M.I.A. Taking a Total Departure

M.I.A.‘s new album will be “a total departure” from her established sound.

Producer Diplo, who collaborated with M.I.A. (real name Maya Arulpragasam) on her breakthrough single “Paper Planes,” promises he has drawn from a well of diverse musical influences to create tracks for the Sri Lankan born singer’s third album. “On the new record I’ve just done for her - which might be the single - I sampled a bunch of gospel-y, old-school, Alabama, weird, Sacred Harp singers,” he said.

“It’s turning into an Animal Collective kind of record, which represents a total departure from what you would expect from her, but that’s where her head was at. She just had a baby so she was on this elated mood. With her it’s always sort of random, whatever you think was not going to be productive - that recording ended up being a really s****y demo and then it turned into a big song.”

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MIA comes out of retirement, lays down “Shells”

In case you haven’t heard, MIA is not retired as she previously announced. Good thing too, I would hate to get my MIA fill by ordering everything in her clothing line. How Many Votes Fix Mix, her latest EP, is worth the $2.49 with just the Boyz track, but now you get an extra bonus with Shells. You don’t even have to pay for this track so you have no excuse - download Shells, listen, loop it 10 times, then tell us what you think in the comments.

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Gallery: MIA comes out of retirement, lays down “Shells”