Today, M.I.A. confirmed that her next album MATA, the follow-up to 2016's AIM, is on the way and will be released on Island Records. This past weekend, she teased a new song with a video of a giant technicolored screen in the shape of a cross that depicted another cross spinning inside of it. Now, she's shared that single, called "The One," which was produced by Rex Kudo and T-Minus. The interlocking hip-hop track announces her new era and focuses on the tedium of searching when everything you've been looking for is right in front of you.
She discussed her spiritual journey in an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, where she reveals she's a born again Christian after having a "weird spiritual experience" in 2017. "Being a Tamil and being a Hindu, I was very comfortable that I’d arrived finding myself," she explained. "Which is, I think, going to be weird for America to process. But I had a vision and I saw the vision of Jesus Christ. It turned my world upside down. Because everything I thought and believed was no longer, like, the case. And I think that was maybe a sign that something major was going to happen in the world, you know, and that people were needing to be introduced to this concept."
She continued: "When I had this vision, it turned my world upside down. I kind of couldn’t let go of the Tamil side. I think that’s why 50 percent of the record is sort of like that. Because I’m still me. Like, that’s still my language. And those are still my tools to be able to create beats like that or a sound like that, you know. But I think the message was just to get to a peaceful place."
Despite being recognized as a controversial voice in the music industry, M.I.A. emphasized this album is about the truth of her experience. “I guess it is just about sticking to what you are and the truth. I think, at the end of the day, that is also what this record is about to me, is still trying to find truth... It’s about the battle of the ego versus you finding yourself and you finding the spiritual leader. Spirituality within, whatever form is given to you. I think that’s really interesting, when you think everything, you get challenged by the universe.”
Watch "The One" below.
