After what seems to have been a year’s long hiatus, English producer/singer/rapper/artist M.I.A. came out of the woodwork on Tuesday and posted a new song from her hotly anticipated third album on her Twitter account. Entitled “Theres (sic) Space for Ol Dat I See,” the song is definitely a throwback to the era of “Galang” and “Sunshowers.”
Up until as recently as a few weeks ago, there had been much speculation as to whether or not M.I.A. was even going to make a third album. In Monday’s interview with NME, Maya told reporters that she had indeed completed work on her follow-up to 2007’s smash hit Kala.
“I wanted it to be like, no gimmicks,” she declared. “It’s my third album and I have to kind of confront whether I am a musician or not… I wanted to make something that you could play that isn’t like trendy just for three months, or the length of a DJ’s attention span.”
Last night, M.I.A., Kanye West, Jay-Z, Lil’ Wayne, and T.I. performed their highly anticipated rendition of “Swagga Like Us” at the 2009 Grammys. Donning a black and white polka-dotted outfit, M.I.A. was the first one out on stage. Nine months pregnant, the British phenom looked as if her water was going to break if a stiff breeze hit her. When a familiar beat started playing, it seemed as if she was going to perform her hit single “Paper Planes” until she uttered her famous hook, “No one on the corner has swagger like us.” Then, Kanye, Jay-Z, Lil’ Wayne, and T.I. popped out on stage dressed in fresh looking tuxedos. Each of them took one verse of the song and killed it. I found it a little weird, however, that the signal faded in and out of black and white. Anyone else feel the same way? Check out the video:
