I have to say, I love the song, “Chandelier” by the female Australian singer, Sia Furler (known simply as Sia). I’ve embedded the Vevo music video at the bottom of this post. It’s a beautiful, simple but visually compelling video, although you won’t see Sia’s face in the video, just her doppleganger.

You may not have heard “Chandelier” yet. Being a female vocalist, as well as a mother, I listen in the car to a lot of current pop music. In the Female-Vocalist-Fall-Back-to-School-Pop-Hit lineup, “Chandelier” is up against some heavy contenders, like Taylor Swifts newest, “Shake It Off” and Katy Perry’s inane “This is How We Do.” Not to mention the octave-defying Christina Aguilera-sound-alike, Ariana Grande, whose numerous collaborations this summer with every female hip hop artist in America (she’s moved on from Iggy Azalea to Nicki Minaj) dominate the airwaves.

One even might ask: Where is Miley Cyrus’ back-to-school twerking video? Oh, yeah, Niki Minaj beat her to it. Or was it Taylor Swift who was twerking?

Anyway.

I think “Chandelier” it’s going to be a huge hit, and one by a non-American artist who has been relatively unknown until now, at least here in the US. I wanted to pick it apart and get to know this Sia Furler person. Her music seemed, well… different.

In doing a little research, I uncovered some remarkable things that I thought were relevant to a lot of indie artists like me, especially those of us who are NOT Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, or Ariana Grande’s age:

1. Sia Furler is not a teenager and she doesn’t perform half naked. It’s about the music. Sia Furler is 38. This is her 8th album release. Yup. In an age where most female pop artists have their first US pop mega-hit when they’re under 25, Sia is inspiring. She still has great pipes. She is not an overnight success, however. She’s been working at it full time for almost 20 years. She has had several huge hits in Europe, but “Chandelier” is her first really big American hit. I don’t know if  her age is one of the reasons she doesn’t show her face in her performances, but I find it easier to focus on the music and the performance art, versus the flesh. #GoMusic.
2. Sia cares about, has experienced, and sings about something more than partying and “YOLO.” (If you don’t know what YOLO means, where have you been living, under a rock? Google it.) Well, I guess you could say “Chandelier” is sort of a YOLO song, but not the way most pop songs are. This woman has lived through a lot. Her boyfriend died in a London car crash in the late 1990s. She is a vegetarian who advocates for pet neutering and has done ads for PETA. “Chandelier” is supposedly about her alcohol addiction and depression. Her lyrics are not upbeat – they’re generally fairly heavy. I find this a rebellious and appealing aspect of her music. As a songwriter, I can relate to the inability to write a happy song, no matter how much more commercially successful it would probably be. You may be pulled in by the rhythm and the vocal sound of “Chandelier”, but you’ll listen to the song again and again because of the lyrics. I learned this very important principle from songwriting guru Ralph Murphy (Murphy’s Laws of Songwriting).
3. An emotional vocal delivery matters. Listen to the song. It’s not just the words – you can’t help but be riveted by Sia’s emotional vocal performance during the chorus. Boy, she can sing it and bring it. This is a person who is pouring her soul into her vocal performance. I have to admit, I was charmed by Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” for that very same reason. But the Miley songs since then have not had the same emotional immediacy for me – they’re just immature and self-centered. Don’t get me started on Swift and Perry’s latest songs. These songs are inane, and the vocal performances are almost robotic, like they’re bored – little depth or emotional pull.
4. Like many truly great artists, Sia has struggled with mental illness and addiction, as well as physical health problems. Sia has said that she has suffered from depression, addiction to painkillers and alcohol and has contemplated suicide before, going as far as to write a suicide note. In June 2010, she canceled tours and considered quitting music entirely due to poor health. After bring diagnosed and treated for Graves disease, she resumed her career. She has persevered, and to me that brings an extra dimension to her current success. Perhaps she has been so prolific and successful because of, not in spite of, the emotional and physical challenges she has faced.
5. Sia not only writes not her own songs, she writes hits for other artists and she… collaborates! As you may know from many of my other posts, I think musical collaboration is the key to success in the 21st century music business. The list of Sia’s collaborators is long. Sia says she originally wrote “Chandelier” for someone like Beyoncé or Rhianna, but at the last minute decided to put it on her own album. Sia has collaborated with a huge roster of artists, including Christina Aguilera, Eminem, David Guetta, Flo Rida, Afrojack, Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Lea Michele, Rihanna, Beyoncé, Kylie Minogue, Leona Lewis, Hilltop Hoods, Katy Perry, Kesha, Rita Ora, Britney Spears, Jessie J, Oh Land, Angel Haze, Celine Dion, and Maroon 5.
6. She is an incredibly prolific and hard working songwriter and performer. Sia has put out six studio albums, two live albums, 15 music videos, and an amazing 23 singles. She’s written and licensed numerous songs for film and TV, including for the Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl, and Sex In The City, and most recently, the film, The Equalizer. And she’s done Lincoln car and other commercial brand music. Plus, lots of other music licensing stuff too numerous to list. Oh, and did I mention she’s on Eminem’s latest album? In addition to touring frequently as a solo artist, she has sung backups and lead vocals and toured with several other bands. All while battling grief, addiction, and mental and physical illness. Wow.
7. Sia is not defined by a single genre or meter. She started as a jazz funk and R&B artist, has done dance pop with David Guetta, but her pop is decidedly categorized as “down tempo.” In a world where most every pop or dance song seems to be programmed at 120-140 bpm, I applaud Sia for being decidedly “down tempo” and for being so musically versatile in her genres.
8. While she does not play up sex in her videos, Sia is not afraid to talk about her bisexuality, or as she stated “pansexuality.” She almost married her former girlfriend in June 2010, and this summer (June 2014) she married her boyfriend. She was included on a list of gay entertainers in the June–July 2009 issue of The Advocate. In both 2009 and 2010, Sia was nominated by readers of SameSame.com.au as one of the 25 most influential lesbian and gay Australians. Why is this important? Normally I wouldn’t say it is, because sexual orientation really is a personal thing. Sia has been very public about hers, however, and I think it works from a marketing perspective to broaden her appeal to a younger and wider demographic. She is one of those remarkable artists whose ambiguous look appeals to both men and women. She is androgenous like David Bowie, and she even reminds me in some ways of Miley Cyrus (vocally), whose emotionally aggressive style seems equally targeted at both men and women. And Sia does it all without taking her clothes off in her music videos. Whether this works as well in the US as it does in Europe remains to be seen, but I like that Sia (unlike Beyoncé, Miley, or Rhianna) puts the spotlight on her musical performance, not her body as a selling point targeting heterosexual men. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no prude, but this post-feminist emphasis on pop performers looking like choreographed strippers seems (to me) to detract from the music. And as a feminist, I find it a questionable attempt to co-opt the feminist discussion about body image and sexual titillation in popular music. But that’s enough of that.

Opinionated? Well, yes, I guess I am. When a song is this compelling to me, I just have to analyze why that is. Plus, Sia has an unusual first name that starts with an “S”. No wonder I like her!

I’d love to hear your opinion of Sia Furler and her song, “Chandelier.” Please leave your comments below.