AIM
by M.I.A.
Metascore
65

Generally favorable reviews - based on 29 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 29
  3. Negative: 0 out of 29
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  1. Under The Radar
    Sep 28, 2016
    60
    As ever, there is risk run by too many tracks and fatigue sets in while listening to AIM. The idea of taking any one of M.I.A.'s albums and trimming its excess to 12 of the most colorfully resonant offerings is tantalizing to imagine. The same goes for this one.
  2. No Ripcord
    Sep 19, 2016
    60
    Despite the wealth of glowing beats and rhymes, AIM would have benefitted from some unpredictability. Arulpragasam's sound is distinctive, but because she never establishes any kind of progression of ideas or strategically unites her songs around a theme, the album remains repetitive instead of cohesive.
  3. NOW Magazine
    Sep 14, 2016
    60
    Skrillex-produced banger Go Off, Blaqstarr-assisted Bird Song and Visa are solid electro-rap party jams that also reference some of her past hits, while low-key dancehall track Foreign Friend and clubby Fly Pirate are among the handful of cuts that get stuck in filler territory.
  5. Clash Music
    Sep 13, 2016
    60
    AIM may be not the magnum opus that Mathangi Arulpragasam is capable of, but the music world would be a good deal less colourful and quirky without her in it.
  6. Los Angeles Times
    Sep 13, 2016
    60
    It’s an unpredictable mix of sharp, artful commentary, wildly creative song making and, despite the album’s title, plenty of aimless, indulgent meandering.
  7. The Observer (UK)
    Sep 12, 2016
    60
    If this is her last album (as she has intimated), a true original bows out on a more equable note.
  8. Slant Magazine
    Sep 9, 2016
    60
    AIM finds M.I.A. content to simply make an album, not craft a definitive statement to punctuate her career.
  9. The Independent (UK)
    Sep 8, 2016
    60
    Some of the backing tracks have novelty appeal--the cartoonish, kazoo-like loop of “Bird Song”, the Qawwali elisions percolating through the Zayn Malik duet “Freedun”--but the most striking work here is her virtually acappella treatment of “Jump In”, with just a sparse beat beneath her rhythmic vocal repetitions.
  10. Rolling Stone
    Sep 8, 2016
    60
    Maya Arulpragasam's radical patter is sounding a bit ho-hum ("Borders: what's up with that?" she wonders on her fifth album). But M.I.A.'s skill as a buoyant beat-rider remains intact (the glassily thumping "Visa" turns border crossing into a party), and there are moments on AIM where the political and personal blur evocatively.
  11. DIY Magazine
    Sep 6, 2016
    60
    A bleak and wilfully impenetrable album.
  12. The Guardian
    Sep 2, 2016
    60
    It sounds as if AIM was made exclusively for MIA’s benefit: one final eruption of inventive and sometimes incoherent ideas.
  13. Pitchfork
    Sep 13, 2016
    59
    While she may never have been the most articulate and thoughtful messenger, in AIM, M.I.A. demonstrates her legacy as an artist eager to tackle issues that are volatile and antagonistic. But at this point her music is more potent in theory than execution.
  14. Paste Magazine
    Sep 19, 2016
    55
    AIM isn’t nearly as ambitious. It’s just busywork, M.I.A. watching the clock, scanning the news, occupied, but idle.
  15. The New York Times
    Sep 7, 2016
    50
    Much of the album comes across as lightweight. Too many of the songs sound like sketches, running out of ideas midway through.
  16. The A.V. Club
    Sep 9, 2016
    42
    AIM sounds like a field recording made in the middle of a bustling Sri Lankan market: colorful, flavorful, and most of all, noisy. These inescapable Eastern vibes prove to be a blessing, uniting an otherwise fragmented album.
  17. Drowned In Sound
    Sep 15, 2016
    40
    There are only fleeting glimpses of brilliance on a long-player littered with ideas that never seemed to get past the kernel stage.
  18. PopMatters
    Sep 13, 2016
    40
    [The] lack of enthusiasm is all too transparent on AIM, and it renders it an absolute failure of a send-off.

Awards & Rankings

50
#50 Most Discussed Album of 2016
75
#75 Most Shared Album of 2016

User Reviews

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User Score
8.1

Universal acclaim- based on 167 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 137 out of 167
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 167
  3. Negative: 14 out of 167
  1. Blanche
    Sep 13, 2016
    3
    English-Sri Lankan singer/rapper M.I.A is coming to the end of her star-studded career with a new album entitled AIM which she recentlyEnglish-Sri Lankan singer/rapper M.I.A is coming to the end of her star-studded career with a new album entitled AIM which she recently announced will be her last. She has strung some of the biggest hits such as Paper Planes over the years and is renowned for possessing a slightly out of tune voice, which ironically helps her sound distinct and compliment the productions in her material in a different way. Due to the occasion and predictable electronic theme of her material, I decided to roll through the record to see if it was a good send-off.

    The record features impressive, witty lyricism on a number of tracks like Borders and Foreign Friend. A good take on the tensions that have dramatically risen over the past few years regarding immigration and cultural clashes.

    The best tracks on the entire record for me are unquestionably Go Off and A.M.P. Skrillex had a hand in the production of both songs and his influence proves invaluable. The relentless intensity of the drums galvanises M.I.A.'s emphatic rapping and singing deliveries in a sharp, thrilling way. The extremely prominent autotune on Go Off works wonders and weave together the instrumentation like a web. For me it is clear that this type of production is far more catered to her strengths as her imperfections in her vocals really give the instrumentation life and more purpose.

    That's about it when it comes to the positives to take away from this album.

    Freedun, although lyrically sound, is a minute too long in length. There is absolutely no need for the same instrumentation to repeat over and over until it becomes a bore and something to skip through. The long drab, lazy, purposeless outro along with M.I.A.'s desolate, insignificant vocal snippets and chops unfortunately becomes a concurrent theme. Bird Song suffers from the same problem; the percussive synthesis on the cut is pretty good and I do like her vocal delivery but yet again it gradually becomes soulless, bland after becoming insanely repetitive from the two minute mark. If her lyricism or vocal delivery isn't going to pick up, the instrumentation should and that never really happens enough on the record to leave me satisfied.

    But there are tracks here that are less than satisfying. Or to put it better, the tracks that are quite frankly terrible. Jump In is basically equivalent to absolute garbage. Worst track on the whole record. It makes me furious and disappointed when I hear how weak and uninspiring M.I.A.'s vocals are - unfortunately continually panning and chopping them isn't going to save the overall track from being painfully bland and tasteless. This is one of those songs that desperately need instrumentation to survive. Survivor is also vomit, her voice does not in any shape or form cohere with the intergalactic themed instrumentation and it just made me cringe hearing her harrowingly sing "survivor" sloppily as the washy synthesized pads produced a completely different vibe. Ali R U OK? features more of her Southern Asian influences in regards to the instrumentation but yet again that does not save it from grace due to the obnoxiously cringy, constant "eh" spluttered across the track, which yet again is matched with very repetitive instrumentation from start to end.

    The rest of the tracks I feel indifferent to and think nothing of them.

    A good handful of these tracks would have better if they were shorter by a full minute. They were that bad. Execution is vital to allow lyricism to jab through and in too many instances did that below par element affect the other medium. The album is very unfocused. She doesn't sound half as good as she did perhaps ten years ago, and neither does the production in her material.

    Such a shame that her last album is generally sour and directionless, but the album isn't purely horrible. Apart from Go Off, A.M.P. and perhaps Bird Song, there's nothing unique or amazing regarding the production. This is a bad album.

    I will be listening to her older material from now on.    … Full Review »
  2. MrMusic
    Sep 14, 2016
    10
    1. Borders 10/10
    2. Go Off 9/10
    3. Bird Song 9/10 4. Jump In 8/10 5. Freedun (ft. ZAYN) 9/10 6. Foreign Friend (ft. Dexta Daps) 8/10 7.    1. Borders 10/10
    2. Go Off 9/10
    3. Bird Song 9/10
    4. Jump In 8/10
    5. Freedun (ft. ZAYN) 9/10
    6. Foreign Friend (ft. Dexta Daps) 8/10
    7. Finally 9/10
    8. A.M.P. (All My People) 9/10
    9. ALI R U OK? 10/10
    10. (OLA) VISA 10/10
    11. Fly Pirate 7/10
    12. Survivor 5/10
    13. Bird Song (Diplo Remix) 10/10
    14. The New International Sound Pt. 2 10/10
    15. Swords 8/10
    16. Talk 9/10
    17. Platforms 10/10    … Full Review »
  3. PatrickCoteR
    Sep 9, 2016
    8
    Great effort from M.I.A. on this album. It misses some coherence, but I personally really like disparate songs on a single album. AwesomeGreat effort from M.I.A. on this album. It misses some coherence, but I personally really like disparate songs on a single album. Awesome lyrics for most of the songs. Good job!… Full Review »
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