Matangi by M.I.A.

Matangi, M.I.A.'s fourth studio album, finally arrived on 1 November 2013 through N.E.E.T. Recordings and Interscope, after a year of delays that ended with her threatening to leak the thing herself if the label didn't pick a date. The title is a spin on her own first name and a nod to the Hindu goddess Matangi, and the lyrics dig into reincarnation and karma while the beats braid Western and Eastern sounds together.

Her longtime collaborator Switch did most of the production, with Hit-Boy, Doc McKinney, Danja, Surkin and the Partysquad chipping in, and the sessions hopped around the globe, with uncredited input from Julian Assange of all people. The lead single, "Bad Girls", had been out for nearly two years by then and collected honors at the MTV Video Music Awards. Critics liked the album, several year-end best-of lists found room for it, and in America it topped the Dance/Electronic Albums chart.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.