M.I.A. has shared a new song, accompanied by a music video, entitled “Popular”. The song is from her sixth studio album, MATA, which will be released via Island Records. Watch the video here:

The three-and-a-half-minute video is chock full of symbolism. M.I.A. stars as an aspiring influencer/bot in training named M.A.I. M.A.I. falls squarely into the uncanny valley. She’s clearly a parody of influencers and manufactured popularity – M.I.A. creates a woman literally made to fill various demographic niches. Her bio reads “Los Angeles, CA” – home of influencers – and her age is listed as “Over 18”, so she’s a safe object of attraction for her viewers. But her popularity doesn’t last – by the end of the video, M.A.I. is killed by a duplicated, who shoots her with a water gun, which causes her to short circuit.

M.I.A. is no stranger to digital themes – her song “CTRL” came out back in 2020. Back in May, she also teased another song from her new album, this one entitled “The One”. She also performed at SF Portola this year.