M.I.A. has revealed she’s now a Christian.
The British rapper and singer who rose to fame in the early 2000s was raised Hindu, but said everything changed when she had a vision of Jesus in 2017.
The 46-year-old said in a recent interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1: “Since then, my head has been in a totally different place. Being a Tamil and being a Hindu, I was very comfortable that I’d arrived finding myself. Which is, I think, going to be weird for America to process.
“But I had a vision and I saw the vision of Jesus Christ. It’s very, creatively, it’s a very crazy thing because it turned my world upside down. Because everything I thought and believed was no longer the case.
“And I think that was maybe a sign that something major was going to happen in the world and that people were needing to be introduced to this concept. But I always found the concept of Christianity quite basic compared to… wow, this is going to be shocking if people go, “Maya calls Christianity ‘basic.'”
M.I.A., who’s real name is Mathangi Arulpragasam, was born in London but moved to Sri Lanka with her family as a baby. She experienced the Sri Lankan Civil War as a young child, leading her family to move back to London as refugees when she was 11-years-old.
The experiences she had of the war have been a heavy influence in her music. While, she said that will continue, she will also have Christian imagery in her new music, even if it has a negative impact on her career.
“I am. I’m not going to lie. Then when I had this vision, it turned my world upside down. I kind of couldn’t let go of the Tamil side. I think that’s why 50 per cent of the record is sort of like that. Because I’m still me. That’s still my language. And those are still my tools to be able to create beats like that or a sound like that.
“But I think the message was just to get to a peaceful place. Watch the space. The history is, even if it costs me my career, I won’t lie. I will tell the truth, and I will tell you what’s on my mind and my heart. If I’m coming back now saying Jesus is real, there’s a point. Basically all of my fans might turn against me.”
M.I.A.’s new album MATA will be released soon.
