My first exposure was on SNL last night. I found her performance quite satisfactory.
I didn’t get the hiding behind the wig and having the dancer act out the song while Sia was pretty much stationary.
So I immediately looked up Sia on Google Image Search. She should just skip the wig and let it rip as a singer.
Link to Sia video.
My first reaction was, “wow, she looks like a 40-year-old woman,” which, as it turns out, made sense given that she is a 40-year-old woman. The wig makes her a bit more timeless. You know, it gives her that zazz that the youth crave.
Eh, modern audiences pretty much expect to see dancing when they hear a singer. If Sia is a good singer, but isn’t much of a dancer, then it makes sense for her to partner with a dancer who can’t sing. Seems to me like a good way to give opportunities to the actual talent, and a lot more honest than lip-synching or autotuned dancers.
Sia suffers from severe anxiety/social phobia. She has been extremely open in interviews about her struggle, and the fact that she uses wigs/dancers/other tricks (I believe she performed at one of the award shows standing in the corner of the set, facing away from the crowd) to perform in public. She’s actually quite inspiring.
That is interesting to know. Regardless, her live acts work as performance pieces. They stand on their own without being thought of as a crutch.
There’s a pretty good NYT article about her. It’s a google away if anyone is interested.
Did not like the SEA performance.
I think she is a singer
Never heard of her before this post. Heard the video, duck, duck, goed her. Very interesting. Thanks for the post.
Sia also has Graves Disease, which can manifest itself with a lot of skin problems, severe anxiety, bulging of the eyes, etc. She used to show her face a lot more, but as it has progressed she’s gotten more and more stage fright and hides her face more.
She’s an incredible artist. ‘Breathe Me’ gets me every time.
I think Sia is fabulous singer with a unique and compelling style and I’m ashamed to admit that, not knowing about her medical and emotional issues, when I watched her on SNL I thought “I sure am sick of her schtick”. The girl dancing in the second performance was particularly distracting and not in a good way. Now I feel bad, though I would prefer to have her just stand there and sing (if she was able).
Was told about her from a teen, and my first exposure was SNL.
Great voice and the cool performance art reminded me of the Oracle of Delphi for some reason.
Thanks for all the info. I like her even more now.
Found this excellent video of one of the songs she did on SNL, Alive with lyrics.
She is good but she should drop that fake stupid Rihanna type accent she has been going for lately. It makes her look lame. Her voice is fine.
I only found out Sia was a member of Zero 7 just last week. Great group fusing jazz, electronica and other styles.
One song I Shazamed last year is by Zero 7 called “Space Between”. Check it out on YouTube.
Her singing style used to irritate me too. In fact I was shocked to find out she is a lily white Australian as opposed to. . . something else. European or African, or I don’t know what I expected but her exotic sound does not match her look. For some reason I’ve grown to like it and as far as I know it’s the only way she’s ever sounded. That being said, she predates Rhianna so I think she was doing it first. Rhianna, to me, sounds like a braying ass.
It is evident in her hit from last year, “Chandelier”. It sounds fake.
Oh, I agree it’s totally fake, it’s just the only way *I’ve *ever heard her (I only know whatever I hear on the radio or if she’s on a talk show or whatever). Do you mean that she didn’t used to sound like that?