M.I.A

There was a time when seeing a new M.I.A track pop up on the blogosphere was enough to send my heart racing. But now it just makes me laugh as I anticipate how totally below average it's gonna be. Scrap that. How bad it's going to be.

I even began to believe that maybe these were fake tracks as part of a dramatic ploy to make the eventual REAL release of third album Maya look mindblowingly amazing next to the crap that is Stepping Up and Born Free.

But unfortunately, I just got a sneak pick at the new album (due out on July 17) and I can safely say that unless she has created an entire fake 12 track album-it's time to farewell the M.I.A. we knew and loved. It wasn't til the 11th track Tell Me Why that I fully realised what was wrong with the first 10: you can barely here Maya's vocals over all the weird heavy industrial noise. Where are the massive beats? The catchy lyrics? The fun vocals? Goooone. The last two tracks are the closest we get.

In all fairness I have to add that I don't totally hate the lead single XXXO. It's cheezy and it endlessly reminds me of Gossip Girl, but I can't get it out of my head which must say something. The Jay-Z "remix" manages to just tip this one over into the diminutive "good" pile.

M.I.A.- XXXO (Remix. Feat. Jay-Z) (mp3)