Pitchfork

M.I.A. entertained the crowd at the Ed Sullivan Theater last Thursday, appearing on the "Late Show" to perform Kala's tension-filled slow-burner "Paper Planes". According to the YouTube poster, she was asked to remove the gunshots from the track's chorus. So the sharp cracks of the original become a more general electronic percussion hit, though the intention is still obvious (and the song, even in this tamer version, still rules).