M.I.A. Working On "Odd" New Album

M.I.A. says her upcoming third album will be "more musical" than her two previous releases and also says it will be gimmick-free.

"It's my third album and I have to kind of confront whether I am a musician or not," the woman whose real name is Maya Arulpragasam told NME.com. "I wanted to make something that you could play that isn't like trendy just for three months, or the length of a DJ's attention span."

M.I.A. is working with ex-boyfriend and longtime producer Diplo on the album. Switch and DJ Blaqstarr are also producing the as-yet-untitled disc. The record doesn't have a definite release date yet, but the Grammy-nominated songwriter told NME.com she could release it sometime this spring.

M.I.A.'s last studio album was 2007's Kala. Since then, two of her songs were featured on the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack, and she received an Academy Award nomination for "O... Saya," which was co-written with A.R. Rahman. She also had a baby boy.