M.I.A. has announced what appears to be a new project with a cryptic post on Instagram.

A new studio LP would be the musician’s first since 2016’s ‘AIM’, with her last major work being 2018’s documentary, Matangi / Maya / M.I.A..

M.I.A. said after the film’s release that she was no longer “motivated” to release new music, blaming censorship from the music industry.


Now, however, it looks as if she’s returning from hiatus. A post on Instagram today (January 28) features two videos, one of which features a snippet of music, and the other features her silently mouthing some unknown words.

The caption for the post reads “NEW DECADE, NEW MIA, EXPLORING,

PLANETS AND PLATFORMS, JOIN ME, JAN 31ST 2020.”

M.I.A. has made sporadic public appearances since she announced her hiatus in 2018. In November she performed at an event in London protesting the extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Earlier this month, meanwhile, she was awarded an MBE from Prince William at Buckingham Palace with her mother in attendance.

The artist responded to being included in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List back in June, and was given the nod owing to her “services to music.”


“Having received this medal means so much on so many levels,” M.I.A. wrote in a statement on Instagram at the time.

“My mother, a working-class refugee who received asylum in England in the Eighties, along with my cousin, are the only two women responsible for hand-stitching these medals for the palace.”