17 May. Arular sparked internet debates on the rights and wrongs of the Tamil Tigers. By the time it was released, a "near hysterical buzz" on the internet had created "slavish anticipation" for the album. Despite this, M.I.A. claimed in late 2005 that she had little comprehension of her prior popularity with music bloggers, stating that she did not even own a computer. Promotion The first track from the album to be made available was "Galang". It was initially released in late 2003 by independent label Showbiz Records, which pressed and distributed 500 promotional copies before M.I.A. signed with XL Recordings. The song was re-released on XL as the second official single from the album in September 2004, and again in October 2005, under the title "Galang '05", with a remix by Serj Tankian. The first official single, "Sunshowers", was M.I.A.'s first on XL and was released on 5 July 2004. It was supported by a music video directed by Indian filmmaker Rajesh Touchriver. Following the re-release of "Galang", the third single from the album, "Bucky Done Gun", was released on 26 July 2005. The video was directed by Anthony Mandler. In December 2004, M.I.A. independently released a mixtape titled Piracy Funds Terrorism, produced by M.I.A. and Diplo, as a "teaser" for the album. The release featured rough mixes of tracks from Arular mashed up with songs by other artists, and was promoted by word-of-mouth. In early 2005, after the release of Arular, an extensive collection of fan-made remixes of M.I.A.'s work was uploaded, expanded and made available as an "online mixtape" on XL's official website, under the banner Online Piracy Funds Terrorism. M.I.A. toured extensively during 2005 to promote the album. The Arular Tour included concerts in North America supporting LCD Soundsystem and appearances at music festivals in Europe, Japan and South America. In November 2005, she appeared as the support act at a number of dates on Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Lovers Tour. Critical reception Arular received widespread acclaim from music critics. Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, reported an average score of 88 based on 33 reviews, described as "universal acclaim". Julianne Shepherd of Spin appreciated the album's fusion of "hip hop's cockiness with dancehall's shimmy and the cheap and noisy aesthetics of punk" and claimed that Arular would be regarded as the best political album of the year.