A few weeks ago M.I.A shared one of the tracks from her fifth album AIM called Go Off, featuring Skrillex. Now it has been confirmed that she and former One Direction-er Zayn Malik have been working together on a song known as Freedun.
How did this all come together?
“We have the same publishers and they wanted me to demo some songs for Zayn. Before I started writing properly my own stuff [for AIM], I was thinking maybe I’ll write for other people instead. I really wanted to write a song for Zayn….We had a couple people in common. And that’s how it came about. I didn’t really approach him for my own record until later on. First, I thought I wanted to try writing a song for him,” she explained to Entertainment Weekly.
While discussing her visa issues over Twitter a few months ago, she described her new album as her “last”.
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
In this interview, the reality of this sad fact was once again brought up as she spoke about her wish to try something different.
“I just feel like I need to spend more periods of time somewhere. When you get into music and you get into a cycle of a record, how life goes, is very fast. You don’t get to just live things out and get involved with communities. I want to spend some time in Greece, make a documentary [there]. Something useful for a bit,” she said.
AIM will be released on September 9th.
Image: Billboard