Maya Arulpragasam sighs into the phone. I've asked her if journalists have accurately depicted her life story, and she seems tired of the question.

"My story?" she asks. "Which one? There are so many."

Arulpragasam has been called many things in her short career: refugee, revolutionary; terrorist, tastemaker. To activists, she is a musician with a message. Online, she represents the positive side of file-sharing. To music magazines like Urb and Spin, she is 2005's Artist of the Year, with her debut album "Arular" topping dozens of influential must-have lists.