M.I.A. Returns with New Single ‘The One’

M.I.A. has found “The One.”

The trailblazing artist returns with her first music of 2022. Produced by Rex Kudo & T-Minus, the melodic track finds Maya back in her zone.

“When you tryna find the one / Why do you need reminding?” she sings. “No matter how you look at it, it’s me you keep finding / Tryna find the one / What you’re seeking ain’t hiding / Tryna find the one, it’s me you keep finding.”

Speaking with Zane Lowe on Apple Music, M.I.A. says she was in a “really happy place” when recording “The One,” which she describes as the record everyone wanted her to make after “Paper Planes.”

“I guess it is just about sticking to what you are and the truth,” says M.I.A., who is now a born again Christian. “I think, at the end of the day, that is also what this record is about to me, is still trying to find truth. In a way, it’s kind of rebellious because everybody’s expecting me to put out that really havoc… Everyone’s expecting that, but it’s not, that’s not what it is.”

“The One” arrives ahead of her upcoming album MATA, the follow-up to 2016’s AIM, which will be released through her new deal with Island Records.

“I think there’s a bit of a battle on the record,” she says. “That there is a bit of a clash, but the clash is like your ego and spirituality. Those are the clashes. Because as a musician, you need some ego, otherwise you can’t do it.”

You can catch M.I.A. on her European tour this summer, which includes stops in Sweden, Spain, France, and Portugal.