The world’s most misunderstood pop star is also among the world’s best.

Despite not having released a full-length album in three years – and after having “Matangi” delayed for several months by Interscope Records – M.I.A. has stayed warm in the spotlight through words and actions that have seemingly isolated all of the United States.

Through misconstrued quotes by the New York Times making her appear as a pro-war advocate, to the middle finger shot at the camera during the Super Bowl halftime show, Maya Arulpragasam has been in the midst of a public relations battle from hell in the States. Indeed, she offers a strong bark on social and political issues that have made her an enemy to those who find her actions distasteful.

Although some of her philosophical beliefs come off as forced or ambiguous, many people do not know about her rise from social oppression during her youth in Sri Lanka, India.

Her family was part of the lower-class Hindus known as the untouchables – subordinates to the highly regarded Brahmans. Her father, Arul Pragasam, was a Tamil activist for the equality of the untouchables. Because of the dangerous state Sri Lanka was in at that time – and after several failed attempts to escape the country – her family moved to London.

From there, Maya’s stardom rose from art student to the pop sensation who wrote “Paper Planes.” Now she professes “Matangi” to be her “spiritual” album.

The album title is attributed to the singer’s full birth name, Mathangi Arulpragasam. Matangi is the Hindu goddess of music and learning, who also has the power to manipulate her enemies. The goddess is seen as impure; she represents and lives in the slums with the poor.

A lot of the content on “Matangi” does play around with those religious themes; even if in a facetious sense, like naming the opening track “Karmageddon.”

“Ain’t Dalai Lama/Ain’t Sai Baba/My words are my armor and you’re about to meet your karma,” she softly sings at the end of the opening track before erupting into an energetic and dark song on the title-track “Matangi.”

There is a lot of spontaneity in the opening half of the album: abrupt tempo changes, collisions of Western- and Eastern-influenced music, and a sample of a sitar being strummed followed by a meditative hum from M.I.A. that interrupts several songs.

“Come Walk With Me” offers a sweeter side of the singer – a song that launches into a fusion of R&B and Bollywood sounds until it is drowned out by samples that sound like they have been taken from an array of Apple products.

Then there is the catchy song, “Bad Girls.” The song, previously released on her mixtape “Vicki Leekx,” is an anthem to living fast and dying young.

“My chain hits my chest when I’m banging on the dashboard/My chain hits my chest when I’m banging on the radio,” she sings on the 2-year-old single.

“Matangi” hits a bit of a lull toward the last half of the album becoming consistent sleeper pop songs. Another issue with the album, despite there being plenty of creative language, is the use of clichés: “what doesn’t kill us, it makes us stronger.”

In her attempt to either rejuvenate or criticize the teen anthem “YOLO” – or as her version states – “Y.A.L.A.,” (You always live again) she sings a bunch of nonsense over an otherwise catchy beat.

“YOLO? I don’t even know anymore, what that even mean though? If you only live once, why we keep doing the same (stuff)? Back home where I come from we keep being born again and again and again. That’s why they invented karma,” she says in the song’s outro with a teenaged innocence.

Despite the albums’ dull moments, “Matangi” is packed with energy, smooth and beguiling beats and the attitude that makes M.I.A. so lovable to those who don’t overact to a finger being broadcasted to millions of people. A Pitchfork writer recently said that she thought “Matangi” was boring because of how long it had taken to release, a delay she said made the songs stale and uninteresting. Besides “Bad Girls,” that seems illogical. Most of the music is still new and only recently unveiled; and besides, when did month-old music become aged?

The brilliant artist who was once thought to be a one-hit-wonder with “Paper Planes” has again surfaced to be the best at contemporary pop music. M.I.A. is here to stay.