///Y/
Metascore
69

Generally favorable reviews - based on 34 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 34
  3. Negative: 1 out of 34
  1. The Guardian
    60
    The problem with Maya is that the clamour around what she says seems to have begun influencing some of the music that she chooses to make.
  2. Q Magazine
    60
    While Maya certainly shows no diminution of sheer sonic ingenuity, it suffers from a shrinking of the spirit. [Aug 2010, p.112]
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  3. Slant Magazine
    60
    It may be an above-average album, but its aesthetic matches her persona only at its shallowest levels, in the thinness of its ideas and the often-forceful ugliness of its message.
  5. AllMusic
    60
    There are moments during MAYA when it seems like M.I.A.'s next move might involve walking into a laundromat, filling the dryers with bricks and silverware, pulling the fire alarm, blaring a drop-forge beat from a tinny boombox, and recording the result.
  6. NOW Magazine
    60
    The new industrial influences and heavily distorted textures work amazingly well at times, but after a few songs you find yourself longing for something resembling a melody.
  7. PopMatters
    50
    On the handful of songs on ///Y/ that find her exploring new musical territory, Maya doesn’t fare much better. It often feels like she’s casting about, trying to figure out where she fits into the pop landscape.
  8. Urb
    50
    M.I.A.’s schizophrenic style does not please this time around. The industrial and mechanical soundscape lacks both genuine protest songs or club jams.
  9. Tiny Mix Tapes
    50
    // / Y /'s many false starts and dead ends also place M.I.A. on shaky ground aesthetically, and with no coherent message to fall back on, the album feels alienated and disconnected, perhaps ironic for an album attempting to evoke the hyper-connectedness and sensory overload of culture in the wake of iPhone and Google.
  10. Pitchfork
    44
    The record is a shambling mess, devoid of the bangers that characterized Arular and Kala, two of the stronger pop albums of the past decade.
  11. Entertainment Weekly
    42
    The dizzy dynamism of her earlier work — a global stew of bhangra, baile funk, and hip-hop, politicized and hitched to block-party beats — is largely reduced to inert feedback and industrial noise.
  12. Uncut
    40
    Where MIA escapes the club and returns to the wider world, there's an overwhelming sense of diminishing returns. [Aug 2010, p.89]
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Awards & Rankings

57
#57 Most Discussed Album of 2010

User Reviews

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User Score
7.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 56 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 40 out of 56
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 56
  3. Negative: 11 out of 56
  1. BobN
    Jul 16, 2010
    0
    Horrid, dull, non-inspired noise. I could take an old keyboard and throw it down a staircase and produce better sounding songs. Save your Horrid, dull, non-inspired noise. I could take an old keyboard and throw it down a staircase and produce better sounding songs. Save your money folks, this album is not even worth a free listen on the radio let alone a full purchase. Epic Fail… Full Review »
  2. JosephA
    Jul 15, 2010
    8
    Really cool, eclectic, and original album (not surprisingly).
  3. edodry
    Jul 15, 2010
    4
    I love M.I.A. as I love myself and it hurts to admit this album is a fart compared to her previous work.
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