British-bred artist M.I.A. is back with Maya, her third studio album. M.I.A. hit world-wide status with her hit song Paper Planes, and with this latest release, she remains true to her very fresh and universal style. This self-titled album (Maya is her given name) is a personal missive to the masses on how hypocritical the era of digital information has become. Stand-out tracks include: The Message, a short introduction expressing how dependent we are on virtual reality, and Story To Be Told, which may contain her most prolific line ever: "the writing on the wall has been beaten to a pulp". It Takes A Muscle catches the hips and ears with a sprinkle of reggae and acknowledgment of the courage it will take for everyone to love one another. Born Free is styled just as well, with a punk-rock flair to match M.I.A's radical refusal to keep quiet. Space is the album clincher, and a musical reminder of the disconnect between what we're being told, and what is reality. Maya proves that M.I.A. doesn't want to live for tomorrow. She'll push her luck today to be true to who she is, and remain successful in doing so.