M.I.A.’s planned performance at the Grammys might be more labor intensive than most.
The pregnant rapper is nominated for two Grammys, including record of the year for her hit “Paper Planes.” She could give birth to her first child at any moment. Yet she has agreed to perform during the Grammy telecast, to be aired live on CBS on Sunday.
M.I.A. said she’d been asked to perform with Jay-Z, T.I., Kanye West and Lil Wayne on the Grammy-nominated “Swagga Like Us,” which is based on a sample of “Paper Planes.”
But in a recent interview, she admitted that she worried such a performance “might induce labor.
“When I read these books on childbirth they are like, ‘If you want to induce labor, try having a game of arm wrestle with your friend.’ I am like, ‘Oh my God, my option isn’t an arm wrestle — it’s like being onstage and with Jay-Z and Lil Wayne and Kanye and T.I.’ To me that is really exciting, to be a nine-month pregnant woman,” she said.
M.I.A. has had a lot of excitement already in the past year. Not only is she due to give birth to her child with fiance Benjamin Brofman and nominated for Grammy awards, she was nominated for an Oscar for her song “O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire,” which she wrote with A.R. Rahman.
“It was literally like day by day, you know somebody is like ‘You have been nominated for a Brit (Award), and then it was like ‘You are nominated for an Oscar’ and it was like ... I was just really confused by it all,” she said.
Besides dealing with all the awards hoopla, the 31-year-old is working on a new album as well as producing her new artist, Rye Rye.
M.I.A. — who says she doesn’t know the sex of her baby but calls it “he” anyway — said the baby is already a fan of what it’s been hearing.
“Every time I go for an ultra scan the baby is like in crazy positions with legs star-shaped and stuff. It’s not like in a baby position at all,” she said. “I feel like he is used to base lines and beats and receptive to that, which is cute.”