M.I.A. loved daring New York trapeze stunt

M.I.A. showed no fear when she was asked to swing from a New York City skyscraper on a makeshift trapeze for a photoshoot, because if the stunt had failed it would have been an "awesome" way to die.

The Paper Planes hitmaker was snapped in a daring upside-down pose over the famous Manhattan skyline for one of a series of images in the New York Times Magazine last year (10).

Photographer Ryan McGinley was convinced the mum-of-one would reject the idea as "crazy" and refuse to take part in the shoot - but she couldn't wait to try out the trapeze.

McGinley says, "We had to basically rig a truss for this swing; it was a major production to make sure it was safe. I tried it out. M.I.A. might have gotten there and said, 'I'm not doing this; this is too crazy.' But she got on and just started swinging like it was something normal.

"I remember her saying, 'If I'm going to go out, this is an awesome way to go.'"