M.I.A.'s "Bad Girls" Video Gives Green Light to Banned Saudi Women Drivers

The video for M.I.A.‘s “Bad Girls” just dropped, and it finds her cavorting about in the goofball world of Middle Eastern caravan sideshows. (Not in the P.T. Barnum Sense, but like how Mac Dre did it). It’s got all of the mind-bending Saudi Arabian automotive clichés: Gold Bimmers, straight line drifting in front wheel drive cars, the type of spinning stunt driving only possible on soft, greasy, sun-baked tarmac. The video, directed by Romain Gavras, was shot in Ouarzazate, Morocco, but see this YouTube remix for the hardcore Saudi version:

But all that (and the killer single itself) aside, one thing sticks out: The people sitting in the drivers’ seats for close-ups are all women. Given that it’s illegal for women to drive in Saudi Arabia, and women in Saudi are protesting by driving anyway, I’d say bad girls are quite good. Cheers to M.I.A. for lending them support. Now can she pull up to my apartment in a chrome Audi, please?