Photo: Rebecca Smeyne

M.I.A. has been busy, popping up all over New York to promote her new album. She surprised everyone at Vice’s Creator’s Project on June 26th, and was also set to perform at her new LP release party last night. Opening Ceremony hosted M.I.A.’s Jump Up party at the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in Long Island City, Queens. Attendees listened to opening acts Ninjasonik and Rye Rye but when it came time for M.I.A. to perform songs off of her new album /\/\/\Y/\, the party was cut short by the police due to noise concerns. Everyone was then moved inside the museum where M.I.A. donned a colorful headscarf and did an encore performance. M.I.A. thanked all of her fans on twitter for attending.

Next stop: Governor’s Island. On July 24th, M.I.A. performs at the South Island Field along with Die Antwoord, Skream, Benga, Rye Rye, Sleigh Bells, and more.

Listen to her new album on myspace.
View more photos from the Jump Up party at The Village Voice

Photo: Ruud Baan/Bernstein & Andriulli

M.I.A., official name Maya Arulpragasam, talks to Maxwell Williams for SPREAD|Artculture magazine. They meet at Village Recording Studios in Los Angeles as M.I.A. is putting the final touches on her third album, /\/\/\Y/\. The two discuss politics, her son Ikhyd, her label N.E.E.T. Recordings, and more. The topic of the ever ubiquitous Lady Gaga appears and M.I.A. weighs in saying, “Lady Gaga is someone who lives completely within [the industry]. That’s what you can get if you say ‘yes.’ I would have those outfits on and my hair would look like that and those are the songs I would sing. Everybody else on my label’s budget would get cut in order for my Grammy performance with Elton John to be banging.”

Photo: Ruud Baan/Bernstein & Andriulli

To learn more about M.I.A.’s new album and what she has to say about being dubbed “The Tamil Tigress”, check out issue 05 of SPREAD|Artculture magazine.

Photo: Ruud Baan/Bernstein and Andriulli

M.I.A.’s third album “/\/\/\Y/\” drops July 13th, 2010, and leading up to the release is a flurry of media attention. The latest development is a less than flattering write-up in the New York Times by Lynn Hirschberg full of thinly veiled barbs. The singer responds in true M.I.A. fashion, tweeting the writer’s mobile phone number and inviting people to “CALL ME IF YOU WANNA TALK TO ME ABOUT THE N Y T TRUTH ISSUE.”

The Observer catches Hirschberg’s response to the M.I.A. tweet. The author says, “It’s a fairly unethical thing to do, but I don’t think it’s surprising… She’s a provocateur, and provocateurs want to be provocative.” Hirschberg also finds the tweet “infuriating and surprising.” Despite the various messages from people trying to connect to M.I.A., Hirschberg will keep the same mobile phone number.

Look for M.I.A. on the cover of our next issue, hitting newsstands June 14th, 2010. Inside she waxes about the state of the music industry, saying “You can’t just turn everything you’re doing into encouraging other people to be product buyers,” she continues. “It’s fucked up because I have to make music and ultimately, everyone should hear the music. But people have to buy it for my label to be happy. I just feel like everything is being consumed by corporations. It’s such a thin line for me, because they help me get [my music] out to more people, but I don’t want to be in there.”