Rapper M.I.A. was forced to re-work her upcoming album because record label bosses were worried the new music sounded "too positive".

The hip-hop star - real name Mathangi Arulpragasam - finished work on her new record last year, but she was ordered to go back to the studio and make some drastic changes.

She says, "It's due in April... and I'm still working on it. I thought I'd finished it. I finished it and then I handed the record in, like a couple of months ago... At the moment, I've been told it's too positive. So we're having a bit of an issue at the label.

"They're like 'You need to like darken it up a bit'. I don't know what it is but as soon as I work that out... I'm taking my time to decide what they mean. It's an interesting one for me. It's like 'We just built you up as the public enemy No. 1 and now you're coming out with all this positive stuff'."

The new album is reportedly titled "Mathangi" after the star's birth name.