jesus Christ in this country.
WATCH: BRITISH COLONEL RICHARD KEMP REPORTING FROM GAZA
“[E]ven if it costs me my career, I won’t lie. I will tell the truth, and I will tell you what’s on my mind and my heart. If I’m coming back now saying ‘Jesus is real,’ there’s a point.”
January 06, 2023
According to the New York Post, M.I.A. got into trouble with American authorities for openly supporting a designated terrorist group. She also had to settle a lawsuit with the NFL for giving the middle finger during the 2012 Super Bowl halftime show.
WATCH: NO CLUE WHY THEY ARE PROTESTING: "I WISH I WAS MORE EDUCATED"
However, she is unapologetic about her conversion. “…Right now I think the only clear thing I can say is that even when I had no belief in Jesus Christ and Christianity, and even when I was 100 percent comfortable in Hinduism, it was a Christian God that turned up to save me. And I think there is truth in that.”
TIKTOK'S DOOMSDAY CLOCK IS TICKING: HOW WILL THIS AFFECT ITS 170 MILLION AMERICAN USERS?
Even though she knows she will lose fans because of her newfound belief in Christ, M.I.A. intends to use her faith for good.
“We live in a world where understanding has to be simplified because our attention span is smaller, our ability to think deeply about things is going, tolerance is going. So many of these qualities are going and I think that’s why we need something that is a simplified form of understanding.
“The more I understand the complexities of the world, the simpler I find things really are. And funny enough, Christianity is very simple; it’s because those things are really simple. The world is really simple.”