Lady Sovereign Returns From Music Strike

Two-and-a-half years after the release of her spirited debut album, 'Public Warning,' Lady Sovereign is set to return April 7 with effort number 2: 'Jigsaw.'

"It makes sense to call the album 'Jigsaw' because it's kind of like different genres," Lady Sov tells Spinner. "But I really like the [title track]. It's different from anything else I've done and I don't know how people are going to take to it, like, 'What is this s---?' But I like it!"

What makes the title cut in particular different from Lady Sov's past work is it finds the pint-sized rapper using her pipes to sing for the first time.

"I know I'm not the best f---ing singer in the world, but in the past year, I'll be sitting there kind of singing and it gets better and better the more I do it," she says. "I wrote a few songs and I just felt the need to sing on them really. But I haven't got to that stage of actually performing it. I'm a bit nervous about that because obviously I'm used to just rapping."

Meanwhile, 'Jigsaw' will be released on Lady Sov's own imprint, Midget Records, after she parted with Def Jam in the run up to her new release.

"I was just f---ing f---ed off and annoyed -- just doing the same thing all the time," she says of her split with Def Jam. "I kind of went on strike so to speak, but then I was tired and exhausted and in a bad way. I kind of just stopped. Def Jam ended up losing their patience in me, and I couldn't be bothered anymore. I just needed to take that break and I just walked away from it really."

Lady Sov will make her live return when she hits New York, Los Angeles and Chicago for some promo dates at the end of the January.