M.I.A. at Coachella

If you want to know the release date for M.I.A.’s upcoming album, it is written in the stars.

During Jay-Z’s set at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival on Friday (April 16), a blimp carrying a digital billboard flew over the crowd advertising the “Paper Planes” rapper’s appearances at the HARD Summer Music Festival in Los Angeles and New York, as well as the drop date for her third LP.

“New Album 6.29.10” flashed across the scrolling ticker as it soared above concertgoers. The follow-up to 2007’s Kala will feature production from Rusko and Blaqstarr, and tentatively arrive on the same date as her protégée Rye Rye’s debut effort Go! Pop! Bang!

Next week, M.I.A. will premiere a viral video for “Born Free,” a song she first debuted at San Francisco’s Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival last August.