The first official single from M.I.A.'s fourth studio album Matangi was written by the singer herself and was produced by Switch and Surkin. It was released unveiled by Zane Lowe on his BBC Radio 1 show on June 17, 2013 and released on digital retailers on following day.
M.I.A. explained to Zane Lowe that though the song was written more than a year previously, it was particularly pertinent concerning the current political climate and "having to deal with the concept of freedom in more ways than one."
Mathang was initially meant to be dropped in December 2012, but M.I.A.'s label, Interscope, held it back on the basis that the record was "too positive." Interviewed by Australian publication Gold Coast, M.I.A said: "I thought I'd finished it. I finished it and then I handed the record in, like a couple of months ago. At the moment, I've been told it's too positive. So we're having a bit of an issue at the label. They're like, 'You need to darken it up a bit'." She added: "I don't know what it is but as soon as I work that out... I'm taking my time to decide what they mean. It's an interesting one for me. It's like, 'We just built you up as the public enemy number one, and now you're coming out with all this positive stuff.'"
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