21st Century Music: Sia
21st Century Music are playlists and profiles that focus on artists that have released their music since 2000. These highlight new(er) acts that continue the sound and spirit of the older acts that are the focus of Ceremony. Click on the streaming service of your choice below to listen to the playlist as you read along. The YouTube playlist is the only one with all songs and focuses more on live performances.
In late January 2008 I saw an entertaining and quirky performance on the TV show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! The performance was so fun and the music so catchy, I took notice of the artist. A short time later I was in line at Starbucks and they had a rack of CDs for sale by the check-out, and there was the same artist’s new album that included the song I’d heard on TV, “Buttons.” I bought the CD and while painting a bedroom that afternoon, listened to it about ten times in a row and fell head over heels for the voice of this new find, Sia Furler.
Sia, with the band, Crisp
Such is Sia’s talent that many have similarly fallen under her spell. Her career trajectory has been fascinating, rising from her home music scene in Australia to become one of the biggest music stars on the planet. Given the usual focus of modern rock artists here at Ceremony, it may seem a bit odd to profile Sia given her popstar status, but it is that aspect that is so fascinating about Sia. Her trajectory has taken her through genres and styles that have touched on a broad selection of niches and genres across the musical universe, and thus many types of music fans. It was the first part of her career that appealed to me, and therefore this profile will only cover her first five albums and other works during that period, highlighting why Sia has been a leading act of the twenty-first century, regardless the genre.
In 1997, Sia appeared in an Australia soap opera, Home and Away, doing an a capella version of a song she composed for the show, “How to Breathe.”
Sia’s career started in her native Australia with an acid jazz band, Crisp, performing on an album (1995) and an EP (1997). From the start, the influence of jazz and blues in her sound was evident. Crisp also used rap vocals, so her late career venture in that direction also harkened back to her start. In 1997, the group broke up and she released her debut solo album late that year under her full name, Sia Furler. Onlysee continued to explore the jazz-pop style but didn’t make a mark for the twenty-two-year-old singer. The songs lacked polish and the necessary production to provide the proper foundation for her vocals, and her inevitable discovery was delayed.
Sia with Zero 7
Awareness of Sia’s talent came after she moved to the UK and began working with British bands. She was a background vocalist for Jamiroquai and a guest vocalist for the duo, Zero 7 (Sam Hardaker and Henry Binns), who themselves were just emerging out of their career as engineers for some of the top artists of the ‘90s. Sia provided the lead vocal on two songs on their debut LP, Simple Things, released in April 2001. Zero 7’s laid back mix of electronics, jazz, and blues was the perfect backdrop to Sia’s nasally, drawling, bluesy, and soaring voice. The song, “Destiny,” was released as a single and reached #30 in the UK chart, giving those fans their first taste of Sia’s sound.
Landing a deal with a dance sub-label of Sony, Sia (now performing under the single name) released her second LP, Healing Is Difficult, the following July. It had more jump and hooks than her debut and the music shifted markedly from the jazz-blues style to dance and hip hop. The better production and mix of her voice with beats again foretold where she would end up later in her career. However, the album also included sultry pop songs such as, “Blow It All Away,” hinting at where her sound was headed in the near-term. The album gave Sia her first solo success when the dance single, “Taken for Granted,” built around the famous classical passage from Prokofiev’s “Montagues and Capulets” (part of the Romeo and Juliet ballet), scored her a top ten hit in the UK.
It was apparent, at this point, what an extraordinary talent Sia was and it seemed inevitable she was going to be a star. She just needed more songs that could reach a broader audience, and that happened with her next LP, Colour the Small One, and the single, “Breathe Me.” The album was excellent and similar in feel to her work with Zero 7. Less electronic and fuller with a blues-pop feel, her songs had more polish and accessibility than anything she’d done before. The album was full of many subtle, beautiful turns, none more evident than on “Breathe Me,” issued as a single in April 2004. It did ok, reaching #71 in the UK chart; but after it appeared in the final scene of the TV series, Six Feet Under, in the fall of 2005, it really grew in popularity, making appearances in many shows and movies over the next several years. It’s achingly beautiful, nuanced vocal, sweeping strings, and haunting piano gave it the drama so perfect for such uses.
The cover of the single, “Where I Belong,” from Colour the Small One
I think it’s significant to note this initial success came through slower, quieter songs that allowed her vocal talent to come through from effective changes from hushed moments to crescendos that allowed her power to come to bear in highly effective ways. It was a style she’d move away from later and contribute to the loss in interest for fans like me. While the regular and over-the-top vocal segments are nice once and a while, it loses effect when done too often. However, it’s undeniable the more a singer shows off her pipes, the more people flock to the music, and Sia’s career is a perfect case in point.
Sia was also winning fans with her shows, still making the rounds in smaller venues, especially in North America where she was yet to have a hit. Even in Australia she hadn’t hit it big, with “Breathe Me” not charting and only Healing is Difficult having reached the top 100. Showing a penchant for colour and costume and an openness to her fans, her quirky, bubbly personality was endearing to fans. She would regularly engage with audience members, holding entire conversations from the stage and seemed entirely overwhelmed by any expression of love and adulation, blushing in response.
Performing with Zero 7 in 2006
In 2004, Sia again contributed to two songs on Zero 7’s next LP, When It Falls, and then sang on five more on their third, 2006’s The Garden - a great album due in no small part to Sia’s fantastic contributions. Every song in which she appeared jumped out and elevated the duo’s sound to the next level. Both LPs reached the top ten in the UK as well as the US dance chart, adding more bricks to the platform that was raising Sia to the upper echelons of the pop world.
Sia issued her first solo work in almost three years with a single, “Pictures,” released in November 2006. It was a catchy blend of melodic choruses and reggae-ish, rhythm-based verses. The album preceded the April 2007 release of a live mini-album, Lady Croissant. “Pictures” was the only studio recording, accompanied by eight songs recorded a year earlier at a show at the Bowery Ballroom in New York. Two tracks were Zero 7 songs, and two others, “Lentil,” and a Kinks cover, “I Go to Sleep,” were tracks that would appear on her fourth LP, at that point still two years away. Lady Croissant was an opportunity for the uninitiated to discover how fantastic Sia sounded live.
The fourth album arrived in January 2008, Some People Have Real Problems, and was the one in which I discovered her. It was released in North America by Hear Music, which was a label partnership of Concord Music Group and Starbucks, which is why I discovered her CD while picking up my coffee. Oddly, the album didn’t catch on in the UK but reached the top forty in the US and almost in Australia, peaking at #41. Though none of the LP’s singles charted, her appearances on late night TV shows and her tours broadened her audience, and as more people were exposed to her songs, adulation grew. If anything was holding her back, it was her idiosyncratic performance style, which included dayglo costumes under black light, colouring her hands, and other affectations. Yet, those were mere distractions to the strength and grace of the album. While pop songs like, “Day to Soon,” “Girl You Lost to Cocaine,” and “Buttons,” gave the album hooks and energy, it was the many sensational ballads that won you over, such as “Academia” (featuring Beck on background vocals) and “Soon We’ll Be Found” (for which she would ‘sign’ the lyrics for the deaf while performing). Other guests on the album, strangely, included actor Giovanni Ribisi on background vocals (along with Beck, again) on the track, “Death by Chocolate.”
In 2008
In 2010 Sia released We Are Born, her fifth LP and the last in which she was able to hold on to me as a fan, which was disappointing as it was her most fun, polished, and fantastic album that headed in a direction I was very much appreciating. I’ve always loved a mix of dance and rock, and on this album she brought them together thanks to the contribution of guitarist, Nick Valensi, of The Strokes. His catchy, tight guitar riffs throughout the album gave her bluesy pop a new energy and edge that was outstanding. “The Fight,” “Clap Your Hands,” and “You’ve Changed” were infectious disco-rock songs with an indie edge that, when joined by Sia’s strong vocals, provided an incredible trio of songs to anchor the front half of the album. Of course, there were the power ballads to balance them off. “Cloud” was the track that best gave indication of where Sia was headed next, showing the bombastic vocals that would become her stock in trade. To be fair, she had always had those moments in her music, so blowing the windows out wasn’t new, but those occasions had been impressive and effective because of their infrequency; but once common, her vocal blasts had the adverse effect of making her music less nuanced, less varied, and too much like everything else climbing the charts.
We Are Born didn’t succeed the way it deserved. Australia finally got on their native girl’s bandwagon, sending the LP to #2, and it cracked the top forty in the US but reached a lower point than the prior album. In the UK, it only reached #74. None of the singles charted in the US or UK. Never mind though, just about everything Sia touched thereafter exploded.
In 2010 and 2011, I saw Sia perform at The Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto, a small venue in which the packed audience could talk to her and revel in her music up close. In 2011, her stage set was wrapped entirely in macramé (including the piano, mic stands, drum riser… everything, and oh yeah, the band wore striped onesies), continuing her penchant for unusual performance styles. The next time she played Toronto would be 2016, and this time in the city’s pro sports arena, The Air Canada Centre. The jump in venue size was indicative of what had happened to her career in the intervening years.
Touring in the striped onesies, and Sia has brought out a backdrop to blend in along with…
…the macramé stage
Sia has always been a collaborator. From her first participation in Crips and Zero 7, along with several other artists for which she appeared between 2006 and 2010, through the many additional song writers and guest musicians on her albums, to her many cover songs over the years, she was never shy about partnering with others. In 2010, this went into overdrive, largely inspired by her unease with her growing celebrity and health issues. Over 2010-11 she battled Graves’ disease, an autoimmune condition resulting from an overactive thyroid, had cancelled shows due to suffering from lethargy and panic attacks, and had a growing problem with alcohol and drugs. She also appeared as a coach on the TV show, The Voice, which amped her profile considerably and gave her a distressing taste of being a pop star. Then, after being outed as bi-sexual by blogger Perez Hilton, the invasion of privacy spooked her and she sought a less visible profile. She shifted her focus to writing songs for others, often providing backing vocals on those songs. The first notable effort in this regard was for Christina Aguilera’s album, Bionic, a #1 and top ten album all over the world and one in which Sia co-wrote five songs. Many more would follow, including with the likes of Rihanna, David Guetta, Celine Dion, Katy Perry, Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue, and on and on with a list of A-level stars. Sia has now penned numerous #1 and top ten songs – if you haven’t heard her music, you’ve still heard her songs.
Performing in one of her famous wigs
As part of her career shift, in 2011 Sia announced she was retiring from touring in order to remove herself from the public eye. Aside from contributing several songs to soundtracks, “Bound to You” for Burlesque, “My Love” for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” “Kill and Run” for The Great Gatsby, and “Elastic Heart” with The Weeknd and Diplo for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Sia didn’t release any more singles or albums exclusively under her name for the next several years. That changed in 2014 when she released the album, 1000 Forms of Fear, and the single, “Chandelier.” It was immediately clear her work with pop stars had changed her own music, and we would no longer get the tight dance-rock songs of We Were Born or the nuanced brilliance of her ballads from Colour the Small One or Some People Have Real Problems. Now it was dance, hip hop, and full-on, throaty shout-outs like “Chandelier,” which went top ten in many countries, including a #1 spot in France. And not only would we no longer see her in small venues, when she decided to resume touring she would only perform with her face covered, appearing in interviews and concerts with a variety of wigs and hats that covered the top half of her face. She augmented her shows with dancers, including famously the eleven-year-old Maddie Ziegler, irregular set pieces, and performances that, once again, made her shows quite unlike the standard fare.
Though I haven’t been a fan of her music since We Are Born, I continue to have tremendous respect for her talent. Her voice is one of the purest in the business and can do most anything needed, as her mastery of a variety of musical styles has attested. Her career has been a steady climb from the land down under to the top of the international charts. Her music between 2004 and 2010 was among the best modern rock of the century’s inaugural decade. Fiercely unique and independent throughout, Sia has put her stamp on the music world in the twenty-first century to a degree few have matched. Whether you’re a fan of the early Sia or her latter, chart-topping work, she’s been an irrepressible talent worth celebrating.
The Playlist - song \ album (year)
Part \ Word and the Deal (LP by Crisp) (1995) - YouTube only
Stories \ Onlysee (1997) - YouTube only
Destiny \ Simple Things (LP by Zero 7) (2001)
Taken for Granted \ Healing is Difficult (2001)
Blow it All Away \ Healing is Difficult (2001)
Sunday \ Colour the Small One (2004)
Breathe Me \ Colour the Small One (2004)
Numb \ Colour the Small One (2004)
Where I Belong \ Colour the Small One (2004)
Speed Dial No. 2 \ When It Falls (LP by Zero 7) (2004)
The Pageant of the Bizarre \ The Garden (LP by Zero 7) (2006)
This Fine Social Scene \ The Garden (LP by Zero 7) (2006)
Pictures \ non-album single (2006) & Lady Croissant live EP (2007)
The Girl You Lost to Cocaine \ Some People Have Real Problems (2008)
Academia \ Some People Have Real Problems (2008)
Soon We’ll Be Found \ Some People Have Real Problems (2008)
Buttons \ Some People Have Real Problems (2008)
The Fight \ We Are Born (2010)
Clap Your Hands \ We Are Born (2010)
You’ve Changed \ We Are Born (2010)
Hurting Me Now \ We Are Born (2010)
Cloud \ We Are Born (2010)
