Critics noted its autobiographical lyrics "updated to the present day, where she's straddling the line between major-label success and her own crazy-ass major-label-bucking tendencies, singing she's too cool "to be a Rocawear model," whilst adding that she couldn't be a "rocker on a label"- they wouldn't have her because "...my beats were too evil.

[5] "Bird Flu" incorporates elements of the song "Thirvizha Nu Vantha" from the Indian Tamil language film Jayam.

It was shown at the 2008 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival in the "Music Video Asia 2008" category.

talked about the filming location for Bird Flu and how it had a personal connection for her:[7] Where we shot the ‘Bird Flu’ video...it was really close to the refugee camp where all the Sri Lankans get off the boat in India in the south, just outside Chennai.

Clothes were made for the "Bird Flu" project with Carri Mundane who with M.I.A., Steve Loveridge, and Sugu Arulpragasam, moved to Tamil Nadu during the shoot.

[12] Kitty Empire in The Observer and Jody Rosen in Slate.com named it the best song of 2007, with the latter appreciating the "clobbering" urumee symphony of the song complementing the "thick, buzzy and exciting beats" of much of Kala that was likened to "a post colonial studies seminar".