I’m sure fans are deciding whether to feel happy or sad about M.I.A‘s newest reveal on Twitter.
The good news is, she’s finished her album.
The bad news?
She won’t be able to promote it in the US.
M.I.A says while she’s handed in the album to her “American label”, she doesn’t have a Visa and will not be able to enter the country without one. I guess that would make touring kind of difficult. She says she “might have to start writing songs [for] DJ Khaled and Selen[a] Gomez to get heard.”
She also described this upcoming album as her “last”, suggesting that she won’t be release anymore.
I am handing my last LP in to my American label this week. It'll be up to them if its released.I don't have visa 4 states to promote or spk!
— M.I.A (@MIAuniverse) May 2, 2016
Can't tour the US without a visa- might have to start writing songs 4 Dj Khaled and Selene Gomez to get heard
— M.I.A (@MIAuniverse) May 2, 2016
Selena*
— M.I.A (@MIAuniverse) May 2, 2016
Complex reminds us that she has previously struggled to get a Visa in order to record her second album Kala (read our feature about that album here), due to “her connection with her father Arul Pragasm, a former leader of the Tamil Tigers separatist group in her native Sri Lanka.”
She solved this issue by recording her album on the go, travelling all over the world to finish it.
This album will be her fifth, following Matangi in 2013. She has dropped a few singles from the album, including Boarder Than A Border, Swords and Borders. These have been a part of an audio-visual project including some influential/controversial music videos.
Let’s hope, for the fans in the US, that her Visa is granted soon so we can all hear her new album as soon as possible.
Image: Billboard