Pitchfork

Photo by Nilina Mason-Campbell

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."

Truly M.I.A.:

06-13 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo
06-21 Barcelona, Spain - Sonar by Night Festival
06-24 Arendal, Norway - Hove Festival
06-27 Dublin, Ireland - Red Box
07-01 London, England - Roundhouse
07-04 Roskilde, Denmark - Roskilde Festival
07-05 Arvika, Sweden - Arvika Festival
07-06 Gdynia, Poland - Heineken Open'er Festival
07-08 Montreux, Switzerland - Montreux Jazz Festival
07-10 Novi Sad, Serbia - Exit Festival
07-11 Leipzig, Germany - Splash Festival
07-12 Liege, Belgium - Les Ardentes
07-16 Porto, Portugal - Casa da Musica
07-19 Madrid, Spain - Summercase Festival
07-20 Southwold, England - Latitude Festival