M.I.A. retiring?

So things have been getting a little crazy for M.I.A. lately. First she gets engaged to some douche bottle. Then, she canceled her whole European tour, citing "exhaustion".
From Pitchfork:

M.I.A. Cancels European Tour
Bonnaroo set in doubt

Hearkening back to this time last year, M.I.A. has canceled her upcoming summer festival dates, according to NYMag.com (via Idolator). This time, the reason behind the cancellation isn't visa issues, it's plain old exhaustion.

"I'm canceling because I feel like physically I just have to stop for a second. It's too insane," M.I.A. told NYMag.com. "I was losing a sense of just, like, reality, you know what I mean? I think for an artist like me, it's so important for me to be in the streets and go to the same shop every day and see the same people and, like, communicate. And it's really difficult to do that when you're in the city every day for 24 hours. Like, I love connecting with my band, but I want to actually help them and be a part of peoples' lives. Which is really hard when you're on tour...It takes a lot out of you, physically. I make club music, which means I'm clubbing every night for, like, six months. Know what I mean? So now and again you finally just want to be gardening and get your nails done or something like that."

Although M.I.A.'s label can't confirm anything at the moment, it seems that all of her European festival dates in June and July, as well as her set at Bonnaroo on Friday, have been called off. (An email to Bonnaroo's publicist has not yet been answered.) According to NYMag.com, she called her June 6 show at Brooklyn's McCarren Park Pool her "last show."

UPDATE: Interscope has confirmed that the European shows have been canceled.

In more hopeful news, the singer hinted at a forthcoming record to NYMag.com: "I've been writing on tour. I'm really into writing new songs. I'm going to put out a new record instead [of touring]. At the end of the day, I'm here, you know."



NOW she's saying that her gig this weekend at Bonnaroo will be her last ever.

From New York Times:

Bonnaroo: M.I.A’s Last Gig Ever?
By JON PARELES
“This is my last show,” the rapper M.I.A. announced from the stage of That Tent, “and I’m glad I’m spending it with all my hippies.” If, as she announced at least three times, it was M.I.A.’s last gig ever, she went out with a boom. The seismic riffs of her songs, which sound like they’re made on the world’s cheapest equipment, puffed bass notes at everyone’s chest, and M.I.A. was all of her interlocking selves: fighter, lover, immigrant, instigator, party girl.

Wearing an outfit that included shiny streamers as tails, she shook every part of her body sooner or later, yelping her hooks and spitting out her rhymes, dense with allusions and snappy enough for slogans. She brought “girls” and then “boys” onstage, surrounding herself with happy dancers, and brought the Nigerian rapper African Boy onstage for her encores,
rapping about how immigrants have to hustle. For her finale, “Paper Planes,” the audience that spilled far outside the tent pumped fists happily at the gunshot sounds that are also one of the song’s hooks. “Thanks for coming to my last gig,” she said, amid noise that continued well after she was gone.

Well I hope this isn't true... I think she just needs a break, her shows are so intense and I'm sure her touring schedule is so grueling, I don't blame her for needing to get away. I guess we'll see if this holds up or not, but I'm sure glad I've gotten to see her 3 times already... it might be awhile before anyone sees her again.