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)

Slumdog Millionaire

I saw Slumdog Millionaire today and it was as good as all the hype, which is nice as so often only disappointment occurs after expectations are set so high. I totally forgot that part of the reason I was excited to see this was because M.I.A helped out on the soundtrack. But I quickly remembered as the majestic intro to O...Saya boomed out during the opening minutes. It really is a beautiful song and not surprisingly M.I.A has been nominated for an Academy award for her collaboration with A.R. Rahman on the track. Prett-y Mass-ive I say.

Great film. Great music. With the mainstream success of Slumdog, getting the Golden Globe etc, this will probably open a whole new audience to the music of M.I.A. In fact a friend heard her called "Mia" on commercial radio the other day as the "great NEW song" Paper Planes was introduced. Meh, I could definitely deal with hearing that song for another year or so.

M.I.A & A.R. Rahman-O...Saya

Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack available at Amazon