National Geographic Music (National Geographic)

Maya Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A., can be a little overwhelming. She dresses like a dayglo fashion victim from outer space and her music, with dubbed-out synth beats and children's choirs singing about armed robbery, can come across like an art school prank. But the singer's penchant for the flamboyant belies her troubled personal background that has made her a thoughtful, compellling political and social critic.

Though born in London, Arulpragasam returned to her parents' native Sri Lanka as a young child. There her father became increasingly involved in the ongoing Tamil rebellion. Declared a terrorist by the Sri Lankan authorities, he was forced into hiding, and Maya and her mother eventually became political refugees, fleeing first to India and ultimately to the U.K., where she finished her education and went on to become a star.

She first captured the world's attention with her 2005 debut Arular, which set the music industry alight like a car bomb. Her sound was a hyperkinetic mashup of dub, electro, UK grime, hip-hop and other underground sounds, filtered through an art terrorist sensibility (In fact, Arulpragasam holds a fine art degree from London's prestigious Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design). It was South Asia by way of South London, a multiculti, 21st century pileup of dialects and diasporas that turned the relationship between the post-colonial metropolis and the colonized on its head. By the time she released her second recod, Kala, in 2007, M.I.A. was considered one of the most important and original new voices in pop music.

But if M.I.A.'s music and art are be assembled from disposable pop cultural ephemera, they're anything but frivolous – and she's emerged as an outspoken voice for those who've been left behind by globalization: the oppressed, the poor and the forgotten of the developing world. "Nobody wants to be dancing to political songs," She explains. "Every bit of music out there that's making it into the mainstream is really about nothing. I wanted to see if I could write songs about something important and make it sound like nothing."

Even though M.I.A. famously announced her retirement from music last June from the stage at the Bonnaroo festival in Tenessee, she's been more visible than ever in the months since then. Over the summer her song "Paper Planes" became a surprise hit a year after its release when stoner comedy Pineapple Express featured it in the film's trailer. Then, in 2009, her collaboration with Indian composer A.R. Rahman on the soundtrack to Slumdog Millionaire, won the 2008 Academy Award for Best Film Score.

Still, Maya had bigger things on her mind than climbing the charts and winning Oscars – in February she became a mom for the first time, giving birth to her son Ikhyd Edgar Arular Bronfman, just days after performing at the Grammy Awards.

Congratulations, Maya – we love you!