Everyone is talking about the latest M.I.A video that hit the internet this morning. The track is called “Born Free” and Pitchfork posted the music video with the warning:

IT IS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC AND VIOLENT AND NOT SAFE FOR WORK.

Some of the team here at Filter Box Media had a look at the clip bright and early today and had some different opinions about it.

Laura: As a M.I.A fan, I was disappointed in the video. She did her job of creating a buzz; she’s tweeting from Pitchfork’s twitter account all day today and every major music blog is writing about it. The video has been removed from YouTube which might suck for some people, though from a marketing perspective it’s far from a bad thing since more people will be curious about the music video and search for it. So great job on the marketing side of the video, but the violence depicted in the clip was too much for me in the early morning. The gruesome story line in the video was so overwhelming that I didn’t even notice the song anymore. I believe one of the main points of a music video is to bring visuals to the music but this video brought background music to a short-film. I can respect M.I.A for wanting to show what may be going on in the world but I don’t think the music should have took a backseat to the imagery. Truth hurts, yes, but how does this relate to the music that she is promoting?

Brandon: I’m giving “Born Free” two shocked-and-appalled thumbs up. This video was as brilliant as it was horrifying. I’m seeing a lot of surprised reactions around the blogosphere this afternoon in regards to how they never expected M.I.A to release something as controversial as this, but really, isn’t this what Maya is all about? Ever since she started out on the scene she’s been constantly pushing the envelope; it only feels natural to me that “Born Free” is a beautiful nightmare. While it is a shame to see the music take the back seat in this music video, it’s a creative decision that makes a lot of sense to me. Millions of people will see this contentious clip and by the time her LP hits the shelves, whether they claim it to be “that track with the excellent video” or “that track with the disturbing video”, it’s a song that they’ll be looking out for on the tracklist of the record. Look at what director Romain Givras did for Justice’s “Stress” music video. Same style, same effect, same success.

So what do you think? Marketing masterpiece, or waste of money? A powerful message, or too disturbing for words? Please share your thoughts in the comments section and put your two cents in