M.I.A. is heaps edgy. That is all.

Playing the internet controversy game like no other MIA has titled her third album with a collection of slashes.

The initially baffling collection of symbols /\/\/\Y/\ – or more simply MAYA – is the follow-up to her 2007 album Kala.

The first single from the album is the synth-pop cut XXXO, a more conventional follow up to the much talked about Diplo and Switch produced teaser track Born Free, which features a Suicide sample and drumming from Sepultura’s Igor Cavalera who’s also known as electro producer Mixhell these days.

Unlike the controversial redhead murdering nightmare of the Born Free video it is expected that the XXXO clip will be shot by the master of the bright and glossy promo video Hype Williams.

Ian Hamrick, the child actor whose character dies after being shot in the head at the end of the clip, has defended M.I.A. telling the tabloid Tmz.com, “I think she was trying to show violence to end violence”.

According to Hamrick, the clip “is definitely not for kids – I haven’t even seen the full video myself – but for all the adults and people in different countries who are doing that in real life… doing the genocides to whatever: Italians, Africans, wherever it’s from, it’s still genocide.”

/\/\/\Y/\ is due out in mid July so there’s plenty of time for MIA to create another controversy or two. Whilst we wait for the eventual donkey sex tape to show up, here’s the Born Free video again and the new single XXXO.