AIM (album)
album by M.I.A.

AIM is the fifth studio album by English rapper and singer M.I.A. It was released on 9 September 2016 by Interscope and Polydor Records. Prior to its release, M.I.A. claimed that it would be her final album. She worked on the composition and production of the album with a range of collaborators, including Blaqstarr, Diplo, and Skrillex. The album was recorded in various countries, including Jamaica and India, and includes vocal contributions from Dexta Daps and Zayn. As with M.I.A.'s earlier releases, the album mixes Eastern and Western musical influences. Lyrically, several tracks on the album contain themes of borders and refugees.
AIM received mixed to positive reviews from music critics, with some praising certain songs but arguing that the overall album lacked focus. In the US, the album peaked at number 66 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and was her first album not to reach the top 40 since her debut release in 2005, although like her previous three albums AIM topped the magazine's Dance/Electronic Albums chart.
Background and recording
British rapper and singer M.I.A. released her fourth album Matangi in November 2013. Although it received generally positive reviews, it failed to match the commercial performance of her previous two albums.
“AIM (album)” enters the record as album by M.I.A. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what album can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q26398860. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2016, 2005 and 2013.
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This entry incorporates text from “AIM (album)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.