M.I.A. at the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in August 2009

M.I.A. told Rolling Stone she was putting finishing touches on her Kala follow up. She’s teamed up with Blaqstarr who she said, “simply makes music that sounds good, and I needed that.”

It sounds to us like she’s put a lot of thought into it, maybe her child has settled her down a bit…but I’m going to guess that isn’t going to translate to, “boring.” As she put it, “The last album, I didn’t actually sit anywhere long enough for it to really be in my life and to really think about it. Now I’m putting out my next album, and the world has changed. I came up talking shit about Bush, and it’s great that it’s changed, but I don’t know how much it’s changed, and I’m exploring that … I just want to be real, whatever that is. Even if my songs are shit, and if I have flaws and if I’m confused, if I offend people or if I don’t offend people, I might try to work it out in public– just so you know that it’s OK to think that thinking’s not a dirty word.”

Either way, I’m thrilled and can’t wait to hear it.