M.I.A. returned to the spotlight back in May with her single “The One” and stories of the spiritual journey that led her to its writing. At the time, she also revealed plans for a new album called MATA, which would mark her debut release with Island Records. With little more information about the release shared since then—beyond a hint at its visual aesthetic previewed in her Primavera performance—today she’s sharing another new single from the release titled “Popular.”
The new track arrived last night on YouTube along with a “pseudo video” featuring a still of M.I.A. alongside an uncanny-valley doppelgänger which adds an eerie quality to the song’s uneasy instrumental and satirically vain lyrics. Check it out below, and anticipate more details on MATA in the coming months.
Edit: The official video dropped this afternoon and it’s every bit as unsettling as the still promised, with the A.I. version of the rapper (named M.A.I., naturally) learning to perform normal human tasks like twerking, lighting a cig, and very nearly—so close yet so, so far!—smiling. Watch it below, and keep up with M.I.A.’s new nemesis on Twitter here.
