New M.I.A. Album Slated For Summer Release

The last we heard of M.I.A. was when she got angry about fans thinking she named her baby, “Ickitt.” (Although, we can see how people may have gotten that from “Ikhyd.”) Her last album, Kala, was a huge success thanks the controversial gun noises in “Paper Planes” and its massive placement in the film, Pineapple Express.

According to Pitchfork, M.I.A. is currently wrapping up her third studio album and it may be released sometime in the summer. She is working with producer/songwriter/DJ and ex-boyfriend, Dilplo, again but she told Rolling Stone that she has been happily collaborating with DJ Blaqstarr as well.

Since M.I.A. has worked with Blaqstarr on previous tracks such as “The Turn” and Tom Waits cover, “Waiting Down in the Hole,” it made sense to the rapper-singer that they work on some bigger and more solid projects together. She personally stated that Blaqstarr, “”simply makes music that sounds good, and I needed that.”

That may all sound expected, but what’s most unexpected about this album news is that she has also collaborated with some Verizon Wireless workers as well. If that sounds odd to you, your thoughts can rest when we tell you that that Verizon employees didn’t actually go into the studio with her. M.I.A. explains it to Rolling Stone:

“I was having issues with my cable and wireless, and I was on the phone [with tech support] for three hours, and I thought, ‘Maybe this needs to be part of my music, could you just learn these lyrics and sing it down the phone to me?’ 10 phone calls later, I have Internet that sticks and a song.”

Well, we all knew M.I.A. wasn’t the typical musician and that’s definitely one way to knock out a song. She’s also told Rolling Stone that she will be singing more on this album. Although we’re not sure if you can call it singing since it sounds like a mixture of both rapping and singing, she has given production emphasis as her reasoning for the lack of vocal melodies on the last album.

She also provides what will become of her new album in the following words:

“The last album, I didn’t actually sit anywhere long enough for it to really be in my life and to really think about it. Now I’m putting out my next album, and the world has changed. I came up talking shit about Bush, and it’s great that it’s changed, but I don’t know how much it’s changed, and I’m exploring that … I just want to be real, whatever that is. Even if my songs are shit, and if I have flaws and if I’m confused, if I offend people or if I don’t offend people, I might try to work it out in public– just so you know that it’s OK to think that thinking’s not a dirty word.”

We don’t think “thinking” is a dirty word, M.I.A. and we’re also sorry that people thought your son’s name was “Ickitt.”

Are you excited for M.I.A.’s new album?