M.I.A. & Diplo Finally Release Their Collaboration [STREAM]

Just yesterday, it was discovered that Diplo was in the process of collaborating with both Desiigner and the country star Sam Hunt.

With all of the controversy surrounding M.I.A. and Diplo’s collaboration “Bird Song,” Interscope has officially given the go-ahead. M.I.A. claimed that her label Interscope had blocked Diplo’s remix, but now it seems they have agreed to release it.

For the first time in 6 years, Diplo and M.I.A. have teamed up once again to release their new collab.

A week ago, M.I.A. shared a version of “Bird Song” featuring the production of Blaqstarr.

Diplo and M.I.A. go about as far back as it gets in this industry. He produced a huge chunk of her 2007 album Kala, including the star-making single “Paper Planes,” and their creative partnership helped launch Diplo’s Mad Decent imprint into the powerhouse label it is today. So a public back-and-forth over whether Interscope would even let a new Diplo production see the light of day was the kind of drama that got longtime fans of both artists paying attention.

“Bird Song” ended up landing on M.I.A.’s fifth studio album, AIM, which she had already announced as her final full-length project at the time. Getting the label dispute resolved meant the album could come together the way she and her collaborators intended, with both the Diplo and Blaqstarr versions of the track giving fans two very different takes on the same song within the span of a week. The Diplo version leans harder into the kind of bouncy, percussion-heavy production he built his name on, while the Blaqstarr take pulls the track in a moodier direction.

“Bird Song” was set up as the fourth single from AIM, following earlier cuts like “Borders,” “Go Off,” and “Freedun,” each of which found M.I.A. bouncing between the political, confrontational sound she built her name on and glossier, more club-ready production. Having both a Diplo version and a Blaqstarr version circulating within days of each other only added to the anticipation, with fans debating online over which producer’s take on the song deserved to be the official album cut.

Whatever the behind-the-scenes politics were, it’s hard not to see the resolution as a win for M.I.A., who has never been shy about calling out her label publicly when she felt like a release was being held up. Getting a longtime collaborator like Diplo back on a track, after years of the two working mostly on separate projects, was exactly the kind of reunion fans of both artists had been asking for.