Sia — The Alchemy of Blockbuster Songs, Billions of Views, and the Face You’ve Never Seen (#452)
Illustration via 99designs“I don’t think that I’m necessarily like a super-talented songwriter. I think I’m just really productive. One out of 10 songs is a hit. So where a lot of people will spend three weeks on one song, I will write 10 in three weeks.”
— Sia
Sia (@sia) is an Australian singer, songwriter, director, screenwriter, and pop icon. Her current single, Together, is from her forthcoming album and motion picture, Music, due out later this year. In 2019, Sia partnered with Diplo and Labrinth to form the group LSD. Their debut album, Labrinth, Sia & Diplo Present…LSD has one billion+ streams to date. She released the Grammy-nominated This Is Acting (Monkey Puzzle/RCA Records) in 2016 to much critical acclaim and cemented her role as one of today’s biggest stars and sought-after live performers with her sold-out Nostalgic for the Present headline tour.
Sia has more videos in YouTube’s Billion Views Club than any other female on the planet. Her massive single Cheap Thrills was a multi-format global radio hit and one of the longest-running singles in the Top 40 in 2016. Along with her own successes, Sia has written global smashes for today’s biggest acts, including Beyoncé, Kanye West, Rihanna, Britney Spears, Katy Perry, and many more.
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#452: Sia — The Alchemy of Blockbuster Songs, Billions of Views, and the Face You’ve Never Seen
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What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…
Want to hear an episode with another artist who makes her own rules? Listen to my conversation with Amanda Palmer in which we discuss books, trauma and grief, crowdfunding, understanding the role of pain, and much more.
#368: Amanda Palmer on Creativity, Pain, and Arthttps://rss.art19.com/episodes/b5a6cb4c-7c17-4f73-bb33-66518d39ccb2.mp3Download
SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE
Connect with Sia:
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Sia’s Discography | Discogs
Australian Sia Revealed Her Battle with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome | Blasting News
When Nothing Seems to Help Your CRPS, Ketamine Pain Treatments May Bring Relief | Cleveland Clinic
Ketamine Offers Lifeline for People with Severe Depression, Suicidal Thoughts | CNN
Versed Uses, Side Effects, and Warnings | Drugs.com
Prozac Uses, Side Effects, and Warnings | Drugs.com
Everything We Know About Kanye West’s Sunday Service | GQ
Anatomical Position: Definitions and Illustrations | ThoughtCo.
What Is Attachment Theory? Definition and Stages | ThoughtCo.
The Unicorn of Attachment Theory: Earned-Secure Attachment | Karolina Walsh Psychotherapy
Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help YouFind — and Keep — Love by Amir Levine and Rachel Heller
Attachment Style Quiz | Dr. Diane Poole Heller
Attachment Injuries: The Ghosts That Haunt Us | Karen Grierson
Analogy vs. Metaphor vs. Simile | Writer’s Digest
Sleep Train a Baby? Don’t! | Psychology Today
The Father’s Heart: Found in Separate Places | Eddie Brandt, Medium
Dissociative Identity Disorder Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment | Cleveland Clinic
Split | Prime Video
Postnatal Depression | Royal College of Psychiatrists
The Goldilocks Approach to Decision-Making | Citrin Consulting
The Center for Nonviolent Communication
The Greatest Trick the Devil Ever Pulled | The Usual Suspects
How Sia Saved Herself | Rolling Stone
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
Sia’s “Don’t Think” Tattoo | Twitter
Transcendental Meditation
Mettagroup
Meditation x Attachment with George Haas | Podcast
Profile: Sanshin Zen Community | Lion’s Roar
Diamonds by Rihanna
Breathe Me by Sia
Valium Uses, Side Effects, and Warnings | Drugs.com
Sia’s 2014 Interview | The Howard Stern Show
How Much Energy Is One Joule? (Easy Analogy) | Badzilla
2-Minute Neuroscience: Prefrontal Cortex | Neuroscientifically Challenged
About Holotropic Breathwork | Grof Transpersonal Training
Titanium (Feat. Sia) by David Guetta
Coldplay
U2
Publishing Rights: How Do They Get Split? | DIY Musician Blog
Chandelier by Sia
Sia: ‘Everyone in Entertainment Is Insecure. We’ve Been Dancing Our Entire Lives for Your Approval’ | The Guardian
Apple Music
The Doors
Don’t Get Me Wrong by The Pretenders
Soul II Soul | Wikipedia
1000 Forms of Fear by Sia
Sia’s Enormous Wig Deserves Its Own Grammy | Cosmopolitan
Music (Film) | Wikipedia
Alcoholics Anonymous
La La Land | Prime Video
Adaptation | Prime Video
Being John Malkovich | Prime Video
Echolalia: Causes, Symptoms, Types, Diagnosis, and Treatment | Healthline
Child Mind Institute
Million Dollar Decorators | Bravo TV
Sia Confirms She Adopted Two Teenage Sons Aging Out of Foster Care | USA Today
Foster | Prime Video
Al-Anon
SHOW NOTES
Let’s start the interview on (the topic of) ketamine. [05:21]
Sia shares her experience with attachment theory, the work she’s doing to repair her own attachment injuries, and the outcomes she’s noticed. [11:34]
Sia explains what it was like growing up around her father’s dissociative identity disorder. [21:45]
Is Sia Keyser Söze? [28:03]
What is Sia’s most ironic tattoo? [30:00]
Why Sia believes there’s no such thing as being bad at meditation, and what her own practice looks like. [30:57]
In the process of writing over a hundred pop songs, Sia has tried everything from channeling to methods that are more self-destructive. [37:49]
High concepts, milking metaphors, cheesetastic anthems, and what the songwriting process looks like for Sia today. [46:38]
How do publishing percentages work in the music industry for people involved in the creation of a song? In other words, how does the money get split? [50:52]
Early in 2016, Sia told The Guardian that she considered herself more prolific than super-talented as a songwriter. What’s changed since then? [57:38]
Curiously enough, Sia doesn’t really listen to music when she’s not making it. Why? [59:53]
Why Sia is eager to show the world (especially aspiring young singers) a video of how bad of a singer she was at age 12. [1:03:26]
What compelled Sia to begin hiding her face and having other people — like dancer Maddie Ziegler — appear in her stead at center stage for videos, photos, and live performances? [1:06:26]
Sia gives us some background about Music, the musical drama film project she’s currently working on with Dallas Clayton, Maddie Ziegler, Kate Hudson, and Leslie Odom Jr. [1:12:51]
What made Sia commit to adopting two teenagers? [1:22:27]
Parting thoughts. [1:28:24]
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Kanye West
The Kardashians
John Legend
John Bowlby
George Haas
Phil B. Colson
Loene Furler
Marshall Rosenberg
Kobayashi
Keyser Söze
Hillel Aron
Beyoncé
Britney Spears
Rihanna
Howard Stern
Labrinth
Eddie Benjamin
Justin Bieber
Stanislav Grof
Benny Blanco
Katy Perry
Jesse Shatkin
Chrissie Hynde
Malcolm McLaren
Caron Wheeler
Terence Trent D’Arby
Stevie Wonder
Aretha Franklin
Annie Lennox
Mariah Carey
Christina Aguilera
North West
Maddie Ziegler
Robert Pattinson
Dallas Clayton
Bill W.
Erik Anders Lang
Daniel Eskils
Lena Dunham
Spike Jonze
Kate Hudson
Kathy Griffin
Bethany Frankel
Rose Byrne
Mark Wahlberg
