Matangi

The fourth studio album came out in 2013 through N.E.E.T. Recordings and Interscope. Switch handled most of the production with M.I.A., with additional work from Hit-Boy, Doc McKinney, Danja, Surkin and The Partysquad. The title is a variant of her first name and refers to the Hindu goddess Matangi. She travelled to temples and universities in India to research the album, and she described the sound as like "Paul Simon on acid".

It was first due in December 2012. She told the press she had been told the finished record was "too positive". Bad Girls, the lead single, had appeared nearly two years earlier. The Weeknd is credited as a featured artist on Exodus and Sexodus. Reviews were generally positive, with an average of 78 on Metacritic, though Pitchfork's Lindsay Zoladz felt the long delay had left some tracks stale while praising Bad Girls. It entered at 23 on the Billboard 200 and 64 in the UK, and topped the US Dance/Electronic Albums chart.